2 California cities rank among best spots in US for staycations, according to WalletHub

Two California cities ranked among 2022’s best U.S. cities for a staycation, according to a new report by financial website WalletHub.

San Francisco ranked seventh on WalletHub’s list, while San Diego grabbed the ninth spot. WalletHub compared 182 U.S. cities across 44 categories to compile the list.

Honolulu, Hawaii, Orlando, Florida, Chicago, Illinois, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Portland, Maine were the top five cities on the list.

In total, 29 California cities made the list including Los Angeles (25) and Sacramento (44). Santa Rosa was ranked 154 and was outshined by cities like San Jose (120), Modesto (125), Fresno (130), Stockton (136) and Oakland (137). Last year, WalletHub ranked Santa Rosa the 10th happiest city in America. Earlier this year, Santa Rosa fell four spots on that list to 14th happiest city.

To put together the ranking, WalletHub gathered data related to each city’s recreation, food, entertainment, and rest and relaxation options per capita. Those categories were broken down to an additional 44 metrics such as nightlife options, diversity of restaurants, average cocktail price, massage costs, miles of bicycle lanes available and quality of summer weather.

Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for staycationers. San Francisco scored 52.90 points and San Diego scored 51.83 points. By comparison, Santa Rosa scored 30.97 points.

Staycations - the concept of taking a vacation while staying home - have become more popular than ever in the last two years due to COVID-19, and a recent New York Times article suggests that the trend will continue in 2022 due to inflation, global uncertainty, supply chain constraints and COVID-19 infection rates.

Looking for some close-to-home vacation ideas? Check out The Press Democrat’s gallery of 32 inspiring North Coast staycation ideas.