With German-Americans constituting the largest U.S. ethnic group and the world’s largest beer festival and traveling fun fair — known as Oktoberfest — soon to kick off, the personal-finance website WalletHub took a close look at 2016’s Best Cities to Celebrate Oktoberfest. Scottsdale just missed out on Top 10 status, coming in at #11.
Other Arizona communities ranking from 21st to 58th were: Chandler, Glendale ,Gilbert,Mesa, Tucson and Phoenix respectively.
To determine the best cities for partaking in the epic German festival, WalletHub’s number crunchers compared the 100 largest cities across 20 key metrics, ranging from “percentage of German population” to “number of beer gardens per capita” to “average price for Oktoberfest festivals and parties ticket.”
| Top 20 Cities for Celebrating Oktoberfest | |||||
| 1 | Cincinnati, OH | 11 | Scottsdale, AZ | ||
| 2 | Pittsburgh, PA | 12 | St. Louis, MO | ||
| 3 | Portland, OR | 13 | Columbus, OH | ||
| 4 | Minneapolis, MN | 14 | St. Paul, MN | ||
| 5 | Orlando, FL | 15 | Buffalo, NY | ||
| 6 | Denver, CO | 16 | Colorado Springs, CO | ||
| 7 | Tampa, FL | 17 | Milwaukee, WI | ||
| 8 | Miami, FL | 18 | Cleveland, OH | ||
| 9 | Madison, WI | 19 | Philadelphia, PA | ||
| 10 | Boise, ID | 20 | New Orleans, LA | ||
Oktoberfest Fun Facts:
- $5,000 – Estimated cost for an American to attend Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany
- 1.9 Million – Gallons of beer consumed during Oktoberfest
- 750,000 – Number of sausages and whole roast chickens that are eaten
- $1.2 Billion – Oktoberfest’s annual economic impact on Munich