Americans want to hang out outside, but many can't find a good place to do so. Whether it's a rooftop bar, a beer garden, or a patio at the corner restaurant, the appetite for casual outdoor socializing is there. The question is which cities actually deliver.

To find out, Maxwell Social ranked 45 major U.S. cities on their patios, rooftop bars, beer gardens, and breweries per capita, as well as search interest in outdoor social venues. We also surveyed 1,000 Americans about how, where, and why they gather outside. The results reveal the winners, along with a gap between the outdoor social life Americans want and the one many actually have.

Key Takeaways

• Long Beach, CA; Oakland, CA; and Atlanta, GA, rank as the best cities for outdoor social spaces.
• Mesa, AZ (21.6 per 100K residents) and Detroit, MI (17.2) have the most rooftop bars in the country.
• Nearly 1 in 5 Americans (18%) have wanted to hang out outside with friends but had nowhere good, legal, or comfortable to do it.
• 19% of Americans have been asked to leave or quiet down while socializing outdoors in the past year.
• 15% say their city doesn't have enough outdoor gathering places.
• New York City is America's perceived outdoor social capital, with 16% naming it the best city for casual outdoor gatherings, ahead of Los Angeles, Miami, and San Diego at 11% each.
• 41% of Gen Z say they'd go out more often if their city had better outdoor social spaces.

Mapping America's Best Cities for Outdoor Socializing

Our ranking scores each city based on how well it's built for outdoor gatherings. Here's the leaderboard.

Long Beach ranked as the best U.S. city for outdoor socializing, helped by its scores in beer gardens, breweries, and patios. Oakland came in second, doing similarly well in those categories, while Atlanta took third thanks to its rooftop bars and residents' interest in outdoor social life.

Despite their reputations for warm weather and busy nightlife, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Houston landed at the bottom of our ranking. Explore the full results in our interactive table below.

When we break it down by category, other cities begin to shine. For example, Virginia Beach, Mesa, and Colorado Springs have the most patios per 100,000 residents, while Mesa and Detroit lead for rooftop bars, with 21.6 and 17.2 per 100,000 residents, respectively.

Where Americans Feel Most Welcome to Socialize Outdoors

Some cities make it easy to grab a drink outside with friends. Others leave people hunting for a spot that's actually comfortable and worth showing up to.

New York City leads as the city Americans most often name as best overall for casual outdoor socializing, cited by 16% of respondents, ahead of Los Angeles, Miami, and San Diego (11% each) and New Orleans (9%). The city topped the list for both Gen Z and millennials alike, with each generation naming it their top pick at 18%.

Many people don't have what they want close to home. More than 1 in 7 Americans (15%) said their own city doesn't have enough places to gather outdoors, and nearly 1 in 5 (18%) have wanted to hang out with friends outside but had nowhere good, legal, or comfortable to do it.

That gap sends people looking elsewhere. More than 1 in 4 Americans (28%) have traveled somewhere just because outdoor social drinking felt easier than it was at home, and New Orleans and Las Vegas topped the list of destinations. Among Gen Z, 41% said they'd go out more often if their city had better outdoor social spaces.

Comfort, Conflict, and the Case for More Patios

Where people actually feel at ease outside often looks different from where they wish they could be.

Most Americans feel far more at ease socializing outdoors in their own space than in public. Nearly three-quarters of respondents (74%) said they're comfortable hanging out in their own yard, compared with just 21% who said the same about a public park.

That discomfort in public spaces sometimes turns into real conflict. Nearly 1 in 5 Americans (19%) have been asked to leave or quiet down while socializing outdoors.

Businesses also stand to gain from expanding their offerings. A majority of respondents (65%) said they'd visit a bar or restaurant more often if it had a garden, patio, or other outdoor space.

The Case for Building More Places to Gather Outside

Americans clearly want more chances to gather outdoors. Long Beach, Oakland, and Atlanta show what's possible when a city invests in outdoor social space, while the gap millions of Americans feel in their own neighborhoods shows how far many places still have to go. As more cities weigh how to bring people together outside, the data suggests a simple solution. Give people a comfortable, legal, welcoming place to be, and they'll show up.

Methodology

To identify the best cities for outdoor socializing, we analyzed the 45 most populous U.S. cities, using population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau (Vintage 2025 estimates). For each city, we measured five metrics, all expressed per 100,000 residents:

• Patios (via Google Maps)
• Rooftop bars (via Google Maps)
• Beer gardens (via Yelp)
• Breweries (via Yelp)
• Search volume for the following outdoor-venue terms, 2025–2026 (via Google):
• Patios near me
• Outdoor bars
• Rooftop bars
• Beer gardens
• Outdoor restaurants

We normalized each metric to a 0–100 scale and ranked each city against the others in the dataset. A city's final Outdoor Socialization Score is the average of these five normalized per-capita scores.

Maxwell Social also surveyed 1,000 Americans in major cities about their outdoor socializing habits and preferences. All survey participants were adults ages 18 and older. Percentages that do not total 100% are due to rounding.

About Maxwell Social

Maxwell Social is a private membership club and event venue set in a historic Tribeca brownstone, built to feel like a second home rather than another exclusive clubhouse. Members join in small cohorts and get to know each other over shared dinners, coworking sessions, and events across a three-month program, building the kind of close-knit community many respondents in this survey said they're still looking for. The Tribeca space also hosts private events, from weddings to chef's table dinners, for those looking for a similarly personal setting. Learn more about Maxwell Social's membership today.

Fair Use Statement

Feel free to share this data and the accompanying visuals for noncommercial purposes. When you do, please cite Maxwell Social and link back to this page so your readers can access the full study and methodology.