Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on LawnStarter.
Americans have a fondue-ness for cheese — but cheese love isn’t spread evenly across our vast country.
In search of 2023’s Best Cities for Cheese Lovers, LawnStarter compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities on factors in four categories: cheese access, quality, affordability, and community interest.
See which cities took the cheddar in our ranking below.
1. New York, NY
- Overall score: 55.27
- Access rank: 3
- Quality rank: 1
- Affordability rank: 136
- Community rank: 2
2. Madison, WI
- Overall score: 43.74
- Access rank: 7
- Quality rank: 10
- Affordability rank: 60
- Community rank: 1
3. Chicago, IL
- Overall score: 42.65
- Access rank: 4
- Quality rank: 3
- Affordability rank: 84
- Community rank: 7
4. San Francisco, CA
- Overall score: 42.38
- Access rank: 1
- Quality rank: 62
- Affordability rank: 47
- Community rank: 13
5. Los Angeles, CA
- Overall score: 36.86
- Access rank: 5
- Quality rank: 11
- Affordability rank: 70
- Community rank: 3
6. Washington, D.C.
- Overall score: 34.37
- Access rank: 2
- Quality rank: 62
- Affordability rank: 39
- Community rank: 36
7. Seattle, WA
- Overall score: 31.67
- Access rank: 8
- Quality rank: 23
- Affordability rank: 73
- Community rank: 13
8. Santa Rosa, CA
- Overall score: 30.22
- Access rank: 10
- Quality rank: 5
- Affordability rank: 150
- Community rank: 22
9. Milwaukee, WI
- Overall score: 29.22
- Access rank: 19
- Quality rank: 4
- Affordability rank: 114
- Community rank: 36
10. Atlanta, GA
- Overall score: 28.42
- Access rank: 12
- Quality rank: 35
- Affordability rank: 49
- Community rank: 9
11. Boston, MA
- Overall score: 28.14
- Access rank: 6
- Quality rank: 62
- Affordability rank: 116
- Community rank: 45
12. Long Beach, CA
- Overall score: 27.85
- Access rank: 9
- Quality rank: 11
- Affordability rank: 99
- Community rank: 36
13. Modesto, CA
- Overall score: 26.85
- Access rank: 17
- Quality rank: 6
- Affordability rank: 54
- Community rank: 75
14. Portland, OR
- Overall score: 26.14
- Access rank: 15
- Quality rank: 62
- Affordability rank: 98
- Community rank: 9
15. Minneapolis, MN
- Overall score: 25.1
- Access rank: 26
- Quality rank: 62
- Affordability rank: 36
- Community rank: 13
Behind the Ranking
For each of the 200 biggest U.S. cities, we gathered publicly available data on the following factors:
- Cheese Shops per Square Mile
- Fondue Restaurants per Square Mile
- Mac and Cheese Vendors per Square Mile
- Number of Cheesecake Factory Locations
- Number of Farmers Markets Offering Cheese and Dairy Products
- Number of Cheese Factories and Plants
- Total Points for Past 3 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest Awards Earned by County Producers
- Average Per-Pound Price of Local Cheese (Income-Adjusted)
- Number of Cheese-Related Events and Festivals
- Number of Cheese and Wine Meetup Groups
We then grouped those factors into four categories: Access, Quality, Affordability, and Community.
Next, we calculated weighted scores for each city in each category. Finally, we averaged the scores for each city across all categories.
The city that earned the highest average score was ranked “Best” (No. 1).
Sources: 10Times, The Cheesecake Factory, Dairy Foods, Local Harvest, Mac & Cheese Festivals, Meetup, New England Cheese Making Supply Company, Numbeo, TripAdvisor, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Championship Cheese Contest, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Yelp