American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
Increasingly real estate sites are tapping into beer as a way to attract visitors. You see, beer nowadays is seen as youthful and trendy… apartment rentals, not so much. And these kinds of rankings can sometimes be stupid fun, as was a recent guide by Zumper (a housing rental site) to the best cities to live in for beer lovers.
Zumper’s benchmarks for ranking the beer cities tapped data from 251 cities (the five largest cities in each state… plus Washington, DC). And to tell you the truth their benchmarks were far better than we expected…
Here’s the criteria they used (with our thoughts on their methodology)
- The number of breweries and brewpubs per capita (100,000 residents) – understandable
- The number of bars per capita – sure, why not?
- The number of medals won at the Great American Beer Festival since its founding in 1982 –actually we love that one
- The median 1 bedroom rent per month – Zumper had to tie in to apartment rentals somehow
- State beer tax – Good one!
- The average price for a pint of beer – again, why not?
And here are Zumper’s Best Cities To Live In If You Love Drinking Beer (which they even awarded letter grades, for some unknown reason)
| Rank | City | Breweries per Capita | Bars per Capita | Wins at GABF |
Median 1BR Rent | Beer Tax by State | Price Per Pint by City | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denver, CO | 38.8 | 15.3 | 19.8 | $1,246 | $0.08 | $4.30 | A+ |
| 2 | Portland, OR | 39 | 15.4 | 19.7 | $1,341 | $0.08 | $4.50 | A |
| 3 | Eugene, OR | 36.8 | 9.5 | 15.8 | $737 | $0.08 | $3.00 | A |
| 4 | Salt Lake City, UT | 35.8 | 15.5 | 19.1 | $950 | $0.41 | $4.00 | A- |
| 5 | Seattle, WA | 37.4 | 16.7 | 19.4 | $1,850 | $0.26 | $5.00 | A- |
| 6 | Rochester, NY | 36.6 | 13.4 | 15.8 | $725 | $0.14 | $4.50 | A- |
| 7 | Fort Collins, CO | 39.4 | 8.7 | 18.9 | $904 | $0.08 | $5.00 | A- |
| 8 | Cincinnati, OH | 33.9 | 15.1 | 13.2 | $725 | $0.18 | $3.50 | A- |
| 9 | Portland, ME | 39.8 | 15 | 14.3 | $1,450 | $0.35 | $4.00 | B+ |
| 10 | Billings, MT | 35.2 | 4.1 | 16.1 | $587 | $0.14 | $3.00 | B+ |
| 11 | Newark, DE | 34.9 | 18.7 | 8 | $894 | $0.16 | $3.50 | B+ |
| 12 | Cleveland, OH | 28.3 | 14.1 | 17.4 | $656 | $0.18 | $4.00 | B+ |
| 13 | Madison, WI | 35 | 12.1 | 17.1 | $1,146 | $0.06 | $4.30 | B+ |
| 14 | Santa Fe, NM | 37.2 | 11 | 13.7 | $953 | $0.41 | $3.00 | B+ |
| 15 | Pittsburgh, PA | 27.1 | 16.1 | 17.3 | $1,040 | $0.08 | $3.50 | B+ |
| 16 | Green Bay, WI | 34.5 | 10.5 | 10.7 | $680 | $0.06 | $3.30 | B |
| 17 | Minneapolis, MN | 36 | 15.7 | 15.8 | $1,275 | $0.47 | $5.00 | B |
| 18 | Tacoma, WA | 34.1 | 17.1 | 12 | $1,046 | $0.26 | $3.80 | B |
| 19 | Tampa, FL | 33.5 | 17.5 | 13.2 | $992 | $0.48 | $4.00 | B |
| 20 | Morgantown, WV | 38.4 | 13.5 | 0 | $577 | $0.18 | $3.00 | B |
| 21 | Albuquerque, NM | 31.3 | 4.4 | 17.9 | $599 | $0.41 | $3.00 | B |
| 22 | Orlando, FL | 32.7 | 18.2 | 10.2 | $1,064 | $0.48 | $3.40 | B |
| 23 | Grand Rapids, MI | 37 | 11.4 | 10.7 | $919 | $0.20 | $4.00 | B |
| 24 | Austin, TX | 30.3 | 12 | 17.7 | $1,054 | $0.20 | $4.00 | B |
| 25 | Bozeman, MT | 39.2 | 10.5 | 4.1 | $812 | $0.14 | $3.00 | B |
And actually their Top 10 Ranking (with the exception of Rochester, NY and maybe Billings, MT) was pretty solid – especially for an apartment rental site tapping into the beer world.
