The Most Pet Friendly Cities in the U.S.

We’ve seen many rankings of pet friendly cities out there, but almost all of them seem to ignore a very important factor: whether or not you can live with your furry best friend. In order to figure out which cities were best for pet owners, we collected data from different sources, ranging from Yelp to the Trust for Public Land and our own rental data, to compute our first ever ranking of the Most Pet Friendly Cities in the U.S.

Top 10 Nationwide Results

1. St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg topped our ranks of pet friendly cities due largely to the fact that it was in the top ten percent of cities with cat friendly listings. St. Petersburg also scored very well in the “Ease of Owning a Pet” category because of the high density of veterinarians, pet stores and pet restaurants in the area.
2. Seattle, Washington
Rated by WalkScore as the 8th most walkable city in the U.S., Seattle came in second nationally and first on the West Coast in our pet friendly rankings. This city has over 8 acres of public parkland per thousand citizens and a mild climate, making it a perfect place to spend time outdoors with your dog. Seattle also had over sixty percent of listings that allowed for some type of pet and a high density of pet stores for its population.
3. Portland, Oregon
Portland had the highest number of dog parks per capita, with 5.4 parks per hundred thousand residents, giving Fido plenty of options for walks. While a slightly smaller proportion of Portland listings allowed for pets, when compared to the rest of the top 10 cities, Portland made up for it with a high density of pet stores and veterinarians. Regionally, Portland was the second most pet friendly city in the Northwest.
4. Arlington, Virginia
With the highest score in the “Ease of Owning a Pet” category, Arlington pet owners shouldn’t have any trouble finding a pet store, vet, or a pet-friendly restaurant. Dog park enthusiasts can also rejoice as Arlington boasts more than 3 dog parks per hundred thousands residents, giving its D.C. neighbors a place to escape to on the weekends with their furry friends.
5. Tampa, Florida
Coming in as the second most pet friendly city in Florida, Tampa fared well in our national rankings, too. While St. Petersburg beat Tampa in the “Play” and “Ease of Owning a Pet” categories, Tampa scored much higher in the “Zumper PetApt” category since it had one of the highest proportions of pet friendly listings.
6. New Orleans, Louisiana
Although New Orleans ranked on the low end in terms of the proportion of listings that allow pets, it had high scores in the “Ease of Owning a Pet” and “Play” categories due to a high concentration of pet related businesses along with relatively low pet insurance premiums. In terms of regional comparisons, New Orleans scored as the third most pet friendly city in the South.
7. Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque had strong scores across each of the three categories, propelling it into the top ten of our rankings. With nearly 50 acres of public parkland for every thousand residents, a high density of dog parks, and some of the lowest pet insurance premiums in the country, Albuquerque is a great place to own a pet. The city also scored as the most pet friendly city in the Southwest.
8. Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta scored consistently well across each category in our rankings, with a large proportion of pet friendly listings as a stand out category. While the city lagged slightly behind in the “Play” category due to a minimal amount of public parkland, it still had a high density of pet related businesses with an especially high concentration of pet friendly restaurants. Regionally, Atlanta was the fourth most pet friendly city in the South.
9. Sacramento, California
Even with a relatively small proportion of the city devoted to public parkland, Sacramento still ranked in our top 10 list due to the fact that many of the parks that it does have are specifically for dogs. Sacramento also had a high concentration of pet friendly businesses along with one of the higher proportions of pet friendly apartments.
10. Austin, Texas
Although Austin was the last city that obtained a spot in our top ten ranking, it was the fifth most pet-friendly city in the South. Austin had the highest proportion of pet friendly listings of any major city and a high density of dog parks and public parkland as well.
Méthodologie
To compile our pet friendly rankings, we computed three individual categories that were then totaled to compute a final score based on ten factors. The “Zumper PetApt” score was calculated based on the percentage of Zumper listings in each of the 95 cities that allow cats and/or dogs. For the “Ease of Owning a Pet” score, we looked at the cost of dog and cat insurance premiums along with the number of veterinarians, pet stores and pet restaurants per capita on Yelp. For the “Play” category, we considered the number of dog parks per capita, the percentage of each city devoted to parkland, the WalkScore and the number of “pleasant” days per year as our proxy for weather, calculated by Kelly Norton.