New Study Finds Texas Is the Best State in the Country for Pets

Alright, Texas pet lovers, it's time to add an impressive accolade to your list: The Lone Star State was named the best state for pets to live in, at least according to a study from Joy Organics. Several other Southern states made the top ten list, including Florida in second, South Carolina in third, Kentucky in sixth, Virginia in seventh, and Tennessee in 10th.

To create their rankings, the Joy Organics team "analyzed the US pet industry data per each state based on various lifestyle factors, such as the number of pet shelters, pet-friendly restaurants, pet accounts on social media, and the average amount spent on pet products," per a company press release. Then, each of these values was given a ranking for different data points before being totaled up for an overall score. The intel was collected using data from Twitter, BIXBI, worldpopulationreview.com, petfinder.com, and petfriendlyrestaurants.com.

According to their research, pets in Texas sure do get the royal treatment: Pet owners in Texas spend $30 more on their pet than average pet owners (FYI: The data revealed that Georgia, Kentucky, and New York spend the most on their pets). In addition to all this pampering, they found that Texas has the second most social media accounts dedicated to pet content—300% higher than the national average—and Texans are also more animal-conscious than most other states with four animal shelters per 100,000 people. You can read more on the findings and see where your state ranks on the list here.

As much as the data from this study breaks things down, we must say, pups and felines in loving households across the South are pretty darn lucky, wherever they may be. Pet parents, wouldn't you agree?