Philadelphia is among the worst cities for pet owners, study finds

When it comes to life for city-dwelling pet owners, Philadelphia is pretty ruff, according to a new study.

Philly, in fact, is one of the worst cities for pet owners, thanks to a low percentage of pet-friendly apartments, high veterinarian costs, and few vets per capita, among other factors, real estate rental company Zumper found. Overall, Philadelphia ranked 90th of 100 cities surveyed for the company’s study.

Local cities that fared worse were Newark, N.J., (94th) and Jersey City (dead last).

Looking at data from Zumper’s own listings, as well as from sources including the most recent U.S. Census, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and geographic database OpenStreetMap, the study ranked 100 cities across the country to figure out where pet owners have it best. Factors included pet-friendly rental pricing, parks per capita, vets per capita, veterinarian treatment costs, air quality index, and walkability. Cities were then graded on a scale of A to F.

Philly received a failing grade in the percentage of pet-friendly apartments, vets per capita, and vet costs, meaning we ranked in the bottom 20% of cities surveyed in those categories. Pet-friendly rental pricing earned Philadelphia a D (ranking us higher than 20% of cities in the survey), as did the number of parks per capita. Philly’s air quality index, meanwhile, earned a C (ranking higher than 40% of surveyed cities).

Philly’s lone A grade came in walkability, meaning the city ranked higher than 80% of surveyed cities for “the ease of pedestrian movement and the availability of pet-friendly walking areas,” Zumper said. In that category, Philly took 13th place.

Overall, Zumper found that about 43% of Philadelphia rental listings were pet-friendly, and one-bedroom, pet-friendly rental units tacked on $20 in fees per month. In terms of parks, Philly ranked 34th of the cities surveyed. Vet costs were relatively high, putting Philly 27th, the study found.

While admittedly not great, at least we ranked above Jersey City, which received a failing grade in nearly every category. And New York City, which placed 95th, did worse than us, too.

But, sadly, Pittsburgh beat us by a long shot, placing 29th overall. And taking the number one spot was Richmond, Va., which had as many A ratings as we had F’s.

Still, despite Philly’s purportedly abysmal ranking for pet owners from Zumper, the city’s proportion of pets is relatively high.

In some cases, very high. The 2021 Census, for example, found that the Philadelphia metropolitan area had the highest percentage of cat ownership among the country’s 15 largest metro areas at 23%, or 568,000 households.

And according to the census, some 788,000 households in the area, or 32%, have dogs, putting us in eighth for dog ownership nationwide.

But why does Philly have so many cats, exactly? No one knows for sure, but some folks have theories. Ultimately, they may just be Philadelphians’ kindred spirits.

“I can see that they expect you to take care of them, and they just do what they want,” Annie Duggan, a project manager from Havertown, told The Inquirer last year. “That speaks to something in the character of Philadelphia.”