Dining out, like everything else, is getting more expensive. In fact, according to the personal finance site WalletHub, restaurant prices have risen 6.5% between August 2022 and August 2023. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still go out and have fun every now and then – especially if you live in one of the top food cities in the country.
The WalletHub has just released its 2023 report on the “Best Food Cities in America,” which lists the best and most affordable dining locations in the United States.
To determine the rankings, the team compared over 180 of the largest cities in the country, analyzing each in 28 categories, including affordability and reasonable pricing, number of food festivals per capita, craft breweries and wineries per capita, restaurant diversity, presence in the Michelin guide, among others.
Researchers named Orlando, Florida, the number 1 food city in America. It won for the diversity and quality of its restaurants, but also for several other reasons, such as the highest number of ice cream shops, the highest number of coffee shops per capita, the highest number of specialty food grocery stores, and finally, it scored high in the affordability category.
The other 9 food cities that make up the top ten are: Portland (Oregon); Sacramento (California); Miami (Florida); San Francisco (California); Tampa (Florida); San Diego (California); Las Vegas (Nevada); Austin (Texas); and Seattle (Washington).
WalletHub also highlighted some cities that did not make the top 10, such as St. Louis, which has the highest number of gourmet specialty food stores of any city.
Source: Travel+Leisure