Georgia might be known as the Peach State, but in Atlanta, cheese reigns supreme.
That’s according to a recent analysis from Atlanta-based lawn care service company LawnStarter, which said it “chomped through all the gooey, messy data to produce its ranking of 2021′s Best Cities for Cheese Lovers.”
“We compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities across 10 cheesy metrics, from the availability of fondue restaurants and Cheesecake Factory locations to average cost to the number of cheese-related events,” the company said on its blog.
The cities were ranked from best to worst based on their individual score totals on metrics including the aforementioned ones along with others such as the number of cheese-tasting classes and the average per-pound cost of local cheese. Sources for the analysis included Yelp, The Cheesecake Factory, Dairy Foods and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Perhaps surprisingly, San Francisco came out on top of the list, ranking at No. 1 in the total number of cheese stores per 100,000 residents. In second place was Madison, Wisconsin, which is the largest manufacturer of cheese. Rounding out the top five are Pasadena, California, Chicago and Atlanta, which came in at No. 5.
Georiga’s capital city had an overall score of 33.71, ranking at No. 5 in cheese availability and No. 10 when it comes to cheese-indulgent activities.
Other key metrics for Atlanta include coming in 49th place for the number of cheese factories/plants in the city, 1st for the presence of Cheesecake Factory locations and 7th for the number of cheesesteak restaurants per 100,000 residents. Atlanta also came in 8th for the number of cheese-related events and 74th for the average per-pound cost of local cheese.
