WalletHub Ranks San Francisco and Los Angeles Among America’s Most Fun Cities

A lifeguard scans his territory near the famous Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, Calif., on Aug. 20, 2013. Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images

San Francisco and Los Angeles each made WalletHub’s top 20 most fun cities in America list for 2024, with San Diego just barely missing the cut at 21st and Sacramento further down at 33rd.

San Francisco

San Francisco was California’s only city to rank in the top 10. The City by the Bay, however, was ranked fifth most expensive for fun.

San Francisco tied for first in the festivals per capita category, alongside Honolulu and Tampa, Florida. It also tied for first in restaurants per capita alongside Miami, Las Vegas, and Orlando. San Francisco tied for first in nightclubs with Las Vegas and Houston. It ranked seventh for entertainment and recreation; fifth for nightlife and parties; but near the bottom of the list in terms of costs, at 178th.

Los Angeles

Los Angeles ranked as the 18th most fun U.S. city. It placed 12th for entertainment and recreation, and 16th for nightlife and parties, but these came at a cost, as the City of Angels ranked 160th in terms of bang for the buck.

Still, Angelenos are in luck, as not only do they live in a highly ranked California city, but they can hop in the car and be in the top-ranked city in the country, Las Vegas, in about four hours.

California Cities Top Multiple Lists

Both San Francisco and San Diego ranked in the top five best cities for active lifestyles. San Francisco also was ranked the eighth-best sports city, with Los Angeles taking first place in that category largely because of a plethora of professional sports teams, including the Dodgers, who play near downtown in Chavez Ravine.

“Sports can cause rivalries between cities, but can also give people a deep appreciation for places other than their hometown. The best sports cities overall tend to be those with the highest-performing, most-popular professional teams, like Los Angeles,” analyst Chip Lupo said.

Los Angeles County and neighboring Orange County also offer some of the best weather in the nation, according to WalletHub.

Earlier this year, San Diego made it to the top 10 on two separate lists by WalletHub—for staycations and recreation, coming in seventh on each.

In the fitness centers per capita category, Oakland ranked third and Huntington Beach ranked fifth.

Where California Falls Short

California cities failed to rank in certain key categories in this year’s most fun cities survey, including park playgrounds per capita. In that category, Las Vegas, New York, Chicago, and Cincinnati tied for No. 1 overall. Houston ranked fifth.

In addition, not a single California city ranked in the top five for acres of parkland per capita. The closest city to California’s border in the top five is Scottsdale, Arizona, which ranked fifth.

Stockton, in Northern California, ranked 99th, and Santa Ana, in Southern California, ranked 102nd for acres of parkland per capita.

No California cities ranked in the top five in the “accessible bars” category, with Fort Lauderdale, Florida, coming in at No. 1. A pair of Golden State cities placed in the bottom five in that category, however, with Fontana at 178th and Moreno Valley at 181st. Fremont was among the bottom five for dance clubs per capita at 156.

Certain California cities also ranked poorly for their high movie costs, with Rancho Cucamonga and Ontario tied for 172nd, and Long Beach and Los Angeles tied for last at 181st.

Four California cities made the bottom 10 on the list overall. They include Oxnard in the 177th slot, followed by Fremont, at 178th; Santa Rosa, at 176th; and Chula Vista, at 173rd.

What Makes a City Fun?

Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn, associate professor of Public Policy at Rutgers University, said cities can become more fun to visit by loosening restrictions and regulations.

“Just make it more like Latin America or Europe, more walkable, less restrictive (e.g., food stands everywhere, drinking in public, music OK, mixed-use zoning, etc.)—see, wonderful,” he told WalletHub.

“The U.S. is a strange place—on one hand puritan and uptight: no drinking in public, no loitering, no smoking; and on the other hand, look at inner cities: It is a zombie apocalypse in San Francisco, Philadelphia, etc.,” Okulicz-Kozaryn said.

“Las Vegas is the most fun city overall, boasting an extremely large number of attractions and restaurants rated at least 4.5 stars,” WalletHub stated. “For some things, it’s even relatively inexpensive—it’s the fourth-cheapest city for grabbing a burger, for example, and it has the 13th-cheapest average fitness club membership cost.”

In its study, WalletHub compared 182 cities—including the 150 most populated U.S. cities and no fewer than two of the most populated cities in each state—in three areas: entertainment and recreation, nightlife and parties, and costs. It examined these factors using 65 metrics.

WalletHub determined each city’s weighted average and used the resulting scores to rank the cities. WalletHub considered only each city proper, and not its surrounding metro area.