Madison just earned bragging rights as the ninth-best city in the country for vegans and vegetarians, according to a new nationwide ranking, and it's the only Wisconsin community to crack the top 50. Milwaukee, meanwhile, landed far down the list at 72nd out of the 100 cities studied.
The rankings come from personal-finance site WalletHub, which as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel compared the 100 largest U.S. cities on measures ranging from grocery costs to restaurant options to community gardens per capita. Madison's overall ninth-place finish broke down unevenly across categories: the city ranked 20th for affordability but only 30th for diversity and accessibility of vegan and vegetarian options, per the same report.
WalletHub's own methodology page lays out just how broad the comparison was. The company says it evaluated the 100 largest U.S. cities across 17 separate indicators of vegan- and vegetarian-friendliness, with WalletHub grading affordability, diversity, accessibility, quality and lifestyle factors on a 100-point scale, where “a score of 100 represent[s] the most favorable conditions for vegans and vegetarians.”
What Actually Got Measured
Beyond the broad category scores, the study drilled into specifics that most grocery shoppers would recognize. As Tucson.com's coverage of the report describes it, WalletHub weighed “the cost of groceries for vegetarians, the share of restaurants serving meatless options and the number of salad shops per capita” in tallying each city's rank, according to Tucson.com.
Community gardens factored in too, and Madison has long leaned into that piece of the puzzle. The City of Madison notes on its website that community gardens can improve “equitable access to multiple social, environmental and health assets,” and that half of all community gardens in the city sit on city-owned land. The City of Madison also says these gardens can boost social capital and support “sustainable ecology” for residents who tend them.
That civic infrastructure has backup from the university side as well. UW-Madison's Division of Extension says it provides resources and education for community gardeners and links them with local emergency food-security groups looking for fresh-produce donations, according to the UW-Madison Division of Extension.
Why Meat Prices Are Part of the Story
The Journal Sentinel's report ties Madison's ranking to a broader financial trend shaping grocery bills nationwide. Meat prices have been climbing at a much steeper year-over-year rate than fruit and vegetable prices, WalletHub found, a gap that could be nudging more households toward plant-based staples out of simple cost calculus.
Nationally, the plant-based population remains a small but meaningful slice of the country. WalletHub puts the vegetarian share of U.S. adults, including vegans, at around 5%, or roughly 13.3 million people.
How the Rest of the Country Stacked Up
Madison's top-10 finish put it in company with several larger, coastal food cities. Portland, Oregon took the top overall spot in the 2026 rankings, followed by Los Angeles at second and Austin, Texas at third, according to WalletHub's report. Madison's ninth-place finish, while trailing those bigger metros, still outpaced dozens of larger cities on the list — and left Milwaukee lagging well behind in the back half of the rankings.
