If you're planning a plant-based trip—or a full relocation—the short answer is Portland, Oregon. WalletHub's 2026 study of America's most vegan- and vegetarian-friendly places puts Portland at number one, followed by Los Angeles, Austin, San Francisco, and Oakland. But the overall ranking only tells part of the story. Each of these five cities earns its spot through a different mix of affordability, dining quality, and lifestyle, and the best choice for you depends on which of those matters most.
Introduction: Finding Your Vegan Paradise in the US
I'll admit it: I've planned entire trips around where I can eat well without animal products. And if you've done the same, you know the difference between a city that tolerates vegans and one that genuinely welcomes us. A ranking can feel abstract until you're standing in a neighborhood where meatless options aren't an afterthought tucked at the bottom of the menu.
That's why I find WalletHub's approach useful. Rather than crowning a single "best" city and leaving it there, the study scores each place across multiple dimensions, which means you can look past the headline number and find the city that fits your priorities—whether that's keeping grocery bills low, eating at highly rated restaurants, or living somewhere with a deep plant-based community. This guide walks through the top five and, just as importantly, gives you a framework for choosing among them.
How Cities Are Ranked: Key Factors for Vegan-Friendliness
To determine the best and cheapest places for a plant-based diet, WalletHub compared the 100 largest U.S. cities across 17 key indicators of vegan- and vegetarian-friendliness. The metrics include practical, everyday measures such as the cost of groceries for vegetarians, the share of restaurants serving meatless options, and the number of salad shops per capita. Those are examples rather than the full list, and WalletHub does not spell out the exact weighting of every indicator in the material I'm drawing on.
The study organizes these indicators into three broad categories: Affordability, which carries 33.33 total points; Diversity, Accessibility and Quality; and Vegetarian Lifestyle. Within Affordability, the cost of groceries for vegetarians counts at full weight—roughly 11.11 points—with a specific definition: "groceries" excludes all animal products except dairy and eggs. The availability of affordable, highly rated restaurants serving vegan and vegetarian options also counts at full weight, and "highly rated" means at least 4.5 stars.
One boundary matters a lot when you read the results: WalletHub considered only the "city proper" in each case, excluding surrounding cities in the metro area. So a city's score doesn't credit its suburbs or satellite towns. As VegNews has reported in its coverage of WalletHub's research, city rankings can differ widely based on specific metrics—which is exactly why the breakdown below is worth your attention.
