The top 10 cities for dog owners — with plenty of pup-friendly amenities

“A dog is a man’s best friend,” or so the saying goes, so it only makes sense that when pet owners are considering where to lay down roots for themselves, their beloved pups play an integral role in that decision-making process.

Trying to find a city, town, or home that offers not only the amenities that every human in the family is looking for, but also the furry members of the brood can seem like an impossible task, particularly for those who want to settle down in a thriving metropolis, where the dwellings are often smaller and the green open spaces are few and far between.

However, that search for the ideal pup-friendly location has now been made just a tiny bit easier thanks to a new ranking that reveals the best (and worst) cities across the US for dog lovers and their pets.

LawnStarter, a company that provides lawn care services in cities and towns across the US, did an in-depth analysis of all the amenities and services that dog lovers seek to rank 500 metros from best to worst.

Its methodology consisted of doing a deep dive into metrics in five dog-friendly categories and weighting them accordingly.

These are the five key areas LawnStarter looked at to ascertain which cities across the US provide the best environment for dogs and their owners:

• Care (36%): Analyzing the availability of veterinary and pet service networks, including the number of vets, emergency clinics and specialists, along with groomers, sitters, trainers, and boarding options.

• Community (28%): A look at how a city supports dogs beyond the backyard with amenities like dog parks, walking routes, and local events, as well as animal welfare laws, shelter access, and breeder regulations.
• Businesses (12%): An in-depth look at how dog-friendly a city’s commercial spaces are, including restaurants, hotels, and shopping centers, as well as services like pet transport and food delivery.
• Housing (16%): How well each city’s homes fit life with a dog, looking at average home and yard size along with the share of rental properties that welcome dogs.
• Affordability (8%): The cost of core pet services relative to income. This includes prices for grooming, sitting, training, and insurance.

After taking all of those factors into consideration, the team came up with some unexpected insights, including the fact that dogs can actually thrive in major metros like New York City (No. 4), Austin, TX (No. 15), Los Angeles (No. 30), and Charlotte, NC (No. 31).

While these cities do not offer the same wide spaces as some smaller towns, they make up for that with walkable streets, parks, and plenty of access to pet amenities and emergency care.

“Allen, TX (No. 25), and Frisco, TX (No. 57), offer the biggest homes in the ranking, while Murfreesboro, TN (No. 102) and Suffolk, VA (No. 121), lead for yard space,” the company added in a statement.

The South won out for the most dog-friendly cities, landing 28 metros on the top 50 list, including Asheville, NC, which claimed the No. 2 spot on the list overall.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the analysis also revealed the extreme toll that the cost of pet care can have on owners, with several bustling metros — Detroit (No. 460), Newark, NJ (No. 476), and Hartford, CT (No. 483) — landing on the list of worst dog cities because of a lack of affordability in these kinds of services.

The top 10 cities, on the other hand, offered top-notch pet services and amenities across the board—from wide spaces for pups to play to incredible medical services.