* WalletHub 2016’s Best & Worst Foodie Cities.

Here’s some information for you guys- that might come in handy the next time you’re a contestant on Jeopardy!

| Oct 11, 2016

Best and Worst Foodie Cities for Your Wallet
There are people who eat and people who eat recreationally. For that second group, good food is like a drug: The more they enjoy, the harder it becomes to say no. But like any expensive habit, an insatiable palate can strike a hard blow to the foodie’s finances. Americans today spend nearly a third of every food dollar on restaurant services. And in 2015, the National Restaurant Association reported that Americans spent more money at food establishments than at grocery stores.

But foodies with strong taste buds don’t limit themselves to eating out. Dining in can be equally satisfying — and costly. Fortunately, some of America’s culinary hotpots are sympathetic toward their cash-strapped epicures and offer plenty of affordable options. These wallet-friendly cities cater to foodies who prefer to concoct their own scrumptious creations at home, sample unique flavors of the local gastronomy or both.

With Oct. 16 being World Food Day and Americans spending more money at food establishments than at grocery stores in 2015, the personal-finance website WalletHub took a close look at 2016’s Best & Worst Foodie Cities.

To find the best and cheapest foodie scenes in the U.S., WalletHub compared the 150 most populated cities across 21 key metrics, ranging from “cost of groceries” to “affordability and accessibility of high-quality restaurants” to “number of food festivals per capita.”

Best Foodie Cities
1 Orlando, FL
2 Portland, OR
3 Miami, FL
4 Tampa, FL
5 San Francisco, CA
6 Cincinnati, OH
7 St. Louis, MO
8 Salt Lake City, UT
9 Richmond, VA
10 Seattle, WA
Worst Foodie Cities
141 Garland, TX
142 Fayetteville, NC
143 Jackson, MS
144 San Bernardino, CA
145 Aurora, IL
146 Fontana, CA
147 Montgomery, AL
148 Grand Prairie, TX
149 Moreno Valley, CA
150 North Las Vegas, NV

Best vs. Worst

Laredo, Texas, has the lowest grocery cost index, 79, which is two times lower than in Honolulu, the city with the highest, 158.9.

Orlando, Fla., has the most restaurants per 100,000 residents, 1,176.38, which is 9.8 times more than in Santa Clarita, Calif., the city with the fewest, 120.09.

Santa Rosa, Calif., has the highest ratio of full-service restaurants to fast-food establishments, 1.74, which is 3.1 times higher than in Jackson, Miss., the city with the lowest, 0.57.

Portland, Ore., has the most coffee and tea shops per 100,000 residents, 103.92, which is 29.5 times more than in Laredo, Texas, the city with the fewest, 3.52.

Miami has the most gourmet specialty-food stores per 100,000 residents, 117.46, which is 14.5 times more than in Gilbert, Ariz., the city with the fewest, 8.08.

Cincinnati has the most grocery stores per 100,000 residents, 128.29, which is 13.8 times more than in Santa Clarita, Calif., the city with the fewest, 9.32.

San Francisco has the most cooking schools per 100,000 residents, 6.36, which is 28 times more than in Raleigh, N.C., the city with the fewest, 0.22.

To view the full report and your city’s ranking, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-foodie-cities/7522/