2023’s Best Cities for Crafting
Love to DIY? Whether you’re a needlework novice or a full-time Etsy-preneur, 2023’s Best Cities for Crafting will bring out your inner Martha Stewart.
LawnStarter pieced together this ranking of the 200 biggest U.S. cities using 14 “crafty” metrics.
LawnStarter looked for easy access to crafting supplies, a big crafting community, workshops for learning new techniques, and plenty of crafting events to attend.
Celebrate National Craft Month this March in one of America’s DIY art capitals below, and find out why some cities’ craft scenes stand out.
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Highlights
Crafting Capital of America
New York might as well be called “The City That Never Stops Crafting.”
For the second year in a row, The Big Apple handily defeated its competition by dominating three out of four categories: Access, Community, and Events.
However, Gotham lacks enough art schools, classes, and workshops to formally train its enormous population — the city finished 154th out of 200 in Education.
Regardless, crafty creatives won’t struggle to find inspiration outside the classroom in America’s biggest melting pot of cultures and backgrounds.
Materialistic Cities Big and Small
In general, the biggest U.S. cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Houston fared best in LawnStarter ranking. More residents simply means more demand for creative outlets. That’s why these cities collectively showed well in Access, Community, and Events.
That’s not to say smaller cities lack creativity and can’t hold a homemade candle to those crafty behemoths.
Landing at No. 17, for example, is Rochester, New York, home to America’s oldest craft school and to world-class craft artists like sculptor Albert Paley. Richmond, Virginia, secured its place in our top 25 with its thriving craft scene. For nearly 60 years, Richmond has hosted the annual Craft + Design, a nationally attended exhibit showcasing the nation’s best contemporary crafts.
Both cities have populations under 250,000.
Meet Your Maker (at Craft Week)
Want to buy the highest-quality handmade goods or take your craft skills to the next level?
San Francisco (No. 3), Atlanta (No. 7), Baltimore (No. 13), and St. Paul, Minnesota (No. 27) are the places to be. Each of these top performers plays host to American Craft Made, an event that connects art lovers and craft hobbyists with hundreds of America’s top crafting pros.
The national event showcases crafts from all over the U.S., as well as fun and educational activities like workshops, studio tours, and “maker meetups.”
Clear your calendar to visit these handy hubs if you’re serious about your craft and want to show your appreciation for the big players in the industry.
Stitching Together 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 four categories: Access, Community, Education, and Events.
Next, LawnStarter calculated weighted scores for each city in each category.
Finally, LawnStarter averaged the scores for each city across all categories.
The city that earned the highest average score ranked “Best” (No. 1), while the city with the lowest ranked “Worst” (No. 200).
Notes:
- The “Worst” among individual factors may not be No. 200 due to ties among cities.
- “National Craft Chains” include Hobby Lobby, HobbyTown, Jo-Ann Fabrics & Crafts, and Michaels.