Best Cities for Vegans & Vegetarians (2026)

Around 5% of U.S. adults are vegetarian, including vegans, which works out to 13.3 million people. While it’s not the easiest lifestyle to adopt, as finding meatless options at restaurants and supermarkets can be a challenge, that’s beginning to change. A growing number of venues, including popular fast-food chains, have started offering vegetarian or vegan meals.

One of the biggest concerns people express about vegetarian or vegan diets is the cost. However, with meat prices experiencing much larger year-over-year inflation compared to that of fruits and vegetables, Americans may find working some vegetarian or vegan meals into their diet to be an attractive option.

Certain U.S. cities offer plentiful, inexpensive options for budget-conscious herbivores, while others lag behind. To determine the best and cheapest places for a plant-based diet, WalletHub compared the 100 largest U.S. cities across 17 key indicators of vegan- and vegetarian-friendliness. We examined each city based on metrics such as the cost of groceries for vegetarians, the share of restaurants serving meatless options and the number of salad shops per capita.

Main Findings

Most Vegetarian- & Vegan-Friendly Cities

Note: With the exception of “Total Score,” all of the columns in the table above depict the relative rank of that city, where a rank of 1 represents the best conditions for that metric category.

In-Depth Look at the Top Cities

Portland, OR

Portland, OR, is the best city for vegans and vegetarians. One contributing factor is that it has the third-largest number of affordable restaurants with vegetarian or vegan options that have at least 4.5 stars on Yelp. In addition, the city has a very high number of organic farms, community gardens, farmers markets and vegetable nurseries per capita.

Many Portland residents embrace the vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, with residents ordering this type of cuisine 148% more often than the U.S. average. Portland also has the ninth-highest percentage of people who consume vegetables daily.

Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles is the second-best city for vegans and vegetarians in 2026, which shouldn’t be a surprise when you consider that L.A. residents eat this type of food 187% more often than the U.S. average. In addition, the city has the second-highest number of affordable restaurants with vegan and vegetarian options that have at least 4.5 stars on Yelp.

L.A. also has plenty of places to buy fresh produce for making your own vegetarian or vegan food at home. It has the fifth-most farmers markets, ninth-most organic farms, 38th-most community gardens and 16th-most vegetable nurseries and gardening shops per capita.

On top of that, Los Angeles has the 11th-most vegetarian cooking classes and 14th-most vegan meetups per capita. It also hosts vegetarian and vegan festivals, such as Vegandale Festival and Vegan Street Fair. Residents who prefer the veggie lifestyle have plenty of ways to meet like-minded people.

Austin, TX

Austin, TX, is the third-best city for vegetarians and vegans, it has the seventh-most juice and smoothie bars, fourth-most vegetarian cooking classes per capita and eighth-most community gardens per capita. It also has the sixth-largest number of affordable restaurants with vegetarian or vegan options that have at least 4.5 stars on Yelp.

In addition, the prices of certain vegetarian foods are surprisingly low in Austin. For example, Austin is the eighth-cheapest city for fresh orange juice, the third-cheapest for frozen corn, and the fourth-cheapest for sweet peas. Plus, it’s one of the cheapest cities for eggs – which many vegetarians use as a source of protein rather than meat.

Finally, Austin has the 13th-most farmers’ markets, and it hosts festivals such as Texas VegFest.

The methodology can be found on the full version of the article on WalletHub.