Finding a rental that accepts your kind of pet is no picnic. With rental prices rising by up to 40% and a fur-baby boom of 23 million pandemic pets, Americans face a reduced pool of homes from which to choose. And many have become all too familiar with the sinking feeling of following a ‘Pet Friendly’ lead only to find that their cat or large dog does not fit the landlord’s definition of an acceptable furry friend.
Some online real estate platforms such as Zillow make the process a bit easier by allowing users to conduct an advanced search. Here you can specify a letting that allows cats, small dogs, or larger hounds as individual categories (although landlords may have their own idea exactly how many pounds makes a large dog).
To give you a clearer idea of the pet-friendly landscape, the home warranty company American Home Shield ® analyzed Zillow listings and identified the cities and states with the most rentals that accept cats, small dogs, or large dogs.
Key Findings
- North Carolina is the most dog-friendly state with 77.6% of rentals allowing small dogs and 58.6% allowing large dogs.
- Cat owners should head to Georgia where 70.7% of rentals allow cats, the largest share of any state.
- The most dog-friendly city - for both small and large dogs - is North Las Vegas.
- Three of the top ten cat-friendly cities are found in Texas. However, Jacksonville, FL has the largest share of any city with 83.3% of all rentals allowing cats.
- There are only 15 states where the share of rentals allowing cats outweighs the share allowing dogs.
North Carolina Landlords Most Tolerant of Dog Tenants
First up, these maps show landlord friendliness towards big dogs, small dogs, and cats from state to state. The bolder the shade, the more pet-friendly that state’s landlords.
If you catch your pet dog sniffing at a North Carolina landlord, it’s probably because they have a treat in their pocket. North Carolina landlords are the most dog-friendly, coming out on top for allowing both large and small category dogs to reside in their properties. By contrast, the state is ranked only #16 for cat friendliness. North Carolina is very much a dog state, with two-fifths (41.3%) of households boasting a canine, against just a quarter (26.5%) with cats, according to the World Population Review.
Arkansas and Missouri climb into the top ten when tolerance towards small dogs, rather than large ones, is considered. In fact, you’re twice as likely to find an Arkansas landlord to accept your small dog (69.1%) than one who’ll allow a whopper (35%). This is an issue for Arkansans, who consider the mid-large Labrador and German shepherd the best dogs to own.
Georgia ranks #1 for cat-friendly landlords, #2 for large dogs, and #3 for small dogs. Of course, it depends on the cat – an African wildcat escaped an Atlanta home last year, making its way into a neighbor’s bed, where it was most unwelcome. The cat was later confiscated from its owner due to Georgia law rather than landlord unfriendliness (monkeys, elephants, hawks, crocodiles, piranhas, and cobras are also off-limits in Georgia).