Tampa Ranks 3rd In Country For Pet Friendliness

TAMPA, FL — It's the dog days of summer and, fortunately, Tampa Bay happens to love its dogs.

That's according to the personal finance website Wallethub, which just released the 2019’s Most Pet-Friendly Cities. The website rated the 100 largest cities based on 24 key metrics and Tampa came in as the third most pet-friendly city while St. Petersburg earned a rating of 36.

With National Homeless Animals Day approaching and more than 85 million U.S. pet-owning households projected to spend $75 billion this year, WalletHub wanted to determine where Americans’ animal companions can enjoy the best quality of life without breaking the bank. The data set used by WalletHub ranged from minimum pet-care provider rate per visit to pet businesses per capita to walkability.

Topping Tampa for pet-friendliness were Scottsdale, Arizona, at #1 and Orlando at #2.

Here are some other findings:

• Stockton, California, has the lowest average veterinary care costs (per visit), $37.08, which is 2.3 times lower than in Plano, Texas, the city with the highest at $84.24.
• Miami has the most veterinarians (per square root of population), 0.3380, which is 88.9 times more than in Newark, New Jersey, the city with the fewest at 0.0038.
• St. Paul, Minnesota, has the lowest monthly dog-insurance premium, $34.84, which is 2.5 times lower than in San Francisco, the city with the highest at $88.76.
• San Francisco has the most pet businesses (per square root of population), 0.8455, which is 21.4 times more than in Newark, New Jersey, the city with the fewest at 0.0395.

Although still in the top 50, surprisingly St. Petersburg, which just won the 2019 Better Cities for Pets award and a $30,000 grant at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, ranked significantly lower than Tampa and Orlando.

WalletHub's analysts said that's not because St. Pete residents don't love their pets. St. Pete ranked lower due to its pet health and wellness score.

This includes the per capita number of veterinarians, pet caretakers, animal trainers, pet businesses, dog-friendly restaurants, pet-friendly hotels, dog-friendly shops, dog daycare and boarding businesses and pet meetup groups.

On a scale of 1 to 100 with 1 being the best, Tampa ranked 17 for pet health and wellness compared to St. Pete's rank of 56.

Tampa also beat out St. Pete for the cost of owning a pet, including veterinary care costs and dog insurance premiums. Tampa ranked 10 compared to St. Pete's ranking of 46.

As for the city's outdoor pet friendliness, Tampa ranked 13 to St. Pete's 27. This included factors like dog parks per capita, dog-friendly trails and dog shows.