America’s Best and Worst Large Metro Areas for Beer

Craft beer is an important component of all my travels. I seek out breweries, beer bars, and other establishments that spotlight the local brew and food scene anytime I travel, even if the excursion isn’t far from home. It’s always nice when I visit a city that is beer- centric; one where the breweries are plentiful, the prices are reasonable, and the craft beer scene has woven itself into the culture. Realestatewitch.com has studied the United States and has just issued its Top 50 Cities for Beer, an annual ranking that helps tourists and others locate the best American cities for their favorite beverage.

What Cities are Best?

Realestatewitch.com bases its rankings on the following criteria:

• Breweries per capita (x4)
• Average price of beer (x3)
• Affordability of domestic beer (x3)
• Affordability of imported beer (x3)
• Average Yelp rating of breweries (x3)
• Average Yelp rating of bars (x3)
• Bars per capita (x2)
• “Beer passion” score based on Google Trends data (x2)

As you can see, the different criteria are given what the researchers feel are appropriate weights. Breweries per Capita is considered the most important factor of all and is thus given a “x4” weight. Bars per Capita and Beer Passion Score are less important and are thus given half the weight.

The Number One City for Beer

And at the top of the list this year we find Pittsburgh, PA! What helped drive Pittsburgh to the top are several factors, among them the high Breweries per capita. Pittsburgh can claim 2.3 Breweries per 100,000 population, which places it well ahead of the average for cities in this study, which was 1.3 Breweries per 100,000 population.

But that isn’t all. Pittsburgh also shines in other areas, like having an average beer price of only $4.40, which compares favorably to the $4.78 average for the typical city. Another impressive stat is Pittsburgh’s Beer Passion score, which scores 96 out of 100 in Google Trends. This is a measure of how often Pittsburgh residents search the world wide web for anything related to beer. A score this high shows that the people of Pittsburgh love craft beer and love finding new places to visit for their next pint.

The 50 Metro Areas Ranked

Below are the Top 50 American Cities for Beer. Real Estate Witch studied only the 50 largest metro areas and ranked them from top to bottom, so don’t expect to find places like Asheville, NC or Bend, OR in this ranking. It’s big metropolitan areas only, so keep that in mind as you scroll through the rankings. Where does your favorite large city rank?

1. Pittsburgh, PA  
2. Cincinnati, OH  
3. Milwaukee, WI 
4. New Orleans, LA
5. Denver, CO       
6. Louisville, KY
7. Indianapolis, IN
8. Nashville, TN
9. Charlotte, NC    
10. Minneapolis, MN
11. Oklahoma City, OK
12. Jacksonville, FL
13. Hartford, CT
14. Seattle, WA
15. Buffalo, NY
16. Portland, OR
17. Kansas City, MO
18. St. Louis, MO
19. Austin, TX
20. Columbus, OH
21. San Diego, CA
22. San Antonio, TX
23. Orlando, FL
24. San Francisco, CA
25. Detroit, MI
26. Baltimore, MD
27. Dallas, TX
28. Las Vegas, NV
29. Philadelphia, PA
30. Houston, TX
31. Providence, RI
32. Boston, MA
33. Raleigh, NC
34. San Jose, CA
35. Richmond, VA
36. Chicago, IL
37. New York, NY
38. Cleveland, OH
39. Salt Lake City, UT
40. Miami, FL
41. Virginia Beach, VA
42. Birmingham, AL
43. Washington, DC
44. Atlanta, GA
45. Sacramento, CA
46. Memphis, TN
47. Phoenix, AZ
48. Tampa, FL
49. Riverside, CA
50. Los Angeles, CA

For more statistics on the above cities and how they fit into the rankings, visit Real Estate Witch Top 50 Beer Cities