San Francisco And New Orleans Top Lists For Most Restaurants, Bars

There is much debate about where the greatest cities for eating and drinking are. According to the Huffington Post, the debate can be settled with a simple study — at least if sheer number of eating and drinking establishments is any indicator of quality.

The study was conducted by taking the largest 100 metro cities in the United States and counting all of the restaurants (sit-down only) and bars in the area. They divided the number of restaurants and bars by the number of households, and multiplied it by 10,000.

The numbers are reported by every 10,000 households. Topping the list for eating towns is San Francisco, reaching 39.3 restaurants for every 10,000 households. Also in the top 10 are Fairfield County, Conn., Long Island, N.Y., New York City, Seattle, San Jose, Calif., Orange County, Calif., Providence, R.I., Boston, and Portland, Ore. 

In keeping up with the concentration of restaurants in these areas, the cities that top the list are also very pricey to live in. San Francisco has the most expensive real estate in the country, with $459 per square foot. San Jose, Calif., is $319, and New York City is $275.

Conversely, the drinking towns of America are much less expensive to live in. The only exception is San Francisco, which is the only city to appear on both lists, and comes in as the number eight drinking city. 

Topping the drinking list is New Orleans, with 8.9 bars per 10,000 households. Following suit are Milwaukee, Wis., Omaha, Neb., Pittsburgh, Penn., Toledo, Ohio, Syracuse, N.Y., Buffalo, N.Y., San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Honolulu, Hawaii. 

Drinking cities are significantly less expensive than eating cities. New Orleans costs $99 per square foot, Toledo, Ohio, costs $71 and Las Vegas is only $69.

To see the graphs and further research from Trulia, check out the Huffington Post's article.