What Is Minnesota’s Best City For Dog Lovers?

A recent survey by notable internet publication LawnStarter has ranked the United States' most 'dog-friendly' cities for 2024. The top cities in the country were Scottsdale, AZ; Asheville, NC; Santa Fe, NM; Tucson, AZ and Santa Monica, CA.

Unfortunately no Minnesota city made the top 200 (and St. Cloud didn't make the list at all). Brooklyn Park checked in at #445, Bloomington at #421, Woodbury at #412, Plymouth at #368, Rochester at #310, Duluth at #283 and St. Paul at #225.

The most dog friendly city in Minnesota is Minneapolis, who finished ranked #218 overall.

LawnStarter:

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.

First, we determined the factors (metrics) that are most relevant to rank the Most Dog-Friendly Cities. We then assigned a weight to each factor based on its importance and grouped those factors into 5 categories: Community, Care, Businesses, Affordability, and Housing. The categories, factors, and their weights are listed in the table below.

For each of the 500 biggest U.S. cities, we then gathered data on each factor from the sources listed below the table. 

Finally, we calculated scores (out of 100 points) for each city to determine its rank in each factor, each category, and overall. A city’s Overall Score is the average of its scores across all factors and categories. The highest Overall Score ranked “Best” (No. 1) and the lowest “Worst” (No. 500).

Minneapolis ranked highly in community and business, but low in housing and care. The city was middle of the pack in affordability.