PITTSBURGH, PA — Cat lovers likely will find this information purr-fect. Pittsburgh is among the nation’s top cities when it comes to the number of furry feline friends. Pittsburgh is the 15th most popular city when it comes to furry feline friend ownership, according to a just-released U.S. News & World Report analysis.

It’s no small feat for Pittsburgh to have clawed its way to such a high ranking. Citing U.S. Census Bureau information, U.S. News said that cats can be found in 44 percent of U.S. pet-owning households. That means more than 28 million households have at least one kitty.

Pittsburgh’s relatively low cost of living might have played a role in ascending to the upper echelon of cities for cat lovers.

According to U.S. News, where a person lives can help shape their decision to adopt because it shapes how much will need to be paid to bring a new cat or kitten into their life. Costs can include everything from cat insurance rates to registration requirements and the cost of cat litter and other essential supplies.

Let’s paws for a moment to detail the study’s methodology.

To determine the rankings, U.S. News reviewed data from a third-party pet insurance industry partner from September 2023 to March 2024. The data points analyzed included registered cats and state residence, which was filtered by city and ranked to show the U.S. cities with the most cats.

The most popular cities in the U.S. to be a cat owner in 2024, according to U.S. News:

1. Los Angeles
2. New York
3. Chicago
4. Brooklyn
5. Seattle
6. Philadelphia
7. San Diego
8. San Francisco
9. San Jose
10. Portland
11. Denver
12. Austin
13. Washington, D.C.

14. Baltimore
15. Pittsburgh
16. San Antonio
17. Bronx
18. Sacramento
19. Houston
20. Columbus