San Diego is the No. 4 Best City for Dog Lovers

Our dogs love us unconditionally, but how well do our local communities reciprocate that love to our BFFs (Best Furry Friends)? To mark National Dog Day on Aug. 26, LawnStarter sniffed out 2022’s Best Cities for Dog Lovers.

How does San Diego stack up?

San Diego’s Rank in Some Key Metrics (1st = Best)

• Share of Dog-Friendly Rental Properties – 93rd
• Number of Dog Meetups – 2nd
• Emergency Veterinary Clinics and Hospitals – 4th
• Number of Kennels – 16th
• Number of Dog-Friendly Accomodations – 1st
• Average Per-Visit Dog Sitter Rate (Income-Adjusted) – 30th

LawnStarter measured the puppy love in nearly 175 of the biggest U.S. cities based on 24 key indicators of dog-friendliness, such as housing, services, and care. LawnStarter also looked at pawlicy favorability, access to pup-welcoming businesses, and affordability.

Check out the leaders of the pack (and the runts of the litter) in the ranking below, followed by some highlights and lowlights.

Highlights and Lowlights

Good Dog, Bad Dog

Turns out dogs and cats can happily coexist — as long as they live in the right city. The Best and Worst Cities for Dog Lovers (Orlando, Florida, and Detroit, respectively) are also this year’s furrendliest and least friendly toward Cat Lovers.

Despite dog- and cat-specific factors making up each study, it’s clear The City Beautiful has a thriving service industry for both types of pets, while The D — sadly not an acronym for “dog-friendly” — is sorely lacking for either.

Orlando leads the pack in pet caretakers, boarding options, and pet stores. That’s expected of a city frequented by tourist families toting their four-legged relatives. Ironically, these families visit to meet Disney’s most famous dogs, Goofy and Pluto — and drop off their own with the sitters.

On the other paw, Detroit missed the mark across all categories, landing near the bottom of almost every indicator. While Motown has plenty to offer your visiting BFF, it’s perhaps not the best city for a furmanent address.

Last year’s No. 1 was Hollywoo(f), Florida, and in last place was New York. Orlando displaced 2021’s winner by significantly improving its dog-friendly housing and care stats. Detroit unseated the Big Apple due to dismal performance in new Affordability metrics.

Homeward (South)bound

The overwhelming majority of The top 50 cities for dog-friendly housing is located in the American South.

Texas has the edge, claiming four of the top 10 spots. Zooming in, Frisco is most generous with indoor space at an average of over 3,000 square feet, while Macon, Georgia, boasts the biggest yards, averaging nearly 20,000 square feet of roving room for Bailey.

If you’re not ready to buy a home, competition for pup-welcoming rentals will be minimal in Tampa, Florida.

Steer clear of cities like Honolulu, New York, Philadelphia, and Boston if you and your pooch are claustrophobic. San Francisco also counts among those to avoid for housing, which is ironic for a city with more dogs than children.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

When you have a furry best pal who loves your company, you want to do everything together — even shopping, eating out, traveling, and getting your hair done.

It’s easy to give your pooch the royal treatment in cities like Austin, Miami, and Seattle. Here, dogs are considered part of the population, so opportunities to kick it with your four-legged companion come aplenty. These cities spoil both pups and their parents with abundant dog-friendly restaurants, shopping centers, and hotels.

Don’t stray into Los Angeles suburbs, though. Let your dog out in the fringes of this metro, and Clifford might just run off to dog haven LA (No. 6 overall). Lancaster, San Bernardino, and Pomona, for example, make up a big chunk of the Businesses category’s worst end due to a lack of woof-worthy options.

Surprising Findings

Small-Dog Cities, Top-Dog Costs

Believe it or not, the most expensive cities to live in general are not the least affordable for dog ownership.

Washington, Seattle, and San Francisco, for example, are three of the spendiest U.S. cities yet rank 12th, 13th, and 14th, respectively, in the Affordability category. By contrast, Detroit, Cleveland, and Jackson, Mississippi, cities with far lower cost of living, number among the worst for Affordability.

Inflation feels like a tight financial collar around everyone’s neck right now but especially lower-income earners’ in cities like Detroit.

To be fair, the wealthiest families in cities like Seattle skew the local average income data, giving the illusion that more people can afford higher costs, including those for dog services. Even well-paid earners are turning to Walmart for cheaper supplies these days.

Western Medicine

If your pup is constantly sick, you’d be in luck living in the Western half of the country.

In Las Vegas, Tucson, Arizona, and Fort Collins, Colorado, for example, canine health is top of mind. Each of these cities boasts the best access to dog health services, including vets, emergency animal hospitals, and general animal clinics.

If Spot is in good health, however, Miami and Santa Rosa, California, are ideal cities for your pup. These cities offer some of the most pet stores within easy reach for everyday needs, as well as plenty of vets and emergency animal hospitals.

Behind the Ranking

For each of the 200 biggest U.S. cities, LawnStarter gathered publicly available data on the factors listed in the table below.

LawnStarter then grouped those factors into six categories: Housing, Community, Care, Services, Businesses, and Affordability.

Next, LawnStarter calculated weighted scores for each city in each category.

Finally, LawnStarter averaged the scores for each city across all categories. LawnStarter eliminated 26 cities lacking sufficient data in a single category, resulting in a total sample size of 174 cities.

The city that earned the highest average score was ranked “Best” overall (No. 1), while the city with the lowest was ranked “Worst” overall (No. 174). (Note: The “Worst” among individual factors may not be 174 due to ties.)