For beer drinkers, the month of September brings the year’s main event: Oktoberfest (save questions about the name for another article). The time-honored annual fall tradition of debauchery begins this Saturday.
Of course, Munich is the original Oktoberfest. More than 6 million people from around the world decend on the city every year to guzzle nearly 2 million gallons of beer. But for those of us who can’t get away overseas, there are plenty of ways to celebrate the German festival here at home. More than 46 million German-Americans — the largest single ethnic group — have gifted us with plenty of places to help them partake in their wunderbar celebration.
To help you decide where to celebrate Stateside, WalletHub has crunched data to create a list of the top 100 best cities for Oktoberfest celebrations. The data crunchers used 23 indicators including sheer number of breweries and beer gardens, overall safety and walkability, average price of beer, and average price of sausage — among others.
Top 10 Cities for best Oktoberfest Celebrations:
- Cincinnati, OH
- New York, NY
- Portland, OR
- Philadelphia, PA
- Denver, CO
- St. Louis, MO
- Madison, WI
- Orlando, FL
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Columbus, OH
WalletHub also analyzed the data to find out which cities have the highest German Population. Omaha, NE, Lincoln, NE and Fort Wayne, IN rank in the top three, while Hialeah, FL, Newark, NJ, and Laredo, TX have the lowest German ethnicity counts.
Other fun findings shows that there are more German restaurants per capital in New York than any other city — Boston has the fewest. And Orlando, FL has the most pretzel shops per capita.
Still, as far as beer consumption is concerned, Oktoberfest trails many other holidays celebrates in the U.S. Thanksgiving, St. Patrick’s Day, the Super Bowl, Father’s Day and the Fourth of July are just a few that still trump U.S. Oktoberfest beer sales.
Love all things fall? Check out these delicious pumpkin recipes and try something new this year.
