New Study Reveals the Best and Worst Places in the US and Europe for Vegans to Visit

Photo by Charles Postiaux on Unsplash

Financial comparison experts at Money.co.uk conducted a new study that reveals the most and least vegan-friendly places to visit in the United States and Europe.

• London and Houston rank as the best cities for vegans.
• In the United States, Seattle ranks as worst place to be vegan, followed by Milwaukee, Mesa, and Baltimore.
• Oslo ranks as the second worst city globally for vegans, and the worst place in Europe.
• New York is the most expensive place for those cooking a plant-based diet.

A recent study conducted by financial comparison and energy experts at money.co.uk reveals the best and worst cities in Europe and the United States for vegans. The study analysed and ranked different cities, as well as a variety of factors, to determine which cities are the most or least vegan-friendly for residents and visitors.
To find out how each city ranks for the different type of diets (plant-based, vegetarian, gluten-free, and omnivores) the study reviewed data for five lifestyle factors in different cities: the number of speciality restaurants; the number of speciality takeaway services; the cost of a classic home-cooked meal for each diet; the cost of energy to cook a homemade meal; and the number of available speciality cooking classes.
Key US City Findings:

• The top five most vegan-friendly cities in the United States are Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Chicago.
• On the other end, the bottom five US cities for those with plant-based diets are Charlotte, Austin, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, and Memphis.
• Los Angeles leads the way for plant-based takeaway options and specialty restaurants; New York leads with the most options for vegan cooking classes.
• El Paso ranks as the most affordable US city to cook plant-based meals, with an average cost of $5.24 per meal, compared to $11.79 in New York, the most expensive US city to cook vegan.

Key European City Findings:

• The top five most vegan-friendly cities in Europe are London, Krakow, Glasgow, Sevilla, and Madrid.
• In the bottom five, Oslo, Munich, Copenhagen, Warsaw, and Sofia are ranked as the worst cities for plant-based diets.
• London leads the way for plant-based takeaway options, specialty restaurants, and vegan cooking classes.
• Bucharest ranks as the most affordable city to cook plant-based meals, with an average cost of €2.41 per meal, compared to €6.22 in Oslo, the most expensive city in Europe to cook vegan.

Money.co.uk also created this interactive tool, which makes it easy for those following a vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free or omnivore diet to input their city or a city they’re visiting to and find and compare energy costs, number of restaurants and takeaways, speciality cooking classes, and the cost to cook a specific meal in that city.

This study was conducted by and should be attributed to financial comparison site money.co.uk
Methodology:

• Data valid at time of collation – 31st August 2020
• We analysed 74 cities across Europe and the USA for this report.
• Data sources as follows:
  • numbeo.com for the cost of living
  • statista.com and specialist energy data combined for energy costs (in domestic currency) calculating the average energy cost for 10 minutes and multiplying it by relevant values to find costs for energy consumption for one hour, 24 hours, and one year.
  • Google Maps API for the number of speciality takeaways, number of speciality restaurants, and number of speciality cooking classes per diet group.
  • Key meals were taken from leading foodie website BBC Good Food and vegan specialists delightfulvegans.com.
  • thevegansociety.com for population statistics
• To score locations, rankings were added from 74-1 (based on the number of cities in the study) to determine top ranked places per factor and diet.