For the eight million vegan or vegetarian adults in the U.S., dietary restrictions make finding accommodating restaurants and supermarkets more complicated. But a new ranking aims to better guide these plant-based dieters to the best metro areas for them.
WalletHub found the most vegetarian– and vegan-friendly metro area is New York, New York, followed by Portland, Oregon and Orlando, Florida, in its “2017 Best Cities for Vegans & Vegetarians” study. The ranking includes 100 metro areas all over the U.S.
To formulate the ranking, the organization considered 15 metrics spanning categories of affordability; diversity, accessibility and quality; and vegetarian lifestyle. Under affordability, some of these metrics included the cost of groceries for vegetarians and the average meal cost. Diversity, accessibility and quality included metrics like share of restaurants serving vegetarian and vegan options, respectively, and juice and smoothie bars per capita.
Most of the cheapest groceries for vegetarians could be found in Texas, with San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Houston and Austin making up four out of the top five (Louisville, Kentucky was No. 4). The most expensive groceries were largely in California (San Francisco, Fremont, Oakland and San Jose), though Honolulu, Hawaii took the top slot.
The top 10 most vegetarian- and vegan-friendly cities are listed below, along with the affordability rank of each. The complete list of cities is available here.
| Overall Rank | City | ‘Affordability’ Rank |
| 1 | New York, New York | 41 |
| 2 | Portland, Oregon | 31 |
| 3 | Orlando, Florida | 28 |
| 4 | San Francisco, California | 100 |
| 5 | Los Angeles, California | 24 |
| 6 | Seattle, Washington | 90 |
| 7 | Washington, DC | 88 |
| 8 | Scottsdale, Arizona | 69 |
| 9 | Miami, Florida | 50 |
| 10 | San Diego, California | 53 |
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These Are the Best Cities for Vegans and Vegetarians originally appeared on usnews.com
