San Francisco named the world’s best city for LGBTQ+ life, but US cities are sliding
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San Francisco has been ranked the world’s best city for LGBTQ+ life, though the study warns that American cities are slipping overall amid the political climate under Donald Trump.
The finding comes from the 2026 Sexually Liberal City Index, compiled by adult entertainment platform Erobella, which scored 41 cities worldwide across four areas: sex-work law, LGBTQ+ life, reproductive health and adult lifestyle.
San Francisco topped the LGBTQ+ category specifically, scoring 70 out of 100, ahead of Manchester on 62 and Cologne on 61.
The city was praised for its enduring community infrastructure, from the Castro to its Pride traditions, and the highest concentration of sex worker organisations of any city measured.
The full top 10 for LGBTQ+ life was: San Francisco, Manchester, Cologne, Amsterdam, Miami, Atlanta, Glasgow, Berlin, Paris and Vancouver.
Amsterdam claimed the overall crown for the second year running, with the report crediting its strong legal protections and long history of LGBTQ+ acceptance.
San Francisco was the only American city in the overall top 10, and the report found that US cities tended to combine vibrant LGBTQ+ and nightlife scenes with weaker scores on legal and policy protections.
Miami, for instance, achieved maximum marks for its gay bars, venues and events, yet ranked only 10th overall due to low scores on gender-affirmation and anti-discrimination protections. The study explicitly noted that American cities were “fighting under the current administration”.
Manchester climbed to third place overall, comfortably outperforming every other UK city.
Glasgow ranked eighth and London, despite its size, sat in 23rd.
At the very bottom of the index sat Cape Town, Tokyo and Moscow, the latter scoring a single point in the LGBTQ+ category
