The best United States cities for so-called foodies have been revealed in a new study by WalletHub – and Florida leads the way.
The Miami-based company this week released the 2024 best cities for foodies list, which ranks more than 180 major cities across 28 key indicators for food-friendliness.
Chip Lupo, a WalletHub analyst, told Fox News Digital in a video interview that this year’s list looked at some factors such as accessibility and affordability of high-quality restaurants with ratings of at least 4.5 stars. (See the video at the top of this article.)
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“What was surprising to me is that among the top 10 foodie cities, all did very well in the diversity, accessibility, quality rankings, yet several of them ranked very low in affordability,” he said.
He continued, “While the price tags for restaurants are pretty high, even in this economic climate, your hardcore food enthusiasts don’t seem to mind paying a little extra for a fine-quality, fine-dining experience.”
Lupo said the 2024 list of foodie cities was basically a reshuffling of last year’s list with nine of the top 10 ranking high again.
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“Last year’s top-ranked city was Orlando, which dropped to third,” he noted.
In this countdown list below, see which cities topped this year’s best food-lover spots, per WalletHub.
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Miami was named the best city in the United States for those looking for a tasty meal.
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Lupo said this is partially due to the high availability of affordable restaurants at a rating of at least 4.5 stars out of five.
“There’s also an extremely high number of restaurants per capita and high-quality dining options are there,” he said.
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He said something that’s often not discussed is that Miami is the city with the third-highest number of farmers markets — which means, said Lupo, that they also have food enthusiasts who love to cook at home.
On a broader scale, Florida is ranked three times in the top five.
Lupo said that’s due to the state having no state income tax, residents having more disposable income and the state offering a business-friendly environment.
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At the bottom of the list, WalletHub found that Shreveport, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Nampa, Idaho; and Montgomery, Alabama, all ranked low — with Pearl City, Hawaii, coming in last place.
Lupo said the Hawaiian city ranks low because of the high cost of living on the island and the lack of affordability.
“There’s definitely room for improvement in perhaps promoting and bringing in a more diverse lineup of fine dining,” he said.
