City Stories Index · United States · 2026 edition
Phoenix vs San Francisco
Not opinions, measured walking data. On what we can measure, San Francisco leads 3–2. Character is a different question: Phoenix is the mural city; San Francisco is the gold rush city.
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| What we measure | Phoenix | San Francisco | Leads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Places with a storyspots where a route tells you what happened there | 21 | 60 | San Francisco |
| How often you pass a storymetres from one story to the next; fewer is better | 204 | 329 | Phoenix |
| Historical figuresreal people you meet in its stories | 3 | 4 | San Francisco |
| Instagrammabilityscore /100, on the index’s fixed scale | — | 23 | San Francisco |
| Group outingsof every 100 plays, how many bring a group of 3+ | 27 | 22 | Phoenix |
| International visitors% of player reviews written in a foreign language | 0 | 6 | San Francisco |
Differences under 5% count as ties. Sample sizes and definitions on the methodology page.
What their stories are about
How many places with a story each city has per theme: Phoenix in orange, San Francisco in blue. All bars share one scale, so lengths are comparable everywhere on the chart.
PhoenixSan Francisco
10 places
arts & culture11 places
4 places
industry & modern era9 places
1 place
parks & leisure9 places
1 place
crime & dark history7 places
1 place
guilds & trade7 places
6 places
faith & churches4 places
Phoenix scorecard →
The mural city
San Francisco scorecard →
The gold rush city