PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The City of Roses might as well be called the City of Restaurants after a recent report named it 2022’s Best Foodie City in America.
The report, from financial website WalletHub, determined the best and cheapest local foodie scenes. The report on 2022’s Best Foodie Cities in America compared 182 of the largest U.S. cities across two key dimensions: 1. affordability and 2. diversity, accessibility and quality.
It evaluated those two dimensions using 29 relevant metrics such as restaurant meal cost, average beer and wine price, the ratio of full-service restaurants to fast food restaurants, access to healthy food options, and grocery stores per capita – just to name a few.
Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale and when the scores were added up, Portland came in first.
Among the 182 cities studied for the report, Portland ranked 36th for affordability and fourth for diversity, accessibility and quality.
Portland was rated first for its number of restaurants per capita, affordability and accessibility of highly rated restaurants, and craft breweries and wineries per capita.
It also came in 17th for its number of gourmet specialty-food stores per capita.
In its report, WalletHub pointed out that being a foodie can be quite expensive, especially during the heavy inflation of 2022. Restaurant prices rose 8% between August 2021 and August 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
The BLS reports grocery store prices rose 8.3% between August 2021 and August 2022.
WalletHub said the cities that ranked highest in its report cater to diners who prefer to cook at home, explore the local flavors, or both.
Below are the top 10 best food cities in America, according to WalletHub.
- Portland, OR
- Orlando, FL
- Miami, FL
- San Francisco, CA
- Austin, TX
- Sacramento, CA
- Seattle, WA
- Tampa, FL
- Las Vegas, NV
- San Diego, CA