Santa Rosa is among best cities in US for foodies, WalletHub reports

Santa Rosa is among the best cities in the United States for foodies looking for diverse and high quality cuisine, according to a report out this week by financial website WalletHub.

Sonoma County’s largest city ranked 90 out of 182 on WalletHub’s list of “2023’s Best Foodie Cities in America,” coming in between Columbia, South Carolina, and Fort Worth, Texas.

According to WalletHub, the best city in the U.S. for foodies is Orlando, Florida; followed by Portland, Oregon, Sacramento, Miami and San Francisco, rounding out the top five spots.

To put together its rankings, WalletHub collected data related to affordability of food, as well as the diversity and quality of eateries in 182 cities.

Affordability scores included cost of groceries as well as cost of a meal at local restaurants. Other factors included average beer and wine prices and sales tax in each city.

For it’s diversity and quality measurements, WalletHub looked at restaurants per capita, including the number of Michelin-starred restaurants, and the ratio of full-service restaurants compared to fast food joints in each city. The study also looked at the number of farmers markets, grocery stores and specialty food stores per capita. Other factors included per capita numbers of craft breweries and wine bars, coffee and tea shops, kitchen supply stores, cooking schools and food festivals.

Of the two categories, Santa Rosa ranked high, 35 out of 182 cities, in its diversity and quality of food options; though it ranked near the bottom, 180 out of 182, in the affordability category.

Still, the city is one of the top 100 in the United States for food lovers, according to the study.

In addition to Sacramento and San Francisco, other California cities that ranked higher than Santa Rosa include San Diego (seven), Los Angeles (13), Oakland (21), Anaheim (40), Fresno (51), San Jose (52), Long Beach (64), Bakersfield (72), Stockton (86), and Modesto (87).

California cities that ranked lower than Santa Rosa include Oxnard (101), Oceanside (103), Glendale (129), Huntington Beach (135), Santa Clarita (138), Irvine (141), Riverside (148), San Bernardino (165), and Moreno Valley (176).

The worst city in the U.S. for foodies is Pearl City, Hawaii, according to WalletHub.

For more information, go to wallethub.com.