The cost of dining out, just as with everything else, becomes more expensive. According to an analysis by the personal financial site WalletHub, the prices for restaurants increased by 6.5 percent between August 2022 and August 2023. However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t go out to enjoy yourself now and then, particularly if you are in one of the most popular foodie towns in the nation.
WalletHub recently released its report on 2023 of the Top Foodie Cities in America that analyzed the top and most affordable local food scene within the U.S.
To establish the rankings, the team looked at over 180 of America’s biggest cities, analyzing each of 28 factors that include the cost and accessibility of top eateries, the number of food festivals per person, craft breweries and wineries per capita, diversity of restaurants, Michelin stars, and many more.
After taking into account the results, researchers identified Orlando, Florida, as the number. One food-centric place in America. It was chosen due to the variety and quality of restaurants and an additional crucial reason: “Orlando has the most ice cream and frozen yogurt shops,” WalletHub said in its report. Orlando also has the highest number of cafes per capita, as well as the largest specialty food supermarket stores, and was ranked high in affordability ranking.
Other top cities for food on the list of WalletHub’s top cities were Portland, Oregon; Sacramento, California; Miami; San Francisco; Tampa, Florida; San Diego; Las Vegas; Austin, Texas; and Seattle.
The rankings also highlighted several cities with a distinct identity that did not make it into the list of top 10. St. Louis, the report noted, has most specialty food stores that are gourmet in any city. Miami was home to the largest number of restaurants in any city.
