With October 1 being World Vegetarian Day and November 1 being World Vegan Day, and with 15.5 million U.S. adults having a vegetarian or vegan diet, the personal-finance website WalletHub this week released its report on 2022’s Best Cities for Vegans And Vegetarians.
One of the biggest concerns people express about vegetarian or vegan diets is the cost. However, with meat costs rising faster than those of fruits and vegetables, Americans may find working some vegetarian or vegan meals into their diet to be an attractive option.
Many U.S. cities offer plentiful and inexpensive options for budget-conscious herbivores.
To determine the best and cheapest places for a plant-based diet, WalletHub compared the 100 largest U.S. cities across 17 key indicators of vegan- and vegetarian-friendliness.
“We examined each city based on such metrics as the cost of groceries for vegetarians, the share of restaurants serving meatless options and salad shops per capita,” said Adam McCann, Wallet Hub Financial Writer.
The data set ranges from the share of restaurants serving meatless options to the cost of groceries for vegetarians to salad shops per capita.
See the top 5 best cities for vegans and vegetarians.
Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon, is ranked as the most vegetarian and vegan-friendly city in the US. Portland performed well on its organic farms, community gardens, and restaurant options.
Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida, is the second most vegetarian and vegan-friendly city in the US. The city performed well for offering one of the best juice and smoothie bars per capita, salad shops per capita and vegetable nurseries per capita.
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California, is ranked as the third most vegetarian and vegan-friendly city in the US. Los Angeles also has the second best Vegan lifestyle in the country.
Phoenix, Arizona
Ranked as the third most vegetarian and vegan-friendly city in the US, Phoenix, Arizona, offers good diversity, accessibility and quality. However, the city has one of the lowest vegetarian lifestyle indexes on the list.
Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas, is ranked as the fifth most vegetarian and vegan-friendly city in the US. Austin has good affordability, diversity, accessibility and quality.
Other Indexes - 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.
