With Oct. 1 being World Vegetarian Day and Nov. 1 being World Vegan Day, and with synthetic meat products receiving a sales bump due to COVID-19 meat shortages, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2020’s Best Cities for Vegans & Vegetarians, as well as accompanying videos.
To determine the best and cheapest places for following a plant-based diet, WalletHub compared the 100 largest cities across 16 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. Lexington-Fayette, KY |
| 2. Los Angeles, CA | 12. Tampa, FL |
| 3. San Francisco, CA | 13. San Diego, CA |
| 4. Orlando, FL | 14. Irving, TX |
| 5. Seattle, WA | 15. Atlanta, GA |
| 6. Miami, FL | 16. Lincoln, NE |
| 7. Boise, ID | 17. Chicago, IL |
| 8. Fort Wayne, IN | 18. St. Paul, MN |
| 9. Oakland, CA | 19. Lubbock, TX |
| 10. Austin, TX | 20. New York, NY |
Best vs. Worst
- Scottsdale, Arizona, has the highest share of restaurants serving vegetarian options, 27.76 percent, which is 12 times higher than in Laredo, Texas, the city with the lowest at 2.31 percent.
- Scottsdale, Arizona, has the highest share of restaurants serving vegan options, 16.01 percent, which is 16.7 times higher than in Garland, Texas, the city with the lowest at 0.96 percent.
- San Francisco has the most community-supported agriculture programs (per square root of population), 0.0172, which is 21.5 times more than in San Antonio, the city with the fewest at 0.0008.
- Orlando, Florida, has the most salad shops (per square root of population), 0.2076, which is 16.9 times more than in Garland, Texas, the city with the fewest at 0.0123.
