Best Cities for St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations (2026)

Believe it or not, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with parades didn’t originate in Ireland, but instead started and became popular in North American colonies centuries ago. What began as a Catholic feast day and gained more recognition with these colonial celebrations is today one of America’s biggest cultural holidays. More than 31.6 million people in the U.S. claim Irish ancestry – that’s nearly six times the population of Ireland, and consumers are projected to spend $7 billion on the holiday this year.

Different cities have their own St. Patrick’s Day traditions. Chicago, for instance, gained fame for dyeing its river green, while other places are now known for their elaborate pageants, pub crawls or long processions of marching bagpipers. But not every city is ideal for the holiday. WalletHub compared 200 of the largest cities across 15 key metrics to find the best places to wear green and save some, too. Our data set ranges from Irish pubs and restaurants per capita to the lowest price for a three-star hotel on St. Patrick’s Day to the weather forecast.

Main Findings

Best Places to Go for St. Patrick’s Day

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 Best Cities for St. Patrick’s Day

Boston, MA

Boston is the best city for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in 2026, offering people plenty of festive activities. Boston is known for its huge St. Patrick’s Day parade, which brings in around a million visitors per year. Boston’s parade tradition is also one of the oldest in the land, dating back to 1724, before we were even an independent country!

In addition, Irish food and drink is prevalent in the city. Boston has the sixth-most Irish pubs and sixth-most Irish restaurants per capita. These bars and restaurants are very affordable for the most part, too.

Boston is the sixth-most Irish city in the U.S. in terms of ancestry, with over 13% of the city’s residents having a claim to Irish roots.

Reno, NV

Reno is the second-best city for St. Patrick’s Day, and the city comes to life with vibrant traditions and events for everyone to enjoy. The Reno Leprechaun Crawl, a fun downtown bar crawl featuring themed events and drink deals, and the Annual Leprechaun Race 5K, a family-friendly race where runners dress in their best St. Paddy's garb, are some of its highlights.

In addition, the Green-clad enthusiasts in Reno will benefit from the fact that the city has the 21st-most Irish pubs per capita.

Reno, known for its vibrant nightlife and some of the lowest beer prices in the country, is a popular St. Patrick's Day destination with live Irish music and beer specials.

Savannah, GA

Savannah, GA is the third-best city for St. Patrick’s Day, and the city sees around half a million visitors during the holiday who come to experience traditions like the parade (the seventh-oldest in the country) and Celtic Cross Ceremony.

St. Patrick’s Day is heavily associated with drinking, and Savannah has more bars per capita than any other city.

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