---
title: "Pet-Friendly City Index Methodology"
description: "How the Pet-Friendly City Index is scored: data sources, per-capita normalization, dimension weights, and known limitations."
url: https://www.pawsitivid.com/pet-friendly-cities/methodology
---

# Pet-Friendly City Index Methodology

How the Pet-Friendly City Index is scored: data sources, per-capita normalization, dimension weights, and known limitations.

## How a city is scored

Each city is scored on two dimensions that are mapped in every city. Facility counts come from OpenStreetMap. Each count is normalized to facilities per 100,000 residents using official population estimates. A dimension reaches its full 100 points at a fixed per-capita saturation point, so scores are absolute — adding a city never changes another city's score.

| Dimension | What it counts | Weight | Full score at |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Off-leash space | off-leash dog parks and runs | 55% | 2.3 per 100k |
| Veterinary care | veterinary and emergency clinics | 45% | 5 per 100k |

The composite score is the weighted sum of the two dimension scores, from 0 to 100. Grades: A is 80 and above, B is 65-79, C is 50-64, D is 35-49, F is below 35.

## Limitations

The index measures openly-mapped infrastructure. A densely-mapped city can out-score a less-mapped one for mapping reasons, not only real-world ones. Counts exclude private or unmapped facilities. Pet-friendly venues and pet-welcoming stays are tracked but not yet mapped in every city, so they are not yet scored. Population is city-proper, which understates metro-area provision. The score is a signal, not a census.

---

Facility data from [© OpenStreetMap contributors](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright), available under the ODbL. Population data: [U.S. Census Bureau](https://www.census.gov/), [Statistics Canada](https://www.statcan.gc.ca/), [Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis)](https://www.destatis.de/EN/).