Which cities have the most puppy love for our canine companions? To mark National Dog Day on Aug. 26, LawnStarter fetched 2024’s Most Dog-Friendly Cities.

We compared the 500 biggest U.S. cities based on 5 categories. More specifically, we considered access to dog-friendly housing and businesses, friendliness of dog-related laws, and affordability of canine services like training and dog sitting among 34 total metrics.

See the 10 best (and 10 worst) cities for dogs and their owners below, followed by key takeaways. (Don’t see your city below? Check out the full ranking.)

Most Dog-Friendly Cities

1. Scottsdale, AZ

2. Asheville, NC

3. Santa Fe, NM

4. Tucson, AZ

5. Santa Monica, CA

6. Orlando, FL

7. Bend, OR

8. Wilmington, NC

9. Fort Myers, FL

10. Austin, TX

Least Dog-Friendly Cities

1. Waterbury, CT

2. Paterson, NJ

3. Cicero, IL

4. Hammond, IN

5. New Britain, CT

6. Miami Gardens, FL

7. Hartford, CT

8. Bridgeport, CT

9. West Valley City, UT

10. Kansas City, KS

Key Insights

• Cities lacking dog-friendly housing can be ruff for pup parents to navigate. Southern and Southwestern cities like Sandy Springs, Georgia(No. 213), Santa Fe, New Mexico (No. 3), and Allen, Texas (No. 81), offer the best access to dog-friendly digs with plenty of rentals allowing dogs, spacious homes, and large backyards.
• Big cities like New York (No. 27), Austin, Texas (No. 10), and Los Angeles (No. 28) claim the most pup-furrendly businesses. Less populated places like Arizona cities Scottsdale (No. 1), and Tucson, (No. 4), and Asheville, North Carolina (No. 2), run with the big dogs, enjoying great access to accommodations, restaurants, and shopping centers allowing pooches.
• Northern cities like Cicero, Illinois (No. 498), and Paterson, New Jersey (No. 499), land in the doghouse, alongside Waterbury, Connecticut, inlast place. These cities lack access to veterinarians, dog sitters, and dog parks, and have low rates of dog-friendly rentals.   – more at azbigmedia.com