The Griswold’s Know – 3 Of The Top 20 Cities For “Stay-cations” Are Four From Our Region

Kids are out of school, summer is nearly here and it’s time to start planning the family summer vacation.  UNLESS, you are among the nearly two thirds of us who won’t be able to get away.  In that case it’s time to look for plan “B” and the list of cities that offer the best “staycations.”  But what if you don’t live in one of those cities?  Plan “C” is to check if any of those great staycation cities are nearby where you do live, and if they are, you might make them your vacation mini-destination.  The personal-finance website WalletHub has released its report on 2016’s Best & Worst Cities for Staycations to help make it easy.

The Top 3 staycation cities are all  in Florida.  Not exactly convenient for Yakima.  If you live in Orlando, Tampa or Fort Lauderdale, where else do you need to go!  WalletHub’s number crunchers compared the 150 largest cities based on 28 key metrics to find the most enjoyable and wallet-friendly staycation spots in America.  .

There are 3 cities in the Northwest that make the top 20 for staycations so they’re close enough to target for a mini-vacation.  Spokane is 13, Portland is 17 and Boise is 19.  Washington’s biggest cities come in at Seattle 28 and Tacoma 32 on a 150 city list.

To help Americans find the best staycation spots in the U.S. — and the ones worth leaving home for — WalletHub’s number crunchers compared the 150 largest cities across 28 key metrics. The data set includes such metrics as movie and bowling costs, golf courses, frozen-yogurt shops and spas per capita, and the cost of house-cleaning services.

Comparing the Best & Worst

• New Orleans has the most museums per 100,000 residents, 23.34, which is 79 times more than in Aurora, Colo., the city with the fewest, 0.29.
• Columbus, Ga., has the most parks per 100,000 residents, 213.37, which is 22.5 times more than in Hialeah, Fla., the city with the fewest, 9.47.
• Seattle has the most coffee shops per 100,000 residents, 109.43, which is nearly 30 times more than in Laredo, Texas, the city with the fewest, 3.67.
• Orlando, Fla., has the most ice-cream and frozen-yogurt shops per 100,000 residents, 57.15, which is 13 times more than in Detroit, the city with the fewest, 4.31.
• Columbus, Ga., has the most tennis courts per 100,000 residents, 70.11, which is 26 times higher than in Gilbert, Ariz., the city with the fewest, 2.69.

For the full report and to see where your city ranks,  visit:  https://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-staycations/4341/