PHOENIX- To most pet owners, your pets are like your children. Only slightly better.
WalletHub understands that so they went one step ahead to compare the pet-friendliness of 100 cities in the United States.
Topping off as No. 1 overall ranked is… drum roll, please. Scottsdale, Arizona! REPRESENT. Find your way down the list a few spots and you’ll find Phoenix ranked as No. 5. REPRESENT TIMES TWO!
The top ten cities ranked in order were:
- Scottsdale, AZ
- Orlando, FL
- Tampa, FL
- Austin, TX
- Phoenix, AZ
- Las Vegas, NV
- Atlanta, GA
- St. Louis, MO
- Seattle, WA
- Portland, OR
WalletHub used 24 key metrics to find their data and ranked the cities based on three dimensions: pet budget, pet health and wellness and outdoor pet-friendliness scores.
Pet budget was broken down to:
- Veterinary care costs
- Minimum pet-care provider rate per visit
- Dog insurance premium
Pet health and wellness was broken down into:
- Veterinarians per capita
- Pet caretakers per capita
- Animal trainers per capita
- Pet businesses per capita
- Dog- friendly restaurants per capita
- Share of pet-friendly hotels
- Dog-friendly shops per capita
- Pet meetup groups per capita
- Doggie daycare and boarding establishments per capita
- Pet-friendliness of rental market
- Average home square footage
- Share of single-family detached homes
- Share of homes with one or fewer occupants per room
- Animal shelters per capita
- Strength of animal protection laws
Lastly, outdoor pet-friendliness was broken down into:
- Weather
- Dog parks per capita
- Parkland as share of city area
- Walk score
- Dog-friendly trails per capita
- Dog shows per capita
Find out more about the study on WalletHub’s website.
