The Best Cities for Dog Owners in 2020

Updated June 5, 2021

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, over 43 million households in the U.S. own at least one dog, making it the most popular pet choice in America. However, not all cities are created equal when it comes to the happiness of both pet and owner.

We at PetListed set out to find these top cities. To do this, we studied five different data sets that covered the 100 most populous cities across America. These metrics included city walkability, proximity to greenspace for residents, the abundance of parks in a city, median rent prices, and number of dog friendly restaurants. The result of our analysis was a comprehensive scoring system that ranked the best places to be a dog owner in 2020.

Top 10 Nationwide Results

1. St. Louis, MO

St. Louis topped our list as the best city for dog owners in the U.S., coming in strong across all metrics we tracked. St. Louis has 257 different parks to choose from, with over 95% of the resident population having access within a ten minute walk. Furthermore, affordable rent prices at $950 for a one bedroom, a highly walkable infrastructure, and an abundance of dog-friendly establishments added to its allure for dog owners.

2. Washington, DC

Washington DC came in second place on our list, scoring high in walkability, greenspace, and dog friendly establishments. The city’s 99.3 parks per 100,000 residents was the 6th highest of any city we studied. While landing strong in most metrics, DC was held back from the top spot because of expensive rent prices at $2,050 for a one bedroom.

3. Albuquerque, NM

Albuquerque came in as the third best city in our study. Despite scoring average marks in walkability, over 87% of the resident population can actually reach a park within a ten minute walk. Where Albuquerque particularly shines in cost of living; median rent prices for a one bedroom apartment are an extremely affordable $740.

4. Chicago, IL

The Windy City came in fourth place on our list. Chicago landed in the 93rd percentile of all cities for walkability, 94th for greenspace proximity, and was the top destination for dog friendly restaurants. While rent prices have increased over the past few years, a median rent of $1,500 for a one bedroom remains relatively affordable compared to other major American cities.

5. Seattle, WA

Seattle came in strong across all of our metrics, with the exception of rent prices at $1,700 for a one bedroom. 96% of residents have easy access to one of the city’s 508 parks. Looking to grab some food with your dog? Seattle has 347 dog-friendly establishments, ranking in the 90th percentile of all cities we tested.

6. Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh ranked in sixth place on our list, scoring high marks in particular for parks and greenspace proximity. In fact, 91% of the city’s residents have access to a park within a ten minute walk of their home. Pittsburgh also has 127 restaurants that are happy to accept pets along for dinner.

7. Boston, MA

Boston offers an incredible mix of bustling city alongside plentiful greenspace. This dog friendly city scored in the 97th percentile for walkability, 99th percentile for greenspace, and had the most parks per 100,000 residents of any major city in the country. The city slipped down our list slightly due to having one of the highest median rent prices in the country at $2,300 for a one bedroom. Still, Boston remains a great option for dog owners at seventh place.

8. Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis was the eighth best city for dog owners this year. Though the city has slightly higher than average rent prices at $1,330, residents have many outdoor options to outweigh this. In fact, Minneapolis scored on the top end in overall walkability, resident greenspace proximity, and dog-friendly restaurants.

9. Buffalo, NY

Buffalo came in ninth on our list of the best cities for dog owners. This Upstate New York gem has 346 total parks, one of the highest amounts per resident of any city in the country. It also scored in the 84th percentile for walkability.

10. Cincinnati, OH

Rounding out the top ten our list is Cincinnati, Ohio. The city received an overall A grade in our study, scoring solid marks across all of the metrics we tested. One particularly shining spot was Cincinnati’s abundance of parks, as well as its affordable rent prices at $950 for a one bedroom.

Methodology

Our study drew datasets from multiple government and commercial sources in order to produce our ranking. The five ranking factors were:

Walkability
Greenspace Proximity
Parks per 100,000 residents
Rent Prices
Dog Friendly Restaurants

For each category, an index was derived based on the whole dataset and then weighted according to the importance of each column. That final weighted score was then sorted to find the top cities for dog owners. Below are the specific sources for each dataset.

Walkability Index

To better gauge the walkability of each city, WalkScore data was gathered in September 2020.

Greenspace Proximity Index

The underlying statistic to this index is the percentage of residents in a city that can walk to a park in 10 minutes or less. Data was taken from The Trust for Public Land.

Parks Per 100,000 Residents

The metric represents the amount of parks in a city per 100,000 residents. Park data was gathered from The Trust for Public Land, while population data was recorded from the most recent U.S. Census estimates.

Rent Prices

To understand the potential rent burden for a resident, data was gathered from Zumper’s most recent September 2020 National Rent Report, which analyzes 1 million active rental listings per month in the United States. Higher rent prices were weighed as a negative in our index calculation.

Dog Friendly Restaurants

The number of dog friendly restaurants was taken from BringFido.com in September 2020.

Full Dataset

Rank	City	State	Walkability Index	Greenspace Proximity Index	Park Index	Rent Index	Dog Friendly Restaurant Index	Total Score	Grade
1	St. Louis	MO	80	90	87	76	67	80.0	A+
2	Washington	DC	92	94	95	7	91	75.7	A+
3	Albuquerque	NM	50	77	79	91	75	74.1	A+
4	Chicago	IL	93	94	53	20	100	74.0	A+
5	Seattle	WA	91	92	80	11	90	73.3	A+
6	Pittsburgh	PA	77	85	85	54	58	71.6	A+
7	Boston	MA	97	99	100	3	59	71.5	A+
8	Minneapolis	MN	85	92	75	24	77	71.3	A+
9	Buffalo	NY	84	81	99	62	32	70.6	A
10	Cincinnati	OH	66	65	92	84	53	70.3	A
11	Portland	OR	80	81	61	29	94	69.9	A
12	San Francisco	CA	98	99	66	0	76	69.4	A
13	Philadelphia	PA	94	90	35	27	81	68.2	A
14	Lincoln	NE	50	85	86	93	23	67.2	A
15	New York	NY	100	98	15	1	98	66.6	A
16	Baltimore	MD	85	77	57	40	69	66.5	A
17	Denver	CO	76	83	63	17	85	65.7	A
18	Cleveland	OH	75	73	58	82	34	65.0	A
19	Milwaukee	WI	77	83	44	63	49	64.9	A
20	Arlington	VA	85	94	84	6	53	64.7	A-
21	St. Paul	MN	74	94	93	28	29	63.7	A-
22	Omaha	NE	57	69	74	78	42	63.6	A-
23	Madison	WI	62	89	97	38	31	63.0	A-
24	Detroit	MI	72	69	65	100	8	62.9	A-
25	Richmond	VA	68	65	82	55	50	62.8	A-
26	Atlanta	GA	62	53	91	26	92	62.7	A-
27	New Orleans	LA	73	69	69	22	80	62.4	A-
28	Tucson	AZ	46	38	47	96	86	62.1	B+
29	Miami	FL	94	76	38	13	78	61.7	B+
30	Las Vegas	NV	37	54	70	62	83	60.2	B+
31	San Diego	CA	68	68	41	14	99	59.3	B+
32	Sacramento	CA	61	73	64	32	62	58.6	B+
33	Honolulu	HI	79	49	98	16	63	58.3	B+
34	Norfolk	VA	57	57	81	83	20	58.2	B+
35	Long Beach	CA	89	75	37	19	59	57.6	B+
36	Orlando	FL	46	38	90	32	93	57.2	B+
37	Tampa	FL	66	34	62	50	81	57.0	B+
38	St. Petersburg	FL	50	57	77	47	57	56.2	B+
39	Newark	NJ	96	87	23	47	2	54.1	B+
40	Kansas City	MO	17	49	94	65	55	53.5	B+
41	Colorado Springs	CO	23	54	56	67	67	53.0	B+
42	Aurora	CO	50	80	68	39	24	52.7	B+
43	Dallas	TX	59	49	27	34	89	52.6	B+
44	Oakland	CA	90	77	40	4	42	52.5	B+
45	Columbus	OH	37	29	59	91	51	51.9	B
46	San Jose	CA	68	67	51	2	66	51.3	B
47	Boise	ID	33	49	76	64	41	51.2	B
48	Greensboro	NC	5	38	88	89	46	50.8	B
49	Corpus Christi	TX	37	57	78	76	11	50.7	B
50	Fresno	CA	59	44	60	58	35	50.4	B
51	Houston	TX	62	28	13	47	97	50.1	B
52	Jersey City	NJ	99	87	21	10	16	50.0	B
53	Virginia Beach	VA	14	41	89	52	64	49.6	B
54	Reno	NV	28	57	73	70	24	49.5	B
55	Mesa	AZ	24	42	72	70	44	49.0	B
56	Raleigh	NC	9	26	83	54	84	48.5	B
57	Tulsa	OK	33	29	50	94	40	48.3	B
58	Austin	TX	33	29	42	38	96	47.2	B
59	Glendale	AZ	33	57	43	74	18	45.8	B
60	Los Angeles	CA	83	33	4	6	95	45.7	B
61	Anchorage	AK	12	57	96	67	6	45.5	B
62	Baton Rouge	LA	37	20	49	81	46	45.1	B
63	Irvine	CA	55	69	54	8	36	45.0	B
64	Birmingham	AL	20	16	67	73	61	44.8	B
65	El Paso	TX	37	25	46	96	22	44.3	B-
66	Memphis	TN	24	12	22	89	70	42.9	B-
67	San Antonio	TX	28	9	7	73	87	41.0	B-
68	Plano	TX	31	57	30	42	37	40.9	B-
69	Lubbock	TX	28	24	31	98	19	39.8	B-
70	Wichita	KS	20	20	33	100	28	39.7	B-
71	Lexington	KY	17	20	32	86	46	39.6	B-
72	Irving	TX	50	34	48	48	17	38.5	B-
73	Oklahoma City	OK	14	6	28	92	56	38.1	B-
74	Phoenix	AZ	37	15	2	58	72	37.4	B-
75	Stockton	CA	46	54	17	58	3	37.2	B-
76	Jacksonville	FL	3	2	55	68	71	37.0	B-
77	Fort Worth	TX	17	32	26	43	64	36.9	B-
78	Indianapolis	IN	9	2	14	86	73	36.2	B-
79	Louisville	KY	14	6	19	71	74	36.1	B-
80	Hialeah	FL	85	47	1	33	3	36.0	C+
81	Arlington	TX	24	26	10	81	33	35.8	C+
82	Santa Ana	CA	82	57	5	13	9	35.7	C+
83	Anaheim	CA	71	43	8	15	29	35.1	C+
84	Fort Wayne	IN	5	14	39	98	20	34.1	C+
85	Laredo	TX	37	23	24	78	1	32.7	C
86	Bakersfield	CA	24	13	9	89	24	32.1	C
87	Nashville	TN	4	9	25	42	79	31.1	C
88	Garland	TX	31	34	16	59	10	31.0	C
89	Durham	NC	5	16	52	51	38	30.6	C
90	Winston-Salem	NC	1	4	36	81	38	30.5	C-
91	Chula Vista	CA	46	44	34	18	5	30.0	C-
92	Fremont	CA	55	47	20	9	12	29.8	C-
93	Chesapeake	VA	0	9	71	62	14	28.0	C-
94	Charlotte	NC	2	5	12	30	88	27.1	C-
95	Chandler	AZ	20	34	29	36	6	25.5	D
96	Henderson	NV	9	19	18	50	15	22.3	D
97	Riverside	CA	37	16	11	23	13	20.5	D
98	Scottsdale	AZ	12	8	6	22	52	20.1	D
99	Paradise	NV	62	0	0	25	0	17.4	F
100	Gilbert	AZ	5	1	3	36	27	14.5	F