Do Your Neighbors Have an STI? Is it Your Right to Know?

Well, here's one way to pick a new apartment. RentApplication.com, a site that offers open source rental applications to homeowners, has taken the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's data on sexually transmitted infection rates in the U.S. and mapped them — for potential tenants and buyers, we presume. Diseases included were syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia. (The CDC data included herpes, HPV, and HIV but those rates are notably absent from the RentApplication maps). The story runs under the headline, "The Most Sexually Diseased Cities in the U.S.A."

Stigmatizing? Absolutely. Fascinating? Sadly, yes.

If you're deathly afraid of STIs and don't like to use condoms, then avoid Montgomery, Alabama, which has the top spot. Another thing's for sure, you may want to steer clear of military bases: "The military helped cities rank strongly in the top 10, with Norfolk Naval Base, Ft. Hood, and Ft. Bragg all pushing their cities to the top," the site notes.  

Of course, health advocates will be quick to point out that a large percentage of cities in the top 20 are in the South, a region where health inequities break down by race and class and hard hit communities are beset by poverty. (Also of interest, there isn't a left coast city in the top 50; San Francisco is the highest West Coast city, and it ranks at 59.)

How does your city stack up? And does it matter?

This map about STD statistics was created and produced by RentApplication.com.