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Seattle vs. San Francisco: Which City is Better for Dogs

Did you know that 20 percent of U.S. dogs named Kale live in Seattle? Neither did we

By Lauren Mang October 7, 2014

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You may remember Seattle mag’s Twitter war last year with San Francisco magazine prior to the NFC Championship game between the Seahawks and the 49ers. (We so won.) If you need a visual refresher of our spirited and very polite spat, here are a few of our favorite back-and-forth barbs:

The famous competitiveness between our two cities doesn’t stop on the football field. The Seattle Times has opined on why we’re better. SFGate has opined on why we suck. So when we stumbled upon this little infographic that pits Seattle and San Francisco against each other in completely new terms (re: not sports or landmarks or architecture or weather like in the aformentioned matchups), we had to share. Compiled using a mix of its own data, and U.S. Census Bureau data and Scarborough Research via here and here, online dog-sitting and dog-walking service Rover.com illustrates just how Seattle stacks up against San Francisco when it comes to doggies. 

A few fun and possibly surprising facts to note:

  • Seattle dogs have football-related names (Sherman, Hawk), while San Francisco dogs are named after booze (Pinot, Malbec). Editor’s note: Pinot is a ridiculous name for a dog.
  • Seattle households have more dogs on average, but in both cities, dogs outnumber children.
  • San Francisco has more dog-friendly destinations–177 restaurants, 72 hotels, 57 parks–compared to Seattle’s 103 dog-friendly restaurants, 52 hotels and 17 parks.

Perhaps my favorite stat in this infographic is the one that clearly states that cats outnumber dogs in Seattle. Clearly, we have our priorities straight.

Click image to enlarge

 

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