With World Vegan Day coming up on November 1st and research showing that skipping meat can save the average person at least $750 per year, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2018’s Best Cities for Vegans & Vegetarians as well as accompanying videos.
In addition to saving money, if you believe that humans are able to change the direction of global warming, the IPCC’s SR15 report just came out and confirmed that going vegan is crucial in that effort. This has been known for years; however, many of my climate alarmist friends continue to eat meat and drink dairy while cursing at the fossil fuel industry. Seems a bit hypocritical. Regardless, even if you don’t live in or near the cities mentioned below, there is no reason 99+% of the U.S. population cannot change over to eating vegan. I did it in 1994 and much to my mother’s surprise, I haven’t keeled over dead from a lack of protein. I would dare say that I am healthier than the average 53-year-old male with a higher level of testosterone and great blood circulation. So go vegan for your health, the planet, and the animals. I am also living proof one can be a libertarian while being a vegan.
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 dataset 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 | New York, NY | 11 | Washington, DC | |
| 2 | Portland, OR | 12 | Tampa, FL | |
| 3 | Orlando, FL | 13 | Chicago, IL | |
| 4 | Seattle, WA | 14 | Phoenix, AZ | |
| 5 | San Francisco, CA | 15 | Miami, FL | |
| 6 | Los Angeles, CA | 16 | Atlanta, GA | |
| 7 | Austin, TX | 17 | Anaheim, CA | |
| 8 | Scottsdale, AZ | 18 | Nashville, TN | |
| 9 | San Diego, CA | 19 | Houston, TX | |
| 10 | Las Vegas, NV | 20 | Madison, WI | |
Best vs. Worst
- Scottsdale, Arizona, has the highest share of restaurants serving vegetarian options, 33.44 percent, which is 16.8 times higher than in Laredo, Texas, the city with the lowest at 1.99 percent.
- Scottsdale, Arizona, has the highest share of restaurants serving vegan options, 20.23 percent, which is 37.5 times higher than in Newark, New Jersey, the city with the lowest at 0.54 percent.
- San Francisco has the most community-supported agriculture programs (per square root of the population), 0.0128, which is 18.3 times more than in Houston, the city with the fewest at 0.0007.
- New York has the most salad shops (per square root of the population), 0.2510, which is 42.5 times more than in Laredo, Texas, the city with the fewest at 0.0059.
