Pet-Friendly Vacations

Best US destinations to vacation

with your furry friends

For many, it is simply inconceivable to leave our pets at home as we ourselves go off on holiday to relax. Worrying if they’re eating fine whilst you’re away and if they’re getting enough sleep - it’s probably relatively close to a parental state for those “pet parents”.

So, forget worrying about your pets, leave that at home and instead bring your four-legged buddy with you. And, to further nullify any worries you have about your pet tagging along, be sure to check out our pet insurance for cats. Now, we recognise there are extra considerations to take when taking your pets on holiday and that can make decisions complicated - with that in mind, we have compiled data to form a list of the best US destinations for you and your pet to head off and relax.

The most pet-friendly US vacation destinations

1

Portland, Oregon

7.68/10

Pet friendly score

Coming out on top as the most pet-friendly city in the USA, is Portland, Oregon and with nearly 60% of the population being pet owners, you can begin to glean why. Ranking within the top 10 for the most dog-friendly restaurants, being 3rd for most dog-friendly hotels, as well as just shy of 300 veterinary services, Portland is a great place to visit with your pets.

2

Austin, Texas

7.59/10

Pet friendly score

Coming in 2nd place is Austin, Texas, a city with six cat cafes. It also comes in the top five for our cities with the most dog-friendly restaurants, having 34 in total just shy of nabbing a top three spot there. And with 247 veterinary services, you can be sure that this is also a place to take your pet and ensure their health is sound the entire trip.

3

Seattle, Washington

7.36/10

Pet friendly score

And last but not least in this top three ranking is Seattle, in the state of Washington. Seattle has a total of two cat cafes, giving it a joint 3rd place ranking in that respect and on top of that, 29 dog-friendly restaurants, putting it in the top 10 there. And when all these factors are weighed together, Seattle managed to clinch 3rd.

Key Pet-friendly hotels Dog-friendly restaurants Cat cafes Percentage of pet owners (state) Veterinary services Pet friendly score /10

US City, State

US cities with the most pet-friendly hotels

1

Albuquerque,

New Mexico

66.67%

Percentage of pet-friendly hotels

With the highest percentage of pet-friendly hotels ranks Albuquerque, in the state of New Mexico - a city that was actually in the top five for Forbes list of best US cities for dogs. So, it’s no surprise that it’s the most accommodating location for pets in hotels.

2

Madison,

Wisconsin

65.00%

Percentage of pet-friendly hotels

Just as Albuquerque did, Madison in Wisconsin, was also featured on the aforementioned Forbes list though, Madison, WI, was in the top 10 instead. This state also has 59% of the population as pet owners, the percentage for dog and cat owners was pretty evenly split at 33.6% and 32.4% respectively.

3

Portland,

Oregon

58.00%

Percentage of pet-friendly hotels

And finally, also coming in the top five on the Forbes list for best cities for dogs is Portland, Oregon, having 58% of the cities hotels rated as pet-friendly.

US cities with the most pet-friendly hotels

City

US State

Percentage of pet-friendly hotels

US cities with the most dog-friendly restaurants

1

San Diego,

California

54

Number of dog-friendly restaurants

San Diego comes out on top for the highest number of dog-friendly restaurants - this is a city that is rather well known for the number of dog beaches that line its coast. With 54 restaurants to choose from, that should be more than enough choice for you and your canine to find some suitable grub.

2

Long island,

New york

49

Number of dog-friendly restaurants

Coming in at a narrow 2nd place we have Long Island, in the great state of New York, having a total of 49 dog-friendly restaurants, just five shy of the number one spot. The vast island, a few hours out from New York City, has a wide selection of other dog-friendly facilities, namely beaches.

3

New york City,

New york

39

Number of dog-friendly restaurants

The Big Apple, of course, features in this ranking, coming in 3rd is New York City with a total of 39 restaurants - giving you a fairly good selection of eating out options for you and your four-legged friends.

US cities with the most dog-friendly restaurants

City

US State

Dog-Friendly restaurants

US cities with the most cat cafes

1

Austin,

Texas

6

Number of cat cafes

Any city that has as many as six establishments in which people can consume food and drinks alongside cats is sure to be considered cat-friendly, and number one in that regard is Austin in the state of Texas.

2

Chicago,

Illinois

3

Number of cat cafes

Coming in 2nd place for this ranking is Chicago, Illinois and this city has half the number of cat cafes that Austin had. This is a rather remarkable number when you consider that in Illinois, only 21% of the pet-owning population has cats.

3

With cat-friendly restaurants being nowhere near as common as dog-friendly restaurants, we opted to look at cat cafes. However, with eateries being scarce for cat-lovers, make sure you check out our cat food reviews to ensure you bring the best food for your feline friend.

US cities with the most cat cafes

City

US State

Cat cafes

US cities with the highest percentage of pet owners

1

Boise,

Idaho

69.9%

Percentage of pet owners

Boise, located in the state of Idaho ranks 1st, with 69.9% of the population owning pets (as of 2020). And of those pet owners, 33.3% own dogs and 34.4% own cats, making it a pretty even split down the middle.

2
3

Seattle,

Washington

62.7%

Percentage of pet owners

And finally, we have Seattle, Washington claiming 3rd place for the highest percentage of pet owners, with 62.7%. Of that pet-owning population, 42.8% owned a dog and 30.5% owned a cat.

US cities with the highest percentage of pet owners

City

US State

Percentage of pet owners (state)

US cities with the most veterinary services

1

Aurora,

Colorado

454

Number of veterinary services

Even on holiday, you must consider the possibility of your pets needing treatment. Aurora, Colorado has 454 veterinary services to choose from to get your furry friends feeling tip top again.

2

Glendale,

Arizona

409

Number of veterinary services

Despite being one of the smaller cities on this listing, Glendale, Arizona has still packed in 409 veterinary services within the city limits. So, if your pet should need any help at all, Glendale has got you covered.

3

New York City,

New York

400

Number of veterinary services

With the sheer size of the city, it should come as no surprise that New York City has an assortment of 400 veterinary services. So, if you and your four-legged friends visit the city that never sleeps, assistance is plentiful should you need it.

And if all of these numbers aren’t enough for you, take extra safety precautions for your pet's health and have a look at our cat insurance ranking to be sure to get a good quote to keep your furry friend's bill of health clean.

US cities with the most veterinary services

City

US State

Veterinary Services

Methodology

We began by compiling a list of the best cities for pets in the US, using sources such as Forbes and Timeout; some of these cities had to be cut due to the obscurity of data available at the time of writing.

To get the data for the pet-friendly hotels, we used Booking to take both the raw number of hotels and then the filtered number of pet-friendly hotels to then calculate the percentage of them that were pet-friendly.

We then proceeded to use Tripadvisor to get the data for dog-friendly restaurants and given that cat-friendly restaurants don’t appear to be the norm, we looked at the number of cat cafes in each location.

To get the final pieces of data, we looked at a study from 2020 found on Pawlicy and carried out by the AVMA to get the percentage of pet owners per state. Then we used The Yellow Pages to get the number of veterinary services that were available in each location we looked at.

Once we had all the data, we weighed all the factors to get a score out of 10 for each city to form our final ranking.