Every city claims its fans go the craziest for tailgate parties. But this is 2025, and we now use data to quantify these things. 

So, we took a whole game day spread worth of stats and analyzed them to find the ultimate tailgate town. From the number of home games to average weather to the price of tailgate snacks, we tallied them all up and used them to find out which cities can truly claim the title of tailgate titans.

The Best (and Worst) Cities for Tailgating

Here we go: the best and worst cities for tailgating. Use this information responsibly.

• Tempe, AZ; Los Angeles, CA; and College Station, TX are the best cities for tailgating, while Pullman, WA; Morgantown, WV; and Evanston, IL are the worst.
• Pittsburgh, PA ($798.17); Buffalo, NY ($746.92); and Detroit, MI ($717.50) are the cities where it is most expensive to tailgate.
• Los Angeles, CA; Indianapolis, IN; and Phoenix, AZ are the best cities for tailgating for the NFL. Boston, MA; Las Vegas, NV; and Buffalo, NY are the worst cities. 
• The AFC is better for tailgating than the NFC, with the AFC earning an average score of 68.64 while teams in the NFC had an average score of 65.96.
• Tempe, AZ; Los Angeles, CA; and College Station, TX are the best cities for college tailgating. Meanwhile, Pullman, WA, Morgantown, WV, and Evanston, IL are the worst.
• The SEC is the best conference for tailgating, with an average score of 69.91. The ACC is the worst conference for tailgating, with an average score of 65.46.

The Best and Worst, by the Numbers

Of course, everyone has a different idea of what makes a great tailgate. So we broke down the numbers a little more to show you the best and worst tailgating cities depending on what you’re looking for:

If you’re looking to tailgate on a budget, Arizona is a great place to be, with Tucson and Tempe snagging the number one and two spots on our least expensive tailgating cities list. Two tickets, parking, and food will cost you under $170 in both cities.

On the other hand, major cities with NFL teams tend to be much more expensive places to tailgate. Number one, Pittsburgh, had an eye-watering average cost of $798.17 per tailgate, and 8 out of the top 10 most expensive tailgating cities have NFL teams. The exceptions? The legendary Dawg tailgates of Athens, GA, are pricey affairs, as are the Ducks’ tailgates in Eugene, OR.

While sports fans in Buffalo or Chicago may consider a snowstorm perfectly fine tailgating weather, those who want a little sunshine should head somewhere on our next list. We prioritized cities with sunny weather and relatively low rainfall, so it’s no big surprise to see that the top two cities are in California. Southwestern cities like Lubbock, Tempe, Phoenix, and Vegas are also well-represented. 

Scheduling is also a factor: A city with lots of home games on weekends will probably have more tailgates. That honor belongs to the Cleveland Browns in the NFL this season, with 9. 

The Best Cities for NFL Tailgating

What about the best cities for NFL tailgating specifically? Here’s what we found:

With not one but two NFL teams and famously great weather, Los Angeles takes top honors for NFL tailgating in our analysis. Colts fans, meanwhile, can be proud that their tailgates put Indy on the map at number two. Phoenix fans gladly brave the heat to tailgate for the Cardinals, landing them at number three.

As for the worst cities, Boston lands at number one. The chilly Northeastern weather is the main culprit here, along with relatively scant parking and (sorry) the Pats’ 2024 record. In fact, many of the worst tailgating cities are in chillier climates, including Buffalo, Detroit, Green Bay, and Seattle. 

In our team-by-team breakdown, AFC teams tended to do slightly better than NFC teams. Our metrics put the LA Chargers on top, with the Pats at the bottom once again. Over in the NFC, the LA Rams took top tailgate honors, with the Atlanta Falcons in the basement. 

The Best Cities for College Tailgating

How about college football tailgating? Let’s look at how the teams, cities, and conferences stack up.

As anyone who follows college football probably could have guessed, the SEC reigns supreme in the tailgate scene, with an average score of 69.91. SEC schools are widely known for taking tailgating and fandom to the next level. The numbers bear that out at schools like Texas A&M, which was our top-scoring SEC tailgate school, in addition to scoring top honors for its hometown of College Station, TX. 

The ACC, by contrast, sits at the bottom. (Remember, we’re talking football, not basketball.) Here, we’ve found something that Duke and UNC fans can agree on: lackluster tailgate opportunities, with Chapel Hill landing at fourth-worst and Durham at seventh-worst on our list. Maybe there’s something in the water in North Carolina, because Raleigh (home of NC State) landed at number 10 on that same list.

Weather continues to count for a lot, with Tempe, AZ capturing the number one spot and Los Angeles behind it at number two. Again, it’s simply a lot more fun to have a tailgate in the sunshine than in the rain. No doubt residents of rainy Pullman, WA—home of the Washington State Cougars and number one on our list of worst tailgate cities—would agree.

Conclusion

We hope we haven’t started any fights with this data, although we fully expect a little bit of friendly smack talk. But what we hope most of all is that, as football season comes roaring back, every fan heading to a tailgate will make the smart choice not to drink and drive. We’re committed to helping drivers get back on the road safely after a DUI with our Ignition Interlock Devices, but we’re working toward a world where everyone can enjoy food, fun, and adult beverages at their tailgate then get back safely with a rideshare, public transit, or a sober driver.

Methodology

To determine which cities were best for tailgating, we calculated the number of NFL and Power 5 teams in each city and then gathered data on each team’s average ticket price, average parking pass price, 2024 record, stadium capacity, and the number of weekend home games each team has in 2025. For each city, we also collected the average high temperature, low temperature, and days with rain from September through December; the number of drinking establishments in the city, and the average food and beverage prices for relevant tailgating items.