This is California’s No. 1 city for coffee lovers, new study says. Here’s why
Need coffee? California has some of the best cities in the nation to get your caffeine fix, according to WalletHub.
The personal finance website recently released its 2025 list of the Best Coffee Cities in America.
About two-thirds of Americans drink coffee on a daily basis, downing about 519 million cups every day, according to the National Coffee Association’s 2025 trends report.
The average household spends as much as $327 per year on coffee, according to WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.
“Coffee stations are a staple of the workplace, and tens of thousands of shops serve as meeting places for friends, dates and coworkers,” WalletHub financial writer Adam McCann wrote in a Sept. 17 article.
Coffee drinking can have health benefits as well, he said.
Whether you’re craving a cappucino, a latte or a macchiato, here’s where to go in California:
What makes Long Beach the best coffee city in California?
Long Beach is the third-best city in the nation for coffee enthusiasts with an overall score of 65.46 out of 100, according to WalletHub.
The Southern California city boasts a “very high number” of top-rated coffee shops, many of them with free Wi-Fi, WalletHub said.
“One way that Long Beach residents and visitors demonstrate their love of java is through their search history,” the site said. “They search Google for ‘coffee’ more than people in all but six other cities.”
On average, Long Beach residents spend more than $171 a year on coffee, according to WalletHub.
Residents in the Los Angeles County spot are also more likely to have electric coffee grinders, espresso makers or cappuccino machines than folks in other parts of the country, the site said.
Long Beach leapt up a few spaces in WalletHub’s ranking compared to the previous year.
In 2024, the coastal California city was No. 7 on WalletHub’s list of the best U.S. cities for coffee lovers, the Desert Sun previously reported.
Where did other California cities rank?
Two other California cities made WalletHub’s top 10 spots to grab a cup of joe in 2025, with San Francisco landing in seventh place and Oakland taking the No. 9 spot.
Los Angeles came in at No. 13.
Sacramento was No. 16 on the list, and San Diego No. 18, while Irvine just missed the top 20 at No. 21.
Lower in WalletHub’s ranking were Santa Ana at No. 32, Anaheim at No. 33, San Jose at No. 42 and Riverside at No. 46.
Where are top 10 cities for coffee lovers in the US?
According to WalletHub, these were the top 10 cities for coffee drinkers in 2025:
- 1. Portland, Oregon
- 2. Orlando
- 3. Long Beach
- 4. Miami
- 5. Seattle
- 6. Tampa, Florida
- 7. San Francisco
- 8. Austin, Texas
- 9. Oakland
- 10. Pittsburgh
How did WalletHub come up with drink ratings?
To determine the top spots for coffee fans, WalletHub said it “compared the 100 most populated U.S. cities across 12 key metrics.”
These metrics included:
- Average price of a cappucino
- Average spending on coffee per household
- Share of adult coffee drinkers
- Coffee shops, coffeehouses and cafes per capita
- Google search traffic for the term “coffee”
Wallethub determined each city’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score, using those scores to rank-order its sample.
A total score of 100 represented “the most favorable conditions for coffee lovers,” the site said.
Data came from sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Google Trends and Yelp.
