Study: Denver Isn't A Great City For Vegetarians And Vegans

(CBS4) - If you're a vegetarian who lives in the Denver area you probably already know this, but a new study says the Mile High City is not among the places where you'll find "plentiful and inexpensive options for budget-conscious herbivores."

WalletHub released their "2021's Best Cities for Vegans & Vegetarians" list this week and it shows that no Colorado city was ranked near the top. Denver was ranked No. 36, Aurora No. 49 and Colorado Springs No. 53. (All were lower than a city in neighboring Nebraska -- Lincoln, which got a No. 23 ranking.)

To come up with their rankings, WalletHub used metrics like affordability of groceries, the number of vegetarian options at restaurants and the number of farmers markets per capita. They also took into account a recent list from Grubhub that studied where people are more likely to order meals that are vegan or vegetarian at restaurants.

Denver got a low mark for "affordability" and also in the "vegetarian lifestyle" category. It fared much better in the "diversity, accessibility and quality" area. WalletHub found food for vegetarians in Aurora to be much less expensive than in Denver, but, unlike Denver, Aurora scored poorly in the "diversity" metric.

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The No. 1 vegetarian-friendly city in the list is Portland, Oregon.

Earlier this year Gov. Jared Polis, whose husband is a vegan, proclaimed March 20 "Meat Out" day, a day for Coloradans to try going meat free. That drew criticism from the Colorado Cattlemen's Association and applause from the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

RELATED: To Eat Meat Or To Not Eat Meat: Coloradans Promote Both Sides Of The Debate