Homestate Glory
Texas completely dominates taco rankings, but the No. 1 winner raises real furor
Real estate site Estately recently set out to determine the most taco-crazed cities in the United States. Hooray for Texas: The Lone Star State took half of the top 10 slots. But the order seems a little curious.
Coming in at No. 1 is Arlington, which was determined to be the city most obsessed with tacos. Arlington is not exactly known for its food scene. Perhaps this gives them a topic to belabor other than the Dallas Cowboys?
Maybe it's a Tarrant County thing, because Fort Worth is right behind them at No. 2. Austin ranks No. 3 on the list, followed by Dallas at No. 4, San Antonio at No. 5 and Houston way down in a tie for No. 9.
To determine the taco enthusiasm in the largest 50 U.S. cities, Estately considered three factors:
- Percentage of each city's restaurants serving tacos (source: Yelp)
- Percentage of Facebook users in each city expressing interest in tacos (source: Facebook)
- Level of Internet searches related to tacos (source: Google Trends)
Arlington was the No. 1 city for most taco-related Internet searches. It came in at No. 3 in percentage of restaurants serving tacos and in Facebook users interested in tacos.
Meanwhile, Fort Worth had the most Facebook users most obsessed with tacos, and Long Beach claims the most restaurants in America serving tacos. Remember that we have to trust Yelp on the latter.
California had the second-most taco-obsessed cities among the top 10. The only city not in California or Texas was Oklahoma City, which landed at No. 7.
This list did not sit well with San Antonians. On the San Antonio Current blog, writer Albert Salazar called the results a "travesty" — not because the home of Jerry World also boasts the most taco-loving people in America but because Austin, a city of taco "posers," landed two spots above the River City.
Salazar determined the only plausible explanation is that, "while Austinites are thinking and talking about tacos, San Antonians are too busy eating them." Which must be what the poor people of Arlington are doing — ultimately lusting over something they really can't have: A good taco.
