If there is one bit of advice for international travelers looking for the best state to visit as diehard vegans, without a doubt you should choose between one or all three of these Western states. Ranked in order of the most vegans per capita, Nevada takes the lead with California a close second and Oregon coming in third place. Bear in mind that as the most populous state in the nation, California would probably have the most vegans in total, but in terms of ranking within a population, Nevada takes the lead.
Where Did We Get Our Information?
If you are asking where these stats originated, you can thank our good friend Google and this website for taking the painstaking amount of time it took to gather and collate figures for all 50 states. Once again, the way they ranked veganism is per capita, and not by a total count which would be drastically unfair as California has significantly more people than either of those states, or for that matter, both states combined!
However, from the perspective of a vegan on holiday, California would probably be ranked #1 simply because they have more vegan and vegetarian restaurants all totaled than either of the two states in the top three. It’s interesting, then, to note that if you were going to look for vegetarian restaurants near me with vegan meals, you would have so many to choose from it would be like a vegan foodie’s holiday in paradise! Now on to those stats we promised.
#3 – Oregon
Nestled on the Pacific coast between Washington State (the home of Bill Gates and Microsoft) and California (home to the now infamous Silicon Valley), Oregon has the most vegans per one million in population. A total of 688 per million Oregonians are vegans and there are 16 vegan restaurants per one million in population. They have five groups per million that meet with a vegan format and there are 21 animal welfare groups per one million people. Do you understand now why they have so many vegans? That’s right! They are an animal rights/welfare state ranking first in the nation as a population that loves their animals.
#2 – California
In terms of vegans per capita, California ranks second with a total of 838 vegans per one million people and 11 vegan restaurants per that same one million in population. They have a total of six groups listed as meetup places for vegans but, surprisingly, only three animal welfare groups. That statistic does seem a bit off since there are so many animal welfare activists among Hollywood celebs that this particular statistic may be open for debate. There may be more animal welfare groups than ranked by Google, but it just could be that Californians are losing faith in their celebs as so many have been in the news of late, and not on the good side at that.
#1 – Nevada
Finally, coming in at first place as the state that has the most vegans per one million people is the land of good old Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra. With 942 vegans per one million people and 14 vegan restaurants, who knew that casino-goers were off meats in this century? There are eight vegan meeting groups and four animal welfare groups per this same one million in population.
So, of all three states where will you spend your holiday? A good guess would be Nevada first but not because it is the most vegans per capita but because of all those casinos on the strip. Get one good streak of luck and you might even be able to guy your own vegan restaurant. It’s a lovely thought for a foodie anyway, isn’t it?