The Pacific Northwest is the ‘cat dad’ capital of the U.S.

Every person understands that pet dogs are “man’s greatest mate.” And cats? We tend to associate them a lot more with girls. To me, this appears to be like a silly difference — but then, I reside in the Pacific Northwest, and in our corner of the nation, fellas really like cats.

That’s not just my impression. Info backs me up.

In accordance to market-exploration large Nielsen, amongst the 25 largest metro regions in the U.S., Seattle and Portland have the greatest percentages of solitary adult men who have a cat — let’s call them “cat dads,” the male equivalent of the considerably a lot more well known “cat lady” trope.

In the Seattle metro place, there are around 725,000 unmarried adult males. About 170,000 of them — near to 24{95b18eb6fc4f42efd0d92738dfc3fb79fde21da267a711ecdf0381147c27bb86} — have at minimum one cat. Between substantial metro places, that ranks Seattle second at the rear of Portland, which is the crystal clear leader for cat dads: Remarkably, 31{95b18eb6fc4f42efd0d92738dfc3fb79fde21da267a711ecdf0381147c27bb86} of single guys in the Rose Metropolis have at least one cat.

Riverside, California, is the third-area metro spot, with practically 22{95b18eb6fc4f42efd0d92738dfc3fb79fde21da267a711ecdf0381147c27bb86} of one gentlemen getting cat dads.

Miami is at the other conclude of the spectrum, with a cat ownership fee of just 11{95b18eb6fc4f42efd0d92738dfc3fb79fde21da267a711ecdf0381147c27bb86} amid one guys. In Washington, D.C., and Boston, cat dads are also reasonably uncommon, at 13{95b18eb6fc4f42efd0d92738dfc3fb79fde21da267a711ecdf0381147c27bb86} and 14{95b18eb6fc4f42efd0d92738dfc3fb79fde21da267a711ecdf0381147c27bb86}, respectively.

Nielsen surveyed additional than 390,000 grownups nationally, together with practically 6,300 in our metro region, from June 2020 to October 2022. The Seattle metro involves King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

Geoff Brown is between Seattle’s quite a few cat dads and explained he wasn’t stunned to understand that adult males are a lot more probably to have a cat in this element of the state.

“I think it will make feeling for the reason that it’s a far more progressive section of the region,” mentioned Brown, a supervisor at Seattle Public Utilities’ engineering records vault. “I consider there is far more freedom to not be ‘toxically masculine’ in this component of the state. So that idea of cats as a female thing is much easier to shake.”

Brown has a Ragdoll cat named Ellsworth that he adopted as a kitten four several years ago. Ellsworth is his 2nd cat. His initial was an additional Ragdoll that he rescued with his ex-wife. That cat died four a long time back, and about 4 months later on, Brown took house Ellsworth.

“I missed having a cat in my everyday living, owning a buddy,” he said.

Although it might be seen as considerably less manly for a man to have a cat in some other places, Brown does not feel it’s been an challenge for him when it arrives to dating in Seattle. “The females I have dated have been into my cat — I suggest, he’s a lot more handsome than me,” he stated, laughing.

Here’s a different getting in the Nielsen facts that solidifies the Pacific Northwest’s position as the nation’s cat-father capital: Seattle and Portland are the only two major metro areas wherever one males are about as likely to have a cat as a pet dog.

No shock, but in most of the country, single guys clearly favor pet dogs in excess of cats. Nielsen’s information reveals about 26{95b18eb6fc4f42efd0d92738dfc3fb79fde21da267a711ecdf0381147c27bb86} of single guys in the 25 largest metros are pet owners, 9 proportion factors better than the selection for cats.

But that large gap concerning cat and doggy ownership merely doesn’t exist listed here. Portland, in point, is the just one big metro where by solitary adult males are (somewhat) a lot more probably to have a cat than a doggy — just about 30{95b18eb6fc4f42efd0d92738dfc3fb79fde21da267a711ecdf0381147c27bb86} have a dog, a bit reduced than the 31{95b18eb6fc4f42efd0d92738dfc3fb79fde21da267a711ecdf0381147c27bb86} who have a cat.

In Seattle, it’s in essence a draw among cats and canines, each with an ownership charge of close to 24{95b18eb6fc4f42efd0d92738dfc3fb79fde21da267a711ecdf0381147c27bb86} amongst one guys. There are about 176,000 Seattle-area one adult males with a pet dog, scarcely edging out the 170,000 who have a cat.

Minneapolis gets the bronze medal, with single adult males favoring puppies by a small 4 percentage-position margin in excess of cats.

In some significant metros, the gap between puppy and cat ownership is enormous. The metro spot that skews most seriously towards canines is Orlando, Florida, the place single fellas favor pet dogs about cats by a whopping 21 share points. The gulf is just about as large in the Charlotte, North Carolina, and Riverside, California, metro areas, the place there are gaps of 19 share factors.

Aaron Jobe is a further Seattle cat father who was not surprised to discover that solitary males with feline close friends are additional typical in this region than the rest of the region.

“Just knowing my friend group — a ton of the men have cats,” he stated.

Jobe, a logistics engineer at Expeditors, a Seattle-based mostly freight-forwarding firm, adopted his cat, Bruce, from the Seattle Humane Modern society in 2020 at the top of the pandemic.

“I was lonely and by myself in my condominium all the time,” he mentioned. Simply because of COVID-period constraints, Jobe couldn’t even meet up with Bruce in person in advance of adopting him. The good news is, Bruce turned out to be an affectionate cat who enjoys persons.

Like Brown, Jobe thinks the significant proportion of cat dads in the Pacific Northwest could be linked to a regional society that sites less emphasis on masculine stereotypes.

“It may partly be our bigger LGBT populace … My team of gay friends are the kinds who have cats,” Jobe said.

Jobe thinks the fact that cats are a lot more self-reliant than puppies is a major issue in Seattle, with its superior proportion of folks who live alone.

“I have an automatic foodstuff feeder and h2o bowl — I really don’t have to fret about him consistently,” he stated. “I’ve found my good friends get puppies and it takes around their lives.”

And when this is not precise to gender, each Brown and Jobe also stated the weather conditions as a achievable aspect in the appeal of cats in this location.

“It’s pleasant to snuggle up with a cat in the wet season,” Brown said. “A good deal of people today hike below, and certain, it would be awesome to have a dog to go on hikes. But I’m within a great deal additional than exterior.”

Or as Jobe set it: “Who actually wants to walk a puppy in the rain every day?”