A new study by WalletHub sets out to determine the most vegetarian- and vegan-friendly cities across the U.S. To come up with the results, the site analyzed the 100 most populated cities in the country and compared local data related to affordability (average meal cost, price of groceries), diversity (juice and smoothie bars per capita, community gardens per capita, access to fresh vegetarian food) and vegetarian lifestyle (vegetable and fruit consumption, availability of vegetarian and vegan festivals).
We can't say the results are surprising as major metropolitan cities, with eclectically diverse foodie scenes, top the list. Take a look at the top 25 ranking:
1. New York
2. Portland, OR
3. Orlando
4. San Francisco
5. Los Angeles
6. Seattle, WA
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Scottsdale
9. Miami
10. San Diego
11. Anaheim, CA
12. Madison, WI
13. Austin
14. Las Vegas
15. Tampa
16. Buffalo, NY
17. Houston
18. Chesapeake, VA
19. Atlanta
20. An Jose
21. Albuquerque, NM
22. Raleigh, NC
23. Indianapolis
24. Philadelphia
25. Pittsburgh
An in-depth look at the more granular aspects of the study reveals some interesting details. Three Texas cities (San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Houston) boast the lowest coast of groceries for vegetarians in general. New York is home to the highest percentage of restaurants serving vegetarian options, to most juice and smoothie bars per capita and to most salad shops per capita (it shares that ranking with San Francisco and Orlando). Clearly, the Big Apple is where non-carnivores would enjoy dining the most.
In case you were wondering, Greensboro in North Carolina is the least veggie-friendly city in all of the country. Check out the entire study right here.