Restaurants & Bars

Best BBQ Cities: 10 FL Towns Served On National Ranking

A blog plated up some of the country's best barbecue cities. See which town is king of the grill and where Florida cities rank on the list.

Amanda Lumpkin, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge
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FLORIDA — Charred hot dogs, saucy ribs and juicy burgers permeate the air during summer - especially in one of the 2024 Best BBQ Cities in America. While Kansas City was ranked No. 1 in the nation for barbecue, ten Florida cities also made the rankings.

LawnStarter, a lawn care blog, dished out 500 of the nation's best barbecue towns based on five categories: access to barbecue vendors and smokehouses, consumer ratings, competition awards, the number of barbecue festivals and elite barbecue memberships.

While Kansas City, Missouri, may have taken the prime spot on LawnStarter's latest ranking, Orlando slid in at No. 24 and cemented its position as one of the country's top 25 areas for barbecue. The remaining two cities were San Antonio, Texas, and Houston, Texas.

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Orlando ranked as follows:

  • Access: 9
  • Consumer Satisfaction: 18
  • Competition Awards: 95
  • Elite BBQ Memberships: 54
  • Hosting: 79

In Florida, these towns ranked among the best in the Sunshine State:

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  • Orlando: No. 24, overall score of 23.81
  • Jacksonville: No. 32, overall score of 21.93
  • Lakeland: No. 37, overall score of 19.76
  • Tampa: No. 46, overall score of 17.76
  • Daytona Beach: No. 58, overall score of 16.38
  • Miami: No. 75, overall score of 14.99
  • Homestead: No. 100, overall score of 13.4
  • Boynton Beach: No. 104, overall score of 13.01
  • Tallahassee: No. 125, overall score of 12.27
  • Gainesville: No. 127, overall score of 12.25

West Coast town Los Angeles, California, rounded out the top 5 and was listed as one of the three cities with the best barbecue vendors and high consumer satisfaction.

Here's the top 10 Best BBQ Cities in America and their overall scores:

  1. Kansas City, Missouri: 55.13
  2. Memphis, Tennessee: 47.74
  3. Houston, Texas: 43.95
  4. Kansas City, Kansas: 37.98
  5. Los Angeles, California: 36.2
  6. St. Louis, Missouri: 36.06
  7. Austin, Texas: 35.92
  8. San Antonio, Texas: 34.66
  9. Chicago, Illinois: 34.1
  10. New York, New York: 31.69

See the full list and the methodology here.

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