Best Cities for Urban Gardening in 2023

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on LawnStarter.

Which of America’s concrete jungles are ideal for growing your own food?

To mark April as Lawn and Garden Month, LawnStarter laid the groundwork of ranking 2023’s Best Cities for Urban Gardening.

We compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities based on four categories broken down into 12 metrics. We looked for cities with easy access to gardening space and supplies, an ideal climate, and a big gardening community.

Here are the top-ranking cities. To learn how we ranked the cities, see our methodology at the end.

1. New York, NY

• Overall Score: 57.1
• Access Rank: 1
• Supplies Rank: 60
• Climate Rank: 99
• Support Rank: 1

2. Atlanta, GA

• Overall Score: 47.81
• Access Rank: 2
• Supplies Rank: 53
• Climate Rank: 82
• Support Rank: 4

3. San Francisco, CA

• Overall Score: 42.27
• Access Rank: 4
• Supplies Rank: 5
• Climate Rank: 27
• Support Rank: 23

4. Portland, OR

• Overall Score: 41.22
• Access Rank: 3
• Supplies Rank: 27
• Climate Rank: 86
• Support Rank: 11

5. Tampa, FL

• Overall Score: 37.80
• Access Rank: 22
• Supplies Rank: 30
• Climate Rank: 11
• Support Rank: 16

6. Seattle, WA

• Overall Score: 37.653
• Access Rank: 24
• Supplies Rank: 15
• Climate Rank: 120
• Support Rank: 3

7. Miami, FL

• Overall Score: 36.621
• Access Rank: 143
• Supplies Rank: 1
• Climate Rank: 1
• Support Rank: 42

8. Austin, TX

• Overall Score: 35.443
• Access Rank: 12
• Supplies Rank: 97
• Climate Rank: 115
• Support Rank: 5

9. Pasadena, CA

• Overall Score: 35.333
• Access Rank: 16
• Supplies Rank: 17
• Climate Rank: 13
• Support Rank: 56

10. Orlando, FL

• Overall Score: 34.302
• Access Rank: 88
• Supplies Rank: 19
• Climate Rank: 9
• Support Rank: 8

11. Houston, TX

• Overall Score: 32.687
• Access Rank: 100
• Supplies Rank: 144
• Climate Rank: 52
• Support Rank: 2

12. Fort Lauderdale, FL

• Overall Score: 32.225
• Access Rank: 129
• Supplies Rank: 7
• Climate Rank: 2
• Support Rank: 34

13. San Diego, CA

• Overall Score: 31.44
• Access Rank: 28
• Supplies Rank: 145
• Climate Rank: 61
• Support Rank: 15

14. Orange, CA

• Overall Score: 30.972
• Access Rank: 26
• Supplies Rank: 4
• Climate Rank: 39
• Support Rank: 141

15. Nashville, TN

• Overall Score: 30.173
• Access Rank: 5
• Supplies Rank: 189
• Climate Rank: 143
• Support Rank: 24

Behind the Ranking

First, we determined the factors (metrics) that are most relevant to urban gardening. We then assigned a weight to each factor based on its importance and grouped those factors into four categories: Access, Supplies, Climate, and Support. The factors are listed below:

• Average Yard Square Footage
• Number of Community Gardens
• Number of Community Food Forests
• Nurseries and Gardening-Supply Stores per Square Mile
• Landscaping Equipment and Supply Stores per Square Mile
• Average Length of Growing Season
• Average Monthly Percentage of Sunshine (Spring to Fall)
• Average Monthly Inches of Rain (Spring to Fall)
• Average Annual Number of Very Cold Days
• Average Annual Number of Very Hot Days
• Number of Regional Gardening Clubs
• Number of Local Gardening Social Groups
• State Has Right-to-Garden Law

Finally, we calculated scores (out of 100 points) for each city to determine its rank in each factor, each category, and overall. A city’s Overall Score is the average of its scores across all factors and categories. The highest Overall Score ranked “Best” (No. 1).