{"id":363722,"date":"2026-10-03T17:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T17:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/363722\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T17:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T17:32:09","slug":"nyc-snubbed-in-2026-list-of-americas-best-foodie-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/363722\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC snubbed in 2026 list of America&#8217;s best foodie cities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Choke on this, New York.<\/p>\n<p>WalletHub has dished up its <a href=\"https:\/\/wallethub.com\/edu\/best-foodie-cities\/7522\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">annual list of the best destinations for foodies<\/a>, spotlighting cities where diners can feast without spending a small fortune \u2026 and to the shock and dismay of many, NYC didn\u2019t crack the top twenty.<\/p>\n<p>To determine gastronomic glory, <a href=\"https:\/\/wallethub.com\/edu\/best-foodie-cities\/7522\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">WalletHub<\/a> compared more than 180 cities \u2014 including the 150 most populated US metros.<\/p>\n<p>WalletHub evaluated cities using two key determinants: \u201cAffordability\u201d and \u201cDiversity, Accessibility &amp; Quality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Within these pillars, the ranking considered restaurant variety and the number of affordable places with strong customer ratings, food festivals, and Michelin-starred restaurants. <\/p>\n<p>It also factored in grocery costs and the number of farmers\u2019 markets and CSAs per capita, helping to build a picture of what availability and affordability look like for home-cooked meals as well. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the best foodie cities, there are tons of unique culinary experiences to try, from food trucks to specialty-food stores to, in some cities, Michelin-starred restaurants,\u201d said Chip Lupo of WalletHub, noting that the top cities cater to home cooks as well as restaurant regulars. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese cities make delicious dining affordable for residents and visitors alike,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.77777778;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"41081255\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/143301179.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling vendor handing a bag of fresh produce to a customer at a lively outdoor farmers market.\" class=\"wp-image-41081255\"\/>The ranking factored in grocery costs and the number of farmers\u2019 markets and CSAs per capita, helping paint a picture of what availability and affordability look like for home-cooked meals.  Gorodenkoff \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n<p>Miami, Florida, took the top spot, and the top five ranking was rounded out with Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, and Orlando. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMiami is the best city for foodies, leading the country when it comes to the availability of affordable restaurants rated at least 4.5 stars out of 5. It also has an extremely high number of restaurants per capita,\u201d said study authors, noting that Miami is home to 12 Michelin-starred restaurants and a plethora of farmers\u2019 markets, specialty food stores, and butcher shops. <\/p>\n<p>The southern city is no stranger to accolades. <\/p>\n<p>In 2023, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/sponsored\/story\/its-official-miami-is-the-culinary-destination-in-the-us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Bon App\u00e9tit crowned Miami \u201cfood city of the year.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Despite having no Michelin stars to speak of, Portland, OR, slid into second place and stood out for its abundance of craft breweries and wineries, herb and spice shops, food and wine tours, and food festivals per capita.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49489051;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"41081272\" width=\"882\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/al-fresco-seating-available-south-143301224.jpg\" alt=\"Street-level view of al fresco dining areas with outdoor umbrellas along Ocean Boulevard in South Beach, Miami Beach.\" class=\"wp-image-41081272\"\/>Miami, Florida, was crowned the best foodie city of 2026.  kirkikis \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n<p>San Francisco took third place, thanks to its high number of restaurants per capita and a strong selection of affordable restaurants rated at least 4.5 out of 5 stars. <\/p>\n<p>San Francisco also earned high marks for its jaw-dropping 25 Michelin-starred restaurants, including three (Atelier Crenn, Benu, and Quince) with three stars apiece.<\/p>\n<p>Though food diversity, accessibility, and quality carried more weight than affordability, helping pricey cities like San Francisco and Seattle secure top spots, New York still ranked a dismal 22nd. <\/p>\n<p>According to the study, while NYC earned twelfth place for diversity, accessibility, and quality, it ranked 179th for affordability, which helps explain its mediocre final score. <\/p>\n<p>In further outrage, New Orleans, long considered among the finest food cities in the world, landed at No. 48<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the bottom five cities- Pearl City, HI, Montgomery, AL, Moreno Valley, CA, Jackson, MS, and Shreveport, LA failed to deliver on diversity or affordability. <\/p>\n<p>While NYC did not qualify as a top-tier foodie destination by WalletHub\u2019s estimation, two of the city\u2019s restaurants, Limusina and The Ambassador\u2019s Club, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/09\/30\/lifestyle\/yelp-best-new-restaurants-2026-nyc-hot-spots-limusina-ambassadors-clubhouse-make-list\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">made the top ten in Yelp\u2019s roundup of the Best New Restaurants of the year.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Choke on this, New York. WalletHub has dished up its annual list of the best destinations for foodies,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[289,2474,232,5546,25638,9,24,56,63,65,64,821,11322],"class_list":["post-363722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-food-drink","tag-food-trends","tag-lifestyle","tag-miami","tag-michelin","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-restaurants","tag-study-says"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}