Why Atlanta is one of the best cities in the US to ring in the new year
There won’t be a Peach Drop this year, but Atlanta is still a great place to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
To determine the best cities to ring in 2020, personal finance website WalletHub compared the 100 most populated cities in the United States across three key dimensions: entertainment and food, costs, and safety and accessibility.
» Alternatives to the Peach Drop in metro Atlanta
Within those three dimensions were 28 metrics — including legality of fireworks, restaurants per capita, average price of alcohol, traffic congestion and neighborhood security — and graded on a 100 point scale.
New York City came out on top, bouyed by the annual Times Square countdown. Denver, Las Vegas, San Diego and Los Angeles round out the top five, in that order.
Atlanta didn't make the top five, but we are No. 6, with an overall score of 64.20. That's a drop of three spots from 2018.
The city’s top rank was No. 5 for entertainment and food.
Atlanta's restaurant scene is diverse, and local joints — like this barbecue place, these pie shops, these pizza joints and this new restaurant — often are included on rankings of the best in the U.S.
And although the annual Peach Drop was canceled this year because the city no longer owns Underground Atlanta, there are still plenty of options for partying on Dec. 31.
Atlanta was No. 59 for cost, with the fourth highest average price for wine.
The city’s lowest ranking was in the safety and accessibility dimension, finishing No. 87 out of 100.
Last Christmas, 26 people were killed in Georgia crashes. And New Year's Eve 2017 resulted in nine traffic fatalities.
Rounding out the top 10 cities were Orlando, San Francisco, Miami and Philadelphia, in that order.
You can read the full report on WalletHub.com.