It's hardly a secret that Austinites love their dogs, but a national study just confirmed that cultural tendency with science. According to a recent report by Realtor.com, Austin is the sixth dog-lovin'est city in the United States.
Using lots of puns about sniffing out data, the real-estate site reports on the country's best cities for having a dog, based on the following criteria:
- Percentage of households that own a dog, from Nielsen
- Number of dog parks, trails, and beaches on BringFido.com (per capita)
- Number of dog-friendly restaurants and bars on Yelp.com (per capita)
- Number of pet stores, trainers, groomers, boarding services, and vets on Yelp.com (per capita)
- Number of dog walkers per capita and average hourly rate on Care.com
Austin is topped by five cities—Charleston, S.C.; Temecula, Ca.; Las Vegas, Nevada; Scottsdale, Az.; and San Diego, Ca.—but in turn dominates Tampa, Fla.; Fort Collins, Co.; Atlanta, Ga.; and Seattle, Wa.
The report also noted that the 61% of households with dogs have a median home price of $450,000 and highlighted the city's 265 dog-friendly restaurants along with our preponderance of dog-food bakeries and our canine-oriented food truck.
Realtor.com also outed Red Bud Isle as the fantastic dogs-only swimming spot and park it is and mentioned Doga, a dog-centered yoga studio.
• Top 10 American Cities for Dogs (and the People Who Love Them) [Realtor.com]