Portland topped the list of 2018’s Best Foodie Cities in America.
Personal finance Web site WalletHub released its report of the top foodie cities in America as well as related consumer trends around food.
Following Portland, Or. were San Francisco, Ca. and Miami, Fl. “Portland ranked first for several metrics including accessibility and affordability of high quality restaurants and the lack of sales, food and restaurant taxes. Portland also has the highest number of food trucks, craft breweries, wine bars and coffee and tea shops per capita,” says Jill Gonzalez, an analyst with WalletHub. Gonzalez also notes that Portland has the fifth largest number of farmers markets and community supported agriculture programs.
When ranking the cities, Gonzalez adds that along with examining the number of farmers markets and community-supported agriculture programs in each city, WalletHub also considered the percentage of workers involved in agricultural activities.
WalletHub's Jill Gonzalez.
Foodservice finds
The report also found that on the foodservice side of the business, restaurant prices increased by 2.8 percent between July 2017 and July 2018. And while in 2015 it was reported that Americans spent more money at food establishments than at grocery stores for the first time, by 2018, restaurateurs report they’ve been able to profit from relatively stable wholesale food prices.
Grocery availability
Access and the cost of groceries also factored into the rankings. “The overall cost of groceries in Portland is one of the highest out of all the cities we analyzed--166th. However, most of Portland's residents can easily access a variety of healthy food options, as only 2.5 percent of its low-income population is far from a grocery store," says Gonzalez.
The lowest cost of groceries were found largely in Texas—Laredo, San Antonio and Corpus Christie all ranked in the top three cities with the lowest cost of groceries while Honolulu and Pearl City, Hawaii both came in at the bottom with the highest cost. “In regards to the affordability of fresh produce and groceries, we looked at sales and food taxes,” says Gonzalez. “We also considered the share of population with low income and its ability to access healthy food.”
Major cities emerged with the most gourmet specialty foods per capita—New York, Miami and Los Angeles came in the top three. “The gourmet specialty food stores were, among others, candy stores, chocolatiers and cheese shops,” says Gonzalez.
Supporting agriculture
Gonzalez also notes that one take away from the report is that more could be done for the agriculture industry. “Local authorities could support agriculture more, and maybe even offer incentives to those who wish to go into farming or similar activities,” says Gonzalez. “They could also increase the accessibility and affordability of fresh produce through different types of subsidies.”