So we’re exploring the most pet friendly cities in the US as reported by six surveys. In our first post, we shared the opinions of Pet Airways, TopTenz, and Rent.com. In our second post, we presented the listings of Food & Wine, DogFriendly.com, and MSNBC. In all, 24 different cities were pawsitively mentioned, but no city was named in all surveys.
In this installment, GoPetFriendly “ranks the rankings” using the following scoring system:
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In each survey, we assigned points to the each city’s rank. So, the 1st ranked city was awarded 10 points, the 2nd ranked received 9 points, etc.
- Next, we multiplied the assigned points in the Food & Wine survey by 2 since all of the other surveys listed at least 10 cities. (Note that the Pet Airways survey listed 12 cities.)
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Then, we ranked the 24 named cities – first, by the number of survey mentions they received and second, by the number of points we awarded.
The results are set forth below. Looks like Chicago is #1, just a whisker ahead of San Fran and Boston … although it seems hard to discount any of the other cities getting five mentions out of six surveys.
| Number of | GPF | |||
| GPF | Survey | Awarded | ||
| Ranking | City | ST | Mentions | Points |
| 1 | Chicago | IL | 5 | 35 |
| 2 | San Francisco | CA | 5 | 34 |
| 3 | Boston | MA | 5 | 32 |
| 4 | Portland | OR | 5 | 28 |
| 5 | New York | NY | 5 | 27 |
| 6 | San Diego | CA | 5 | 26 |
| 7 | Seattle | WA | 3 | 25 |
| 8 | Austin | TX | 3 | 24 |
| 9 tie | Alexandria | VA | 2 | 13 |
| 9 tie | Washington | DC | 2 | 13 |
| 11 | Los Angeles | CA | 2 | 9 |
| 12 | Charleston | SC | 2 | 7 |
| 13 | Ann Arbor | MI | 2 | 2 |
| 14 | Colorado Springs | CO | 1 | 9 |
| 15 | Carmel | CA | 1 | 8 |
| 16 | Houston | TX | 1 | 7 |
| 17 tie | Tampa | FL | 1 | 6 |
| 17 tie | Miami | FL | 1 | 6 |
| 19 | Baltimore | MD | 1 | 4 |
| 20 tie | Lake Tahoe | NV | 1 | 3 |
| 20 tie | Orlando | FL | 1 | 3 |
| 20 tie | Riverside | CA | 1 | 3 |
| 23 tie | Atlanta | GA | 1 | 2 |
| 23 tie | Long Beach | CA | 1 | 2 |
| Note: Number of survey mentions ties broken based on points. | ||||
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Based on our experiences, we believe dog friendly cities are what you make of them. If you’re a traveler, just passing through, no city is dog friendly if you sit in your hotel room with your pooch. Get out … explore … have fun! When we’re on the road, we’ve always been happily surprised by the number of businesses that are dog friendly – if you just ask!
If you’re a city resident, there for the long haul, vote with your dollars and patronize businesses that are pet friendly. If it doesn’t already exist, help create a groundswell of pet friendly awareness so that households with pets become an influential market force. (For example, look at the work being done by Sidewalk Dog in the Twin Cities, Sloppy Kisses in Saratoga Springs, and The Baker’s Dog in Myrtle Beach.) This should persuade more businesses to “GoPetFriendly,” which will make it easier for more people to live/travel with their pets. Woof!
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