March 10, 2017
Planning on celebrating St. Patrick's Day next week? You're in a good spot to do so, according to one new report.
WalletHub, a personal finance website published its list of the "Best Cities for St. Patrick's Day Celebrations" this week and Philadelphia snagged a top spot.
No. 9 out of 200 cities, to be exact.
The cities were ranked based on three categories, including St. Patrick's Day traditions, costs, safety and accessibility and weather.
Each category considered other factors, including the number of Irish pubs and restaurants in the city, parades, beer prices, walkability and more.
Though, it's not clear whether or not WalletHub has ever heard of Philadelphia's Erin Express – the annual bar crawl that draws hundreds across Philadelphia.
The warmup crawl happened last weekend, but the official event is scheduled for Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
And in Philadelphia, it's kind of a big deal. The Erin Express is a 30-year tradition that started by William Pawliczek of Cavanaugh's and Paul Ryan, Sr. of Smokey Joe's, according to the event's website.
PhillyVoice writer Dan Craig has written his own guide to surviving the crawl and has compiled a series of tweets showing what Philadelphians love and hate most about the tradition.
Whether or not WalletHub took the Erin Express into account, Philadelphia's high Irish ancestry had to account for something. Forbes ranked Philly as one of the nation's most Irish towns back in 2013.
There's plenty of other ways to celebrate too, including a "Leprechaun Run" and the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade planned Sunday.
Though, Buffalo took WalletHub's No. 1 spot for the celebrations while Pittsburgh beat Philadelphia, taking the No. 6 spot.
Check out the top 10 cities below or find WalletHub's complete list here.
1. Buffalo, New York
2. Madison, Wisconsin
3. Boston, Massachusetts
4. Cedar Rapids, Iowa
5. Worcester, Massachusetts
6. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
7. Akron, Ohio
8. Tampa, Florida
9. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
10. Cleveland, Ohio
