2023 Beer Lovers Index - HomeToGo base64Hash 2023 Beer Lovers Index - HomeToGo
Tapping into the 32 best cities for a brew-inspired trip

2023 Beer Lovers Index


Where are the best beer towns in the U.S.? HomeToGo has once again created the ultimate guide for beer aficionados seeking to plan the perfect hop-filled getaway.

The 2023 Beer Lovers Index unveils the 32 best and most budget-friendly cities across the country. Whether you're a fan of hoppy IPAs, the velvety richness of stouts, or the refreshing embrace of domestic drafts, we've scoured the nation to present you with a curated list of destinations where you can enjoy a hop-tastic weekend without racking up a giant bar tab. Join us as we raise a glass to the art of brewing, camaraderie, and the exploration of new tastes in these remarkable cities.

Unbeerlivable Facts 🍻

The Economy of Beer

In 2023, the U.S. beer industry is currently bolstering almost 2.4 million local jobs and making a substantial $409 billion contribution to the U.S. economy.

The Rise of the Brewmaster

In 1983, there were just 49 U.S. breweries. By 2021, that number had skyrocketed to over 13,300, with many states now surpassing the nation-wide total from 1990.

Red, White, and Brew

Independence Day is the leading beer holiday in America, followed by Memorial Day, Labor Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving and Super Bowl Sunday.

Top 32 U.S. Cities for Beer Lovers

Rank
City
State
Bars
Breweries
Beer Prices
Accommodation Prices
Total Score
1 Cincinnati Ohio 7.3 5.7 10.0 8.6 31.6
2 Denver Colorado 6.5 9.2 7.5 7.9 31.1
3 Philadelphia Pennsylvania 10.0 5.0 7.5 8.5 31.0
4 Chicago Illinois 9.9 7.5 6.3 7.0 30.7
5 Richmond Virginia 5.2 5.8 9.4 9.6 30.0
6 Seattle Washington 9.1 8.4 5.0 7.4 29.9
7 Portland Oregon 8.2 10.0 6.3 5.0 29.5
8 Indianapolis Indiana 5.4 5.7 8.8 9.4 29.3
9 Milwaukee Wisconsin 6.1 5.4 8.1 8.7 28.3
10 Saint Louis Missouri 6.5 5.3 7.5 8.8 28.1
=11 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 6.4 5.2 8.8 7.6 28.0
=11 Cleveland Ohio 6.1 5.5 6.9 9.5 28.0
=12 San Francisco California 7.2 6.0 6.3 8.1 27.6
=12 Saint Paul Minnesota 5.6 5.0 8.1 8.9 27.6
15 Houston Texas 7.0 6.0 7.5 6.9 27.4
=16 Charlotte North Carolina 6.1 5.5 7.5 8.0 27.1
=16 Atlanta Georgia 6.8 5.0 7.5 7.8 27.1
=16 Salt Lake City Utah 5.7 5.0 7.5 8.9 27.1
=16 Colorado Springs Colorado 5.3 5.2 7.5 9.1 27.1
20 Dallas Texas 5.9 5.0 8.8 7.3 27.0
21 Fort Collins Colorado 5.5 5.1 7.8 8.5 26.9
22 Minneapolis Minnesota 6.7 5.9 6.3 7.6 26.5
23 Bend Oregon 5.2 5.1 7.5 8.5 26.3
24 Austin Texas 6.6 6.6 6.3 6.7 26.2
25 San Diego California 7.0 9.1 5.0 5.0 26.1
26 Grand Rapids Michigan 5.4 5.4 5.0 10.0 25.8
27 Raleigh North Carolina 5.1 5.0 6.9 8.6 25.6
28 Albuquerque New Mexico 5.4 5.5 6.9 6.9 24.7
29 Nashville Tennessee 5.8 5.0 8.0 5.7 24.5
30 Los Angeles California 5.9 5.1 5.0 7.3 23.3
31 Asheville North Carolina 5.6 5.2 5.0 7.2 23.0
32 Boulder Colorado 5.0 5.2 6.3 6.3 22.8
1 Cincinnati Ohio [50 Bars] [34 Breweries] [$4.00] [$295.12] 31.6
2 Denver Colorado [34 Bars] [92 Breweries] [$6.00] [$333.23] 31.1
3 Philadelphia Pennsylvania [101 Bars] [23 Breweries] [$6.00] [$302.74] 31.0
4 Chicago Illinois [99 Bars] [64 Breweries] [$7.00] [$381.15] 30.7
5 Richmond Virginia [9 Bars] [36 Breweries] [$4.50] [$243.94] 30.0
6 Seattle Washington [84 Bars] [78 Breweries] [$8.00] [$357.19] 29.9
7 Portland Oregon [67 Bars] [105 Breweries] [$7.00] [$483.52] 29.5
8 Indianapolis Indiana [13 Bars] [34 Breweries] [$5.00] [$252.10] 29.3
9 Milwaukee Wisconsin [26 Bars] [29 Breweries] [$5.50] [$289.67] 28.3
10 Saint Louis Missouri [33 Bars] [28 Breweries] [$6.00] [$288.59] 28.1
=11 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania [31 Bars] [26 Breweries] [$5.00] [$349.02] 28.0
=11 Cleveland Ohio [26 Bars] [31 Breweries] [$6.50] [$248.29] 28.0
=12 San Francisco California [48 Bars] [39 Breweries] [$7.00] [$322.34] 27.6
=12 Saint Paul Minnesota [16 Bars] [23 Breweries] [$5.50] [$283.14] 27.6
15 Houston Texas [43 Bars] [40 Breweries] [$6.00] [$383.33] 27.4
=16 Charlotte North Carolina [26 Bars] [32 Breweries] [$6.00] [$326.70] 27.1
=16 Atlanta Georgia [40 Bars] [23 Breweries] [$6.00] [$339.77] 27.1
=16 Salt Lake City Utah [19 Bars] [23 Breweries] [$6.00] [$279.87] 27.1
=16 Colorado Springs Colorado [10 Bars] [27 Breweries] [$6.00] [$270.07] 27.1
20 Dallas Texas [23 Bars] [23 Breweries] [$5.00] [$365.90] 27.0
21 Fort Collins Colorado [14 Bars] [24 Breweries] [$5.75] [$302.74] 26.9
22 Minneapolis Minnesota [38 Bars] [38 Breweries] [$7.00] [$350.66] 26.5
23 Bend Oregon [9 Bars] [24 Breweries] [$6.00] [$300.02] 26.3
24 Austin Texas [36 Bars] [49 Breweries] [$7.00] [$397.49] 26.2
25 San Diego California [43 Bars] [91 Breweries] [$8.00] [$484.61] 26.1
26 Grand Rapids Michigan [12 Bars] [29 Breweries] [$8.00] [$223.25] 25.8
27 Raleigh North Carolina [7 Bars] [23 Breweries] [$6.50] [$298.39] 25.6
28 Albuquerque New Mexico [12 Bars] [32 Breweries] [$6.50] [$384.42] 24.7
29 Nashville Tennessee [20 Bars] [23 Breweries] [$5.62] [$445.65] 24.5
30 Los Angeles California [22 Bars] [24 Breweries] [$8.00] [$365.90] 23.3
31 Asheville North Carolina [17 Bars] [27 Breweries] [$8.00] [$371.35] 23.0
32 Boulder Colorado [5 Bars] [27 Breweries] [$7.00] [$417.09] 22.8

*Each category has been given a score between 5 to 10 and the raw data can be viewed in [brackets]. More information can be found in the methodology below.

Show more

A Closer Look at the Top Destinations for Beer Lovers

Beer Tasting

As the home of the biggest Oktoberfest celebration in the country, Cincinnati attracts millions of visitors each year to indulge and imbibe in local brews. Widely known for its historical creation of craft beers and IPAs, travelers enjoy discovering the historic Over-the-Rhine brewery district, a collection of breweries in the heart of the city. Long ago named “The Beer Capital of the World”, Cincinnati invites visitors to explore several long-standing breweries as well as more recent additions to the community. With several beer festivals through the year, including the Cincy Winter Beer Fest and Cincy On Tap Beer Festival, there’s always on opportunity for visitors to enjoy a refreshing pint. 

Top Rated Bars: 50 | Breweries: 34 | Avg. Price of a Domestic Pint: $4.00 | Median Accommodation Price: $295

Total Score: 31.06

Local Expert Commentary: Bryant Goulding, Co-Founder and Vice President of Rhinegeist Brewery

Your favorite aspect of Cincinnati's beer scene? "My favorite aspect of Cincinnati’s beer scene is that it's authentic to the bones, modern, world-class beer brewed in a city that's loved and brewed beer since before prohibition."

What sets Cincinnati apart from other U.S. beer destinations? "Cincinnati was a brewing epicenter and home to close to fifty breweries before prohibition. Many of these buildings are still standing today, due to Cincinnati's investment in historical preservation. It's pretty rare to access high-quality modern craft beer, being brewed in the same brewery buildings, purpose-built before prohibition. The ‘Over The Rhine’ neighborhood, home to Rhinegeist ('spirit of the Rhine') Brewery is the country's largest contiguous collection of Italianate Architecture, spanning 360 acres in downtown Cincinnati."

Denver Colorado

#2. Denver, Colorado 

Denver is as renowned for its beer as Napa Valley is for its wine. With some of the country’s most storied and innovative breweries headquartered in Colorado, Denver visitors rave about the award-winning brews developed in the community. For decades, Denver has been the home of America’s largest beer festival, the Great American Beer Festival, where over 800 American brewers serve more than 4,000 brews, compete for the industry’s most coveted awards and treat visitors to delicious creations. Surrounded by the epic peaks of the Rockies, local brewers will tell travelers about the key ingredient to great tasting beer – the fresh mountain spring water.

Top Rated Bars: 34 | Breweries: 92 | Avg. Price of a Domestic Pint: $6.00 | Avg. Accommodation Price: $333

Total Score: 31.1

Dirty Frank's, Philadelphia's famous dive bar

#3. Philadelphia, PA

Known as “Brewerytown”, Philadelphia is not only one of the first cities in the U.S. but also one of the greatest colonial beer brewing cities. As the first local breweries opened in the late 1600s, travelers can experience a semblance of the taverns of yore with pints of beer from McGillin’s Olde Ale House, the oldest continually operating pub in the city. As visitors imbibe the brews of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, walk the historical streets of the city and learn about the many cultural impacts of the Greater Philadelphia craft beer trail. Comprised of award-winning establishments, the trail celebrates stellar brewhouses, experimental neighborhood shops, and everything in between.

Top Rated Bars: 101 | Breweries: 23 | Avg. Price of a Domestic Pint: $6.00 | Avg. Accommodation Price: $303

Total Score: 31.0

#4.Chicago, IL

As the location of the most respected brewing school in the country, Chicago is a bustling city center with a rich brewing history. With a rapidly growing brewery scene, travelers visit from across the world for signature creations and locally brewed craft beers. Horse Thief Hollow, a local restaurant serving house-brewed beers, won the gold medal for world’s best pilsner at the 2023 World Beer Cup. For those looking for hidden gems, try exploring the Heritage Corridor Ale Trail, a collection of breweries on the outskirts of the city center with unique flavors and creative concoctions.

Top Rated Bars: 99 | Breweries: 64 | Avg. Price of a Domestic Pint: $7.00 | Avg. Accommodation Price: $381

Total Score: 30.7

Methodology

We created a shortlist of the top 32 cities for beer production in the United States using information from openbrewerydb.org. We then researched each city based on 4 data points: the number of top-rated beer bars in each city, the number of breweries & brew pubs, the median nightly price of an accommodation and the average price of a pint of beer. After obtaining the raw data, we assigned each data point a representative numerical value between 5 and 10, with 5 representing the lowest data point and 10 representing the highest data point. The hypothetical "perfect score" would be 40 out of 40. We used the following equation in order to calculate this for every factor:

Score(i) = 5 · (x(i) - xmin ) / (xmax - xmin ) + 5

Bar Score: Represents the number of top rated beer bars in each city, according to a leading beer rating and review platform - ratebeer.com. Cities with the highest number of top rated bars were given a higher score, Accessed August 2023.

Brewery Score: To represent the quantity of local beer production, we gathered the number of craft breweries, large breweries, and brew pubs for each city from openbrewerydb.org. The city with the most local breweries were given a maximum score of 10 and the remaining locations were given a score of 5 or higher. Accessed August 2023.

Beer Price Score: To account for the affordability of beer in the area, we researched the price of a pint of domestic draught beer from numbeo.com. The city with the lowest average price for a pint of domestic draught beer was awarded a maximum score of 10, and the remaining locations were awarded a score of 5 or higher. Accessed August 2023.

Accommodation Price: We used internal HomeToGo data to find the median price per night for a vacation rental in the area between September 1st - October 31st 2023. The area with the lowest median price per night for a vacation rental was awarded a maximum score of 10, and the remaining locations were awarded a score of 5 or higher. Data was collected in August 2023, prices are subject to change.

Beer Fact Footnotes

*The Economy of Beer - Sourced from the National Beer Wholesalers Association’s (NBWA) biennial Beer Serves America report.

*Rise of the Brewmaster - Sourced from National Beer Wholesalers Association’s (NBWA) - Fast facts

*Red, White, and Brew - Sourced from National Beer Wholesalers Association’s (NBWA) - Fast facts

image-tag