How Many Cat Cafes Are There in the United States?

As of Fall 2024, there are 240+ cat cafes in the United States. The United States is now the leading country in the world for cat cafes, surpassing even Japan.

Nearly two dozen new cat cafes have already debuted in the first half of 2024. In fact, cat cafe openings in the 1st half of 2024 exceeds that of same period in every previous year. At least fifteen more new cat cafes are scheduled to open this year, suggesting 2024 will be another big year for cat cafes! Find a cat cafe or cat destination on our up-to-date Cat Map!

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. 

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!

Cat and treats

Cat cafes are a treat! The Cattitude Cafe serves up delicious treats and adoptable kitties in a first-rate cat cafe experience! In July 2023, the Sioux Falls Cattitude Cafe opened as South Dakota’s first cat cafe.

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, with twenty-four cat cafes. This number includes the unique coworking with cats space Whiskers Workspace in St. Petersburg, Seven new Florida cat cafes opened in 2023, adding the most new cafes of any state. 

What are the other top cat cafe states?

Top states by number of cat cafes are: Florida, Pennsylvania, California, North Carolina, and New York. Of course you only need one cat cafe to be tops!

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  coffee, cats, 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!

Cat Cafe Trends

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.

 

Where Are the Cat Cafes

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.

Cat Cafe Trend

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.

 

K,A,T Cafe in New Market, Maryland

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. 

New Cat Cafes