Although vegans represent a small proportion of the US population (between 2% and 6%, depending on which source you believe), interest in veganism is on the upswing in a big way.
Just look around – there are more vegan restaurants (and more vegan menus – from Starbucks to Taco Bell, and everything in between), more vegan recipes (especially vegan desserts!), and more content about vegan living than ever before.
Gone are the days where vegans got a weird look and the offer of a salad (usually topped with cheese!) whenever they went out to a restaurant. As a society, we’re doing a lot better today.
Of course, progress is uneven. Some states are better than others.
And a study released in 2021 by San Diego State University underscores that – by identifying the top 10 vegan states in America.
Let’s dig in!
Top vegan states study methodology
The study looked at four primary axes for determining which states are the most vegan. Data nerd alert, I love this stuff, so if you don’t want the full details, just skim the bolded parts or skip straight down to the next section, where I discuss the states that did best:
1. Vegan population per capita. They used an approximation for this, which is to look at search volume for the phrase “vegan restaurants” and then weight by total state population. This isn’t a complete measure, as plenty of people don’t eat at restaurants. In fact, here at The Coconut Mama, we’ve been promoting dairy-free living for more than a decade, and our focus is on homemade and DIY. But it’s still a good start! (When we get around to doing our own study, we’ll expand it.)
2. Number of vegan restaurants per capita. This one was pretty simple – they looked at Google Maps, HappyCow.com, and Yelp to arrive at an estimate of how many vegan (note: Vegan only, they excluded vegetarian) restaurants were in each state. And again, this was weighted by population – otherwise, California would win just by virtue of its size.
3. Vegan meetup groups per capita. The idea here is that, ok, it’s great to know how many vegan people live in a state, and it’s also great to know how many vegan restaurants there are, but a big piece of how vegan-friendly a state is comes down to how much the lifestyle is accepted and promoted. That’s where vegan meetup groups come in. The study measured the number via Meetup.com and Google search, and again this was weighted by population.
4. Animal welfare groups per capita. The thinking was simple – the number of animal welfare groups is a reasonable proxy for local animal rights support. And of course, animal welfare groups, while not necessarily vegan – there’s no membership restriction, at least as far as I know! – provide another piece of support in the framework of a vegan lifestyle.
So, now that we’ve discussed (in exhaustive detail!) the study design, let’s get to the good stuff:
The 10 most vegan states in the United States
Here’s the full list of the most vegan states in the United States, with some color commentary by me. Make sure you check out #s 10, 6, and 1 – because they’re pretty darn surprising (hint: #1 is NOT Oregon, despite Portland!):
#10: Michigan?!
Yep, that’s right, Michigan. I was skeptical at first, because let’s face it – Michigan is far more known for its hunting scene than its vegan scene.
But here’s what’s interesting: Despite low excitement for vegan meetup and animal welfare groups, there’s a surprisingly strong vegan population (441 per 1 million people as measured by Google Search trends) and the number of vegan restaurants (9 per 1 million people) is quite a bit higher than I would have otherwise expected.
The beauty of objective data! Sometimes your expectations get turned on their head. (And trust me, a couple of the states in this study really do that.)
Michigan is also one of only three states in the report not bordering an ocean. (The Midwest and Frost Belt are sadly – but unsurprisingly – underrepresented among vegan-friendly states.)
#9: Massachusetts
Ok, this one’s probably not nearly as surprising as Michigan. Veganism and vegetarianism are much more widespread in young people vs the rest of the population – according to a survey conducted by The Economist, roughly 25% of American aged 25-34 are following a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. Boston is well-known for colleges and universities (Harvard, Boston College, Northeastern) – so it makes sense that vegan options would be a lot stronger in Massachusetts in general, and particularly in the Boston area.
(Also remember that Boston is a big biotech hub, so there’s lots of health research going on all the time. Another reason it’s probably not just college students driving veganism in Massachusetts.)
Not surprisingly, vegan meetup groups (14 per 1 million people) and animal welfare groups (12 per 1 million people) appear in Massachusetts at 3x the rate in Michigan.
#8: Arizona
Originally I was surprised to see Arizona on the list, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense to me.
Keep in mind that Arizona has benefited from huge population inflows as people from northern states have sought out warm and dry weather, not to mention a dynamic and booming economy. According to 5-year US Census estimates from 2015-2019, Arizona attracted over 250,000 people from other US states each year. And the largest state for in-migration? Neighbor (and #2 on the vegan state list) California!
So it’s not shocking that the infrastructure to support all of these migrating folks likely includes greater investment in the vegan lifestyle. (Plus, if you’ve ever been to Flagstaff, AZ, you know there’s a sizeable vegan contingent there – and lots of great vegan restaurants!)
Not surprisingly, Arizona boasts a much larger per-capita vegan population than Massachusetts – 76% greater, to be precise – and far more animal welfare groups, too.
#7: Maryland
I live near Maryland, and I am not at all surprised to see it in the top 10 list. The greater DC area is a hotbed of veganism, and Baltimore is developing a sizeable vegan scene as well. In fact, the only surprise for me was that Maryland wasn’t higher on the list!
My guess? Maryland’s love of Old Bay seasoning and crabs would prevent a lot of people from self-identifying as vegan, since they probably have a crab cake from time to time. There’s no data on this, but I bet there are a TON of pescatarians on the Eastern Shore and throughout Annapolis and Baltimore.
The study’s results account nicely for this – while Maryland has one of the lowest vegan populations of the top 10 states (crabcakes are dangerously delicious), it has the most vegan meetup groups by a mile (22 per 1 million) and the second-most animal welfare groups.
#6: New Jersey
New Jersey is an odd case – it has the lowest per capita vegan population of any of the top 10 states, but it does quite well with vegan meetup groups and animal welfare groups – and, stunningly, it has the most per capita vegan restaurants on the list (29 per 1 million).
Or maybe that’s not so stunning?
I know the Garden State isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but there are a LOT of restaurants catering to the enormous number of out-of-state commuters and travelers, since it occupies critical real estate up and down the I-95 corridor. (And if you’ve ever paid the tolls, you’ll share my bitterness for that.)
#5: New York
Like in most things (bagels, pizza, general quality-of-life – I’m not judging!) New York comes in ahead of New Jersey.
Not surprisingly, this is heavily driven by New York City, which the study authors noted “has the highest density of vegan restaurants.” Upstate is a different story – just like I’m sure for Maryland outside the Baltimore-DC metro corridor and Massachusetts outside of Boston.
But NYC is such a huge proportion of the state that it was enough to catapult New York all the way to top five status!
#4: Hawaii
If you’ve been to Hawaii, you know about the islands’ love of both spam and pork – but there’s also a strong vegan streak in the population (and among tourists). After all, Hawaii is one of only two states that can grow coconuts, whose milk can be an awesome alternative to dairy milk.
(And maybe they’re onto something with these delicious coconut cocktails…)
And it’s all borne in the statistics: Hawaii’s vegan population per capita matches New York’s (622 per 1 million), while its per capita vegan restaurant rate (19 per 1 million) is second only to New Jersey (and let’s face it, New Jersey cheats by being the east coast’s highway). Meanwhile, Hawaii has a whopping 40 animal welfare groups per 1 million population, easily the highest rate in the study, and 10x #5 New York.
10x!
#3: Oregon
This was absolutely shocking to me. Portland is synonymous with veganism, and yet Oregon only got third place?
But the data don’t lie – Oregon ranks third for per-capita vegan population (688 per 1 million people), third for vegan restaurants (16 per 1 million), and third for animal welfare groups (21 per 1 million)…are you seeing the trend? I sure am.
And I suspect this is just like New York, Massachusetts, and Maryland – a well-known vegan scene in the big city, but a strong urban/rural divide.
Sorry, Portland, you’ll always be first in our hearts.
#2: California
California ranked highly primarily because of its vegan population (838 per 1 million people) – the #2 spot. It ranks relatively low on most other measures, particularly animal welfare groups (just 3 per 1 million people – the lowest on the list).
Maybe California’s reputation as a vegan bastion is overblown – knowledgeable state observers of course recognize the same urban/rural divide seen elsewhere – LA, San Diego, and San Francisco have an outsized role in most folks’ minds but don’t make up the whole state. And remember – California is BIG – 12% of the US population, to be precise – and contains over 100x the land mass of the smallest US state, Rhode Island.
Which brings us to the highly surprising…
#1: Nevada!
What? You must be thinking. Nevada?
Yes. Nevada. And here’s why:
It has by far the largest per capita vegan population of any state: 942 per 1 million. It also has more vegan restaurants, meet up groups, and animal welfare groups than California.
My suspicion?
It’s the same urban-rural divide that we’ve seen elsewhere, but with a twist.
Clark County (home of Las Vegas) is probably where veganism is centered, while the outlying rural areas probably don’t experience much of it.
But here’s the difference between Nevada and the other urban/rural divide states we’ve discussed:
Clark County is a much bigger proportion of the total state’s population.
Portland is roughly 15% of Oregon’s total population, per the Census.
NYC is roughly 43% of New York State’s.
Clark County? 73% of Nevada.
So it makes sense that, given Clark County’s dominance, whatever trends take hold there will heavily influence the total state’s results.
And as we’ve seen with plenty of other states, Nevada’s reputation in one area (gambling/casinos) clearly has overshadowed what is a mostly-unknown, yet thriving vegan scene.
So next time you’re in Vegas, search for a vegan restaurant (or meetup group). You might be surprised at what you’ll find!
On the other hand, you may want to avoid these LEAST vegan states…
