With Oct. 1 being World Vegetarian Day and Nov. 1 being World Vegan Day, and with 15.5 million U.S. adults having a vegetarian or vegan diet, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2022’s Best Cities for Vegans & Vegetarians, as well as accompanying videos and expert commentary.
To determine the best and cheapest places for following a plant-based diet, WalletHub compared the 100 largest cities across 17 key indicators of vegan- and vegetarian-friendliness. The data set ranges from the share of restaurants serving meatless options to the cost of groceries for vegetarians to salad shops per capita.
| Top 20 Cities for Vegans & Vegetarians | |
| 1. Portland, OR | 11. Boise, ID |
| 2. Orlando, FL | 12. Miami, FL |
| 3. Los Angeles, CA | 13. Cincinnati, OH |
| 4. Phoenix, AZ | 14. El Paso, TX |
| 5. Austin, TX | 15. Plano, TX |
| 6. Seattle, WA | 16. Las Vegas, NV |
| 7. San Francisco, CA | 17. Bakersfield, CA |
| 8. Tampa, FL | 18. Washington, DC |
| 9. San Diego, CA | 19. Fort Wayne, IN |
| 10. Lexington-Fayette, KY | 20. Chicago, IL |
Best vs. Worst
- Plano, Texas, has the highest share of restaurants serving vegetarian options, 63.65 percent, which is 21.6 times higher than in Laredo, Texas, the city with the lowest at 2.95 percent.
- Scottsdale, Arizona, has the highest share of restaurants serving vegan options, 16.26 percent, which is 19.6 times higher than in North Las Vegas, Nevada, the city with the lowest at 0.83 percent.
- San Francisco has the most community-supported agriculture programs (per square root of population), 0.0182, which is 22.8 times more than in San Antonio, the city with the fewest at 0.0008.
- Atlanta has the most salad shops (per square root of population), 0.2296, which is 17.8 times more than in San Bernardino, California, the city with the fewest at 0.0129.
