Top Dog-Friendly U.S. Cities of 2020: Tampa Leads the Pack

Tampa, Florida is the most dog-friendly city in the United States in 2020, according to research by credit score company WalletHub. The city rates highly for pet care affordability, pet-specific businesses per capita, and outdoor dog-friendliness.

Austin, Las Vegas, Orlando, and Seattle round out the top five dog-friendly cities for 2020.

The five lowest-ranking dog-friendly cities? Fresno, San Bernadino, Santa Ana, and Bakersfield — all in California, with Honolulu taking the #97 spot.

The rankings are based on research by WalletHub, which compared 100 of the largest U.S. cities across three key dimensions: pet budget, pet health & wellness, and outdoor pet-friendliness. These dimensions were further subdivided into 25 metrics.

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Metrics related to pet budget include veterinary car costs and dog insurance premiums, among others.

Pet health & wellness metrics include veterinarians, animal trainers, dog-friendly restaurants, and pet meetup groups per capita. Also included, the pet-friendliness of the rental market, and the strength of animal protection laws, among others.

Outdoor pet-friendliness metrics include the weather and dog parks and dog-friendly trails per capita, among others.

The report also ranked the cities by some of the key metrics.

Veterinary Costs

Corpus Christi in Texas has the lowest veterinary-care costs, followed by Stockton (CA), Winston (NC), Lincoln (NE), and Memphis (TN). On the other end of the spectrum, Boston had the highest veterinary-care costs, followed by New York City, Newark (NJ), Plano (TX), and Washington, DC.

Dog Parks Per Capita

The city with the most dog parks? New York City, followed by San Francisco, Portland (OR), Las Vegas and Henderson (LV), and Boise. The cities with the fewest dog parks per capita are Plano (TX), Santa Ana (CA), Newark (NJ), Garland (TX), and Hialeah (FL).

Insurance Premiums

Cities with the lowest dog insurance premiums are St. Paul (MN), Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Minneapolis, and Atlanta. You’ll find the highest dog insurance premiums in San Diego, New York City, Los Angeles, Irvine (CA), and San Francisco.