With Oct. 1 being World Vegetarian Day, Nov. 1 being World Vegan Day, and meat prices getting hit much harder by inflation than fruit and vegetable prices, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2024’s Best Cities for Vegans & Vegetarians, as well as expert commentary, to identify the places that make a switch to a plant-based diet easiest.
To determine the best and cheapest places for 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 the number of salad shops per capita.
| Top 20 Cities for Vegans & Vegetarians | |
| 1. Los Angeles, CA | 11. New York, NY |
| 2. Orlando, FL | 12. Washington, DC |
| 3. Portland, OR | 13. Oakland, CA |
| 4. San Diego, CA | 14. Las Vegas, NV |
| 5. Seattle, WA | 15. Chicago, IL |
| 6. Austin, TX | 16. Atlanta, GA |
| 7. San Francisco, CA | 17. Madison, WI |
| 8. Miami, FL | 18. Houston, TX |
| 9. Phoenix, AZ | 19. Sacramento, CA |
| 10. Tampa, FL | 20. San Antonio, TX |
Best vs. Worst
- Scottsdale, Arizona, has the highest share of restaurants serving vegetarian options, which is 12.3 times higher than in Laredo, Texas, the city with the lowest.
- Scottsdale, Arizona, has the highest share of restaurants serving vegan options, which is 59.9 times higher than in North Las Vegas, Nevada, the city with the lowest.
- San Francisco has the most community-supported agriculture programs (per square root of population), which is 19.8 times more than in Dallas, Texas, the city with the fewest.
- Miami has the most salad shops (per square root of population), which is 13.1 times more than in San Bernardino, California, the city with the fewest.
