PHOENIX — If you’re a pet lover, Scottsdale is the ultimate destination. A recent nationwide survey has identified this Valley city as the top pet-kind locale, with Phoenix also making it into the top 20.
According to WalletHub’s “Most Pet-Friendly Cities (2025)” report, researchers evaluated 100 of the largest cities in the U.S. based on three key criteria:
- Pet-related expenses
- Health and wellness for pets
- Outdoor amenities for pets
Cities were awarded up to 100 points across thes categories, with Scottsdale achieving an remarkable score of 66.19 points—significantly ahead of second-place Tampa,florida at 61.04 points. The top five cities included Cincinnati, Ohio (59.97), Las Vegas, Nevada (59.16), and Portland, Oregon (58.98).
Phoenix secured the 18th position overall; however, other Arizona cities did not fare as well in this ranking—Tucson landed at 61st place while Mesa was ranked lowest at 88th.
The Factors Behind scottsdales High Ranking
Scottsdale excelled particularly in pet health and wellness where it claimed first place and also ranked fifth for outdoor pet-friendliness. These high scores compensated for it’s lower rank of 84th in terms of pet-related expenses.
Despite having a relatively low ranking for dog insurance costs at T-94th place nationally, Scottsdale led in per capita availability of pet services and was fifth regarding animal shelters per capita—Phoenix notably topped this subcategory while Chandler fell to 99th.
Both gilbert (third) and Phoenix (sixth) performed admirably in terms of health and wellness metrics for pets as well.
The evaluation included various subcategories among a total of twenty-three such as veterinary care costs, rental market friendliness towards pets, average home square footage suitable for animals, climate considerations, and access to dog parks per capita.
This isn’t the first time Scottsdale has been recognized as America’s most pet-friendly city; it has consistently held this title over several years including being highlighted again in the2024 survey, where it also excelled specifically in areas related to pet health.
In contrast to these findings is Honolulu, Hawaii which ranked last overall; despite placing twelfth for outdoor amenities catering to pets it fell significantly behind at both ninety-second and one-hundredth positions concerning financial aspects related to pets along with health metrics respectively.
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