Commentary

Study names Arlington, Virginia, as best city to open a restaurant

The Washington D.C. area dominated the top of the list with D.C. and Arlington ranking No. 3 and No. 1, respectively.

February 19, 2019

When it comes to opening a restaurant, one of the most important factors is location, which is why Bid-on-equipment, decided to uncover which cities offer restaurateurs the best return on their investments. To narrow down the list to the Top 50, the equipment resale company analyzed four key factors across 236 cities including, including the 150 most populous cities in the U.S. Each factor was graded on a 100-point scale and then weighted to reach a final ranking, according to a company press release. They included:

Annual restaurant sales per capita.
Restaurants per capita.
Number of restaurant industry workers per capita.
Median income in each city

The Washington D.C. area dominated the top of the list with both D.C. and Arlington ranking No. 3 and No. 1, respectively. San Francisco, which is home to the most restaurants per capita, also made the Top 5. It wasn't only about first-tier cities, however. Areas with growing restaurant scenes like Austin, Nashville, and Denver show why aspiring restaurant owners might not want to rule out second- and third-tier cities, according to the blog.

See below for the results.