Top Vegan and Veggie-Friendly US Cities Revealed. Where Does Your City Rank?
New research from financial company WalletHub has compared the 100 largest US cities to identify the top destinations for vegans and vegetarians based on factors such as the cost of being meat-free and the number of plant-based restaurants.
Credit: Anima International
Portland, Oregon has topped the list of the most vegan and vegetarian-friendly city in the United States for the fifth year in a row, according to a recent WalletHub study.
The financial company compared the 100 largest US cities, evaluating 17 key factors including the cost of vegetarian groceries, the availability of meatless options in restaurants, and the number of organic farms, smoothie shops, and community gardens per capita. Each city could earn up to 100 points.
Scoring 61.38 based on the analysis, Portland was found to be the most welcoming and cost-effective city for those following a plant-based lifestyle, closely followed by Los Angeles and Orlando.
Meanwhile, Baltimore, Maryland, and Greensboro, North Carolina closely scored as the worst cities on the list in terms of vegetarian friendliness.
Growing Veganism
As awareness grows on how the global appetite for meat is condemning millions of animals to live on factory farms, plant-based options are increasing in popularity as more and more people are choosing vegan alternatives.
Factory farms, also referred to as ‘concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO)’, are defined as farms that keep animals in confined conditions. Typically, these farms raise many animals in cramped spaces where they will have little-to-no access to the outside, and often cannot perform many natural behaviors.
Publicly available figures from the government show that 10 billion animals in the US were factory-farmed in 2017 - that is 99 percent of all livestock in the country.
Credit: Anima International
Studies have shown that plant-based diets emit half the greenhouse gas emissions as animal-based foods, so a shift to more plant-forward foods is also seen as an effective and healthy way of helping to tackle the climate crisis.
Meatless Restaurant Options
Although El Paso, Texas received a low ranking for its overall vegan-friendliness, Irving and Plano stood out with the highest score for the number of restaurants providing vegetarian options, according to WalletHub. Nearly 56 percent of its dining establishments featured meatless menu options. Their analysis score for restaurant options was on par with Scottsdale, Arizona; Orlando, Florida; Boston, Massachusetts; and St. Petersburg, Florida.
There was also a tie between Scottsdale, Arizona; Orlando, Florida; Boston, Massachusetts; and St. Petersburg, Florida for cities with a high percentage of vegan-friendly restaurants.
It is estimated that nearly 50 percent of restaurants and fast-food chains are now serving plant-based options, catering to the 15.5 million US adults who are now following either a vegan or vegetarian diet.
Leading fast-food chains are among the major players who are expanding their plant-based offerings in response to shifting consumer preferences. Earlier this month, Taco Bell debuted its first-ever vegan menu item. Meanwhile, Burger King has predicted that 50 percent of its menu will be plant-based within less than a decade and has trialed offering plant-based burgers as the default choice for customers, as part of its “Normal, or With Meat?” campaign.
Some restaurants, however, are falling behind the competition when it comes to embracing alternative proteins. The fried-chicken, fast-food chain has over 800 restaurants across the United States with the majority located in Georgia and the Carolinas.
Credit: Beyond Meat
After hearing that Bojangles is one of the few hold-out, fast-food chains that still haven’t added a plant-based main to their menu, thousands of Species Unite members signed a petition urging the fried-chicken chain to increase their offerings to include a vegan chicken sandwich.
“Adding a plant-based option at Bojangles would be a huge win for vegans in the Southeastern US who deserve to have easy and affordable dining opportunities, it would save countless chickens from suffering, lower Bojangles’ carbon footprint, and provide a healthier option for long-time fans of the franchise,” reads the petition.
Where Does Your City Rank?
The top twenty cities for vegetarians and vegans based on the analysis are:
Portland, Oregon
Los Angeles, California
Orlando, Florida
San Diego, California
Phoenix, Arizona
San Francisco, California
Seattle, Washington
Miami, Florida
Austin, Texas
Oakland, California
Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky
Tampa, Florida
Las Vegas, Nevada
Chicago, Illinois
Louisville, Kentucky
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Washington, D.C.
Irving, Texas
Atlanta, Georgia
St. Louis, Missouri
To see the complete rankings from WalletHub’s analysis, click here.
Join thousands of others who are urging Bojangles to make the smart choice for human health, animal welfare, by adding a plant-based chicken sandwich to their menu.
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The move highlights the growing popularity of alternative milks, with the company even converting one of its milk processing factories into a dedicated plant-based production facility.