How Many Cat Cafes Are There in the United States?
As of April 2024, there are 200+ cat cafes in the United States. The United States is now the leading country in the world for cat cafes, surpassing even Japan. Nearly ten cat cafes have already debuted in 2024, with at least a dozen more actively scheduled to open this year.
Why shouldn’t there be a cat cafe on every corner? In every town and city across America? If current cat cafe trends prevail, we may soon live in such idyllic world.
Why shouldn’t there be a cat cafe on every corner? Cheshire Grin Cat Cafe opened in August 2019 as the first cat cafe in the city of St. Louis. There are now four cat cafes in the St. Louis Metro area.
Cat Cafes by the Numbers
Are you a cat cafe nerd? Well if you like cats and love to geek out with odd cat facts, we are the fat cat source!
How many states have cat cafes?
46 states and the District of Columbia have cat cafes.
What states do not have cat cafes?
There are 4 states that do not have a cat cafe: Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, and North Dakota.
What state has the most cat cafes?
Florida has the most cat cafes of any state in the country and they also had the most new cat cafes open in 2023. Florida has twenty-one cat cafes, with seven new in 2023.
What are the other top cat cafe states?
California and Pennsylvania tie for second in the number of cat cafes, behind Florida. North Carolina currently is in the cat-bird seat of #3.
2023: A Huge Year for Cat Cafes
Until 2023, 2019 was the biggest year yet for U.S. cat cafes, with nearly forty cat cafes opening across the country. With nearly a decade since the first U.S. cat cafe opened in 2014, 2023 was the biggest year yet with the opening of over fifty new cat cafes. Five states got their very first cat cafe, including Maine, New Hampshire, and South Dakota. Each new cafe delights and amazes us with their originality and unique take on the cat cafe model, including these new cafes on the scene:
- The very first cat lounge + yoga studio IN THE WORLD! The Lotus Catfe is located in Alabaster, Alabama.
- An utterly unique bookstore + cat lounge experience featuring adoptable cats! The Literary Cat Co. is in Pittsburg, Kansas.
- Tea house + cat lounge! Discover fine teas + felines at Aristocat Cafe in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Nearly 80 teas, a weekly snack menu, and more. Plus adoptable cats in the cat lounge!
- All. Day. Long. Two new cat cafes, many states away, share a winning formula of offering cats, coffee, and more for over 80 hours a week. South Dakota’s Cattitude Cafe and Oklahoma’s don’t stress meowt, both their state’s 1st cat cafe, offer extensive hours and aim to be THE local destination for early morning coffee, afternoon breaks, and happy hour. With cats!
2019: A Big Year for Cat Cafes
You miss a minute, you miss a lot of new cat cafes. If it seems like cat cafes are popping up faster than kittens in June, you are correct. Following strong and steady growth in the U.S. since 2014, the number of cat cafes jumped over forty percent in 2019.
- Cat cafes opened at a rate of 1 per week during the second half of the year.
- Nearly 70% of the new 2019 cat cafes opened between July and December.
- The unlikely month of November had the most openings of the year, with eight new cafes.
Lucky for you, we do the good work of keeping the cat cafe map and guide up-to-the minute and accurate.
Wondering where all the cat cafes are
Where Are All The Cat Cafes?
With so many new cat cafes, aren’t we all just wondering: is there a cat cafe near me? Predictably
, U.S. cat cafes first appeared in the country’s largest cities and on the coasts. Six years later, it is game on across the country.
The cat cafes that opened in 2019 are split nearly evenly between small and large cities. A full fifty-three percent of the new U.S. cafes are in cities with populations under 100k people. An interesting statistic for sure , but the numbers tell a compelling cat tale.
Small Town Cat Cafes, Very Small
Think your little town is too small for a cat cafe? Think again. Nearly a third of all the cat cafes that opened in 2019 debuted small towns with populations under thirty thousand people. Of these small town cafes, only three are part of much larger metropolitan areas (Patriot Pawsabilities, Meows Corner, and Caffeinated Cat).
In fact, most of these small town cat cafes are in very small towns indeed. Sixteen percent of all the cafes opened in 2019 are in towns of less than ten thousand people. The new Calico Cat Cafe & Barkery is in small and remote Zillah Washington with only three thousand residents. Update: Calico Cat Cafe & Bakery closed in 2020 due to the combined pressures of a kitchen flood and the Covid 19 pandemic.
The smallest town, small town cat cafe of them all is K.A.T. Cafe in New Market, Maryland. With only seven hundred residents, the lucky people of little New Market have a big time cat cafe right on Main Street. Let’s just go ahead and call New Market the best small town for cat lovers in America! Update: K.A.T Cafe closed in 2022, after two and a half very successful years. They are still active in the rescue community.
The purrfect small town cat cafe: K.A.T. Cafe in New Market, Maryland
We know what you’re thinking. Shoot, if little New Market can have their very own cat cafe, my town can too. And your instincts are correct. It is not the size of the city that predicts success, but the heart of the community for animals.
