The past few years have been extra difficult on America’s LGBTQ community. In 2022 alone, about 300 anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced in different states of the country, making it more challenging for LGBTQ Americans to find a place to call home. To help them locate a community that will welcome them for what they are, the lawncare services marketplace LawnStarter identified the top gay-friendly cities in the US this Pride Month.
Which is the most gay-friendly city in America?
LawnStarter compared 196 of the most populated US cities based on 19 indicators of an ideal LGBTQ city. These indicators include equality index, presence of LGBTQ support groups, affordability, safety, access to LGBTQ-friendly health care, and Pride-readiness, among many others. After averaging the cities’ scores (out of 100 possible points) across all the weighted metrics, San Francisco, California emerged as the first placer in 2022’s ranking of top gay-friendly cities in the US.
With an overall score of 71.69, San Francisco passed four of LawnStarter’s six major ranking tests with flying rainbow colors. It ranks No. 1 in Equality, No. 2 in Health Care Access, No. 3 in Pride-Readiness, and No. 4 in Community Support.
2022’s top gay-friendly cities in the US
San Francisco is followed by Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the overall ranking. Among all the cities examined, Fort Lauderdale has the biggest concentration of queer folks with 14.49 same-sex households per 1,000 households.
The overall third placer is Orlando, Florida. The city ranks No. 2 in the Community Support metric and also No. 2 in Pride-Readiness.
Securing the fourth spot in the overall ranking, Seattle, Washington is the top performer in the Health Care Access metric. The Emerald City also ranks No. 6 on the Community Support indicator.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is also one of the top gay-friendly cities in the US. Landing on the fifth spot overall, the City of Bridges ranks No. 7 in the Community Support metric, No. 5 in Healthcare Access, and No. 12 in Pride-Readiness.
Check out the 10 best and the 10 worst cities for LGBTQ Americans below:
Best Cities for LGBTQ Americans
- San Francisco, CA
- Fort Lauderdale, FL
- Orlando, FL
- Seattle, WA
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Atlanta, GA
- Portland, OR
- Richmond, VA
- Denver, CO
- Providence, RI
Worst Cities for LGBTQ Americans
- Macon, GA
- Clarksville, TN
- Miramar, FL
- Grand Prairie, TX
- Brownsville, TX
- McAllen, TX
- Frisco, TX
- Pasadena, TX
- Augusta, GA
- Laredo, TX