Washington, D.C. has been ranked fifth among the top 20 dog-friendly cities of the nation, according to a new report issued on April 5 by the dog-walking service Rover.
D.C. got a walk score of 77 on the ranking with one percent of homes for sale mentioning “dog”. The most popular breed in the city is mixed breed.
Seattle, with a walk score of 73, topped the list as the most dog-friendly city in America. Chicago, Denver and Manhattan also made it to the top five.
Alexandria ranked 16th with a walk score of 60, and three percent of homes in the city for sale that mention “dog.” The study determined that mixed breed has the highest popularity in Alexandria, as well.
“Despite the notion that some people may wait to move to the suburbs to adopt a dog, urban cores still rank highest in dog friendliness. Cities renowned for leafy parks and outdoor activities like Seattle, Chicago, and Denver claimed the top spots,” the Rover notes in the report.
Rover came up with the ranking in partnership with a real estate brokerage firm. Collecting the numbers from over 14,000 cities, the company compiled a list of the highest number of walks, dog walkers, and sitters, including time and distance per walk from Rover’s own users. These results were then combined with real estate data. Rover also recorded the keyword “dog” in online listing for homes for sale to find out which properties were good for canines or close to dog parks.
“We also included each dog-friendly city’s Walk Score, to highlight how easy it is to treat your dog to his or her favorite activity,” Rover noted in a blog post.
According to the American Pet Products Association (APPA), about 60.2 million households own a dog, and the spending on pet-industry has increased to $69.5 billion in 2017 from just $17 billion in 1994.