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What’s the Most Cat-Friendly US City?

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What do you guess is the most cat-friendly city in the US? We just received a series of infographics from One Vet — and the results were pretty surprising!

Their study looked at both the best and worst U.S. cities to be a cat, rankings determined using five ranking factors that affect a cat’s quality of life, with the highest possible city score being 50. 

The ranking factors used are:

  1. The number of pet-friendly rentals per 100k people
  2. The number of veterinarians per 100k people
  3. The number of 2020 cat adoptions per 100k people
  4. The number of cat cafes
  5. The number of pet stores per 100k people

And the results?

US cities with most veterinarians, cat cafes, cat friendly rentals and cat adoptions

Miami, Florida took the number one spot for the best city to be a cat with a score of 43.47. The city has 642 cat adoptions per capita in 2020 and plenty of pet stores. 

Two Florida cities also make the top 10 – Orlando is number 2 with a score of 43.37, and Tampa is number 9 with a score of 33.97.

Other cities among the top 10 for cats include Salt Lake City, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Denver, Minneapolis, and Riverside.

Which US city has the most cat-friendly rentals?

One factor that makes it easy to be a cat lover is the availability of cat-friendly housing, both cat-friendly apartments and homes.

This study ranked the top 10 cities with the most cat-friendly rentals:

US cities with most cat friendly apartment rentals and house rentals

I’m not surprised to see our home city of Austin high on the list; while many people think of Austin for its dog-friendly offerings, the city is very pet-friendly, regardless of species. (I recently saw a man downtown taking his chicken for a walk, with the hen perched on his shoulder).

Which US city has the most cat adoptions?

Denver took the top spot for most cat adoptions per 100,000 people:

US cities with most cat adoptions

Again, I wasn’t surprised to see Austin in the top 10; Austin Pets Alive and other organizations work non-stop to save and promote adoptable cats. (Our Jetty and Lucky–both adopted via Austin Pets Alive–will attest to that!)

Which is the WORST city in the US for cats?

Of course, for some cities to be ranked the best, other cities had to be ranked the worst. The ten worst cities for cats are ones where it is more difficult for cat loves to find a cat-friendly home, a local veterinarian and a pet store.

Surprisingly, New York was ranked the worst city to be a cat, garnering a score of only 5.93. 

Some other worst cities to be a cat include Memphis, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Houston.

US cities with fewest cat adoptions, cat cafes and cat friendly apartment rentals

What do you think? Do you agree with the choices from the One Vet study? Let us know in the comments below

Paris Permenter
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This post originally appeared on CatTipper.com and is the sole property of CatTipper and LT Media Group LLC.