By: Tim Barclay, PhD and Eric Rodriguez

Last Updated: Jul 30, 2020

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) recently released its latest Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report along with new data on the number of reported sexually transmitted disease (STD) cases across U.S. counties and metro areas.

Innerbody.com’s research team analyzed the latest statistics on a city-by-city basis and developed our list of the top 100 cities with the highest STD rates along with key trends. But before we get to the rankings, here are some findings and trends that we observed:

STD rates continue to run rampant in the South. Nearly half of the top 25 cities with the highest STD rates in the South.

California led all states with the most cities in the Top 100 with seven cities. Ohio and Texas tied for the second most cities, both of which had six each. For more information about how individual states stack up in terms of highest and lowest STD rates, check out our recently published State STD Rankings.

The cities with the biggest jump in rankings since last year include:

1. Columbus, GA up 17 spots from 32nd → 15th
2. Jackson, MS up 13 spots from 15th → 2nd
3. San Francisco, CA up 12 spots from 16th → 4th
4. Milwaukee, WI up 11 spots from 18th → 7th
5. Baltimore, MD up 5 spots from 6th → 1st

In terms of total STD cases (again, including HIV, syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea only), the top five cities are:

1. Los Angeles, CA (92,401)
2. Chicago, IL (58,322)
3. Houston, TX (36,710)
4. Phoenix, AZ (34,973)
5. Philadelphia, PA (28,866)

We also noticed that three of the top 10 cities are relatively small (Augusta, GA, Killeen TX, and Shreveport, LA), but share one thing in common: they are home to relatively large military bases.

According to the CDC, over 2.4 million combined STD cases were reported across the U.S. in 2018 alone. However, many STDs are asymptomatic, which means they have no obvious symptoms (examples include chlamydia, gonorrhea, and HPV). And other STDs such as HIV and syphilis can be active inside your body before signs of the infection become apparent. Therefore, these statistics do not include the thousands of people who currently have an STD, but do not know it.

As an aside, the CDC stresses that: “If you are sexually active, getting tested for STDs is one of the most important things you can do to protect your health. Make sure you have an open and honest conversation about your sexual history and STD testing with your doctor…” If you are uncomfortable talking with your doctor or just can’t find the time to go get tested, an increasingly popular option is to take an at-home STD test.

Without further ado, here are the Top 100 cities with the highest STD rates:

#1

Baltimore, MD

• STD Cases / 100K

  2,004

• Metro Population

  602,495

• HIV Cases

  207

• Chlamydia Cases

  7,636

• Gonorrhea Cases

  4,231

• Syphilis Cases

  210

#2

Jackson, MS

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,872

• Metro Population

  237,085

• HIV Cases

  86

• Chlamydia Cases

  3,057

• Gonorrhea Cases

  1,330

• Syphilis Cases

  52

#3

Philadelphia, PA

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,822

• Metro Population

  1,584,138

• HIV Cases

  499

• Chlamydia Cases

  21,119

• Gonorrhea Cases

  7,288

• Syphilis Cases

  459

#4

San Francisco, CA

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,754

• Metro Population

  883,305

• HIV Cases

  246

• Chlamydia Cases

  9,137

• Gonorrhea Cases

  5,775

• Syphilis Cases

  584

#5

Montgomery, AL

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,731

• Metro Population

  225,763

• HIV Cases

  71

• Chlamydia Cases

  2,828

• Gonorrhea Cases

  1,045

• Syphilis Cases

  36

#6

Augusta, GA

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,675

• Metro Population

  201,554

• HIV Cases

  59

• Chlamydia Cases

  2,297

• Gonorrhea Cases

  1,045

• Syphilis Cases

  34

#7

Milwaukee, WI

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,657

• Metro Population

  948,201

• HIV Cases

  134

• Chlamydia Cases

  10,928

• Gonorrhea Cases

  4,706

• Syphilis Cases

  77

#8

Killeen, TX

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,644

• Metro Population

  355,642

• HIV Cases

  52

• Chlamydia Cases

  4,190

• Gonorrhea Cases

  1,630

• Syphilis Cases

  26

#9

Shreveport, LA

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,615

• Metro Population

  242,922

• HIV Cases

  80

• Chlamydia Cases

  2,722

• Gonorrhea Cases

  1,145

• Syphilis Cases

  55

#10

Indianapolis, IN

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,613

• Metro Population

  954,670

• HIV Cases

  228

• Chlamydia Cases

  10,536

• Gonorrhea Cases

  4,691

• Syphilis Cases

  168

#11

New York (Bronx), NY

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,609

• Metro Population

  1,432,132

• HIV Cases

  498

• Chlamydia Cases

  17,711

• Gonorrhea Cases

  4,941

• Syphilis Cases

  388

#12

Fayetteville, NC

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,559

• Metro Population

  332,330

• HIV Cases

  N/A

• Chlamydia Cases

  3,646

• Gonorrhea Cases

  1,486

• Syphilis Cases

  49

#13

New York (Manhattan), NY

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,542

• Metro Population

  1,628,701

• HIV Cases

  393

• Chlamydia Cases

  16,670

• Gonorrhea Cases

  7,845

• Syphilis Cases

  596

#14

Tallahassee, FL

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,502

• Metro Population

  292,502

• HIV Cases

  64

• Chlamydia Cases

  3,342

• Gonorrhea Cases

  1,031

• Syphilis Cases

  20

#15

Columbus, GA

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,440

• Metro Population

  194,160

• HIV Cases

  81

• Chlamydia Cases

  1,820

• Gonorrhea Cases

  955

• Syphilis Cases

  20

#16

Peoria, IL

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,421

• Metro Population

  180,621

• HIV Cases

  8

• Chlamydia Cases

  1,669

• Gonorrhea Cases

  891

• Syphilis Cases

  7

#17

Washington DC

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,393

• Metro Population

  1,773,266

• HIV Cases

  630

• Chlamydia Cases

  17,480

• Gonorrhea Cases

  6,803

• Syphilis Cases

  426

#18

Columbia, SC

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,390

• Metro Population

  414,576

• HIV Cases

  106

• Chlamydia Cases

  4,040

• Gonorrhea Cases

  1,669

• Syphilis Cases

  55

#19

Denver, CO

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,379

• Metro Population

  716,492

• HIV Cases

  153

• Chlamydia Cases

  6,928

• Gonorrhea Cases

  2,821

• Syphilis Cases

  133

#20

Birmingham, AL

• STD Cases / 100K

  1,372

• Metro Population

  659,300

• HIV Cases

  141

• Chlamydia Cases

  6,031

• Gonorrhea Cases

  2,920

• Syphilis Cases

  97

All of the STD data found in this report, including case statistics for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia, are from the C.D.C.’s latest data release from October 2019. Syphilis data includes only primary and secondary syphilis cases and does not include congenital and early latent syphilis cases. HIV cases are not reported for some cities. Statistics for other relatively common STDs, such as herpes, are not collected by the C.D.C. at this time and hence are left out of our analysis. For more information about which statistics the C.D.C. does and does not track, see its STD Data & Statistics page.

All estimated metro area and state population data is from the C.D.C. and the US Census Bureau. For our interactive map, our research team decided to use counties as visual proxies for most metro areas. The C.D.C. does not have STD data for all US counties.

For our “Top 100 Rankings,” we chose to only include city metro areas with an estimated population of 150,000 or more. Though Washington, DC is technically a district, we chose to include it as a city. Also, since New York City is relatively large in size and the C.D.C. breaks down STD cases there by borough, we made the editorial decision to treat each borough as its own metro area for ranking purposes. No statistical testing was used during the production of this research.

https://www.cdc.gov/std/stats18/default.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/std/chlamydia/default.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/std/gonorrhea/default.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/default.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/std/hiv/default.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/std/stats17/appendix-c.htm
https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/nchhstpatlas/tables.html
https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/time-series/demo/popest/2010s-counties-total.html

STD Information:
STD Symptoms & Causes from the Mayo Clinic
STD Guide from Planned Parenthood
STD Awareness for Teens from KidsHealth
STD Testing Resources:
Mayo Clinic: STD Testing Guide
Planned Parenthood: STD Testing
Innerbody: STD Testing At-Home Guide
STD Testing Companies:
LetsGetChecked Review | MyLAB Box Review
STDcheck Review | Everlywell Review
BlueChew Review | BlueChew Free Trial
Support Resources:
BetterHelp Reviews | BetterHelp vs Talkspace

Innerbody.com is committed to preventing the rapid spread of STDs. The reason why we invest the time and effort into creating this and other STD-related research and guides is to raise STD prevention awareness by making this information widely available. We hope to reach as many people as possible. As such, please feel free to share our content for educational, editorial, or discussion purposes. We only ask that you link back to this page and credit the author as Innerbody.com. https://www.innerbody.com/std-testing/std-statistics

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All of our expert writers and test reviewers have advanced degrees in relevant scientific fields. In the cases where our guides and reviews contain medical-related information, all such material is thoroughly reviewed by one or more members of Innerbody’s Medical Review Board, which consists of board-certified physicians and medical experts from across the country.

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