If you’re in Los Angeles and looking for a fun spot to sip, mingle, and soak up some sunshine — you might want to head south to Long Beach.
The Southern California city’s beer gardens, breweries, and breezy patios put it at the top of a new ranking of America’s best cities for outdoor socializing.
The new list from Maxwell Social, a private membership club and event venue, ranked Long Beach No. 1 in the nation, while LA landed at the bottom of the list.
Maxwell Social ranked 45 major U.S. cities based their patios, rooftop bars, beer gardens, and breweries per capita, as well as search interest in outdoor social venues.
Oakland came in second, ranking nearly well in those categories as Long Beach, while Atlanta took third thanks to its rooftop bars and residents’ interest in outdoor social life.
Phoenix and Houston landed at the bottom of the ranking along with the City of Angels.
To identify the best cities for outdoor socializing, Maxwell Social analyzed the 45 most populous U.S. cities, using population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 estimates.
For each city, the company also measured five metrics, all expressed per 100,000 residents: patios (via Google Maps), rooftop bars (via Google Maps), beer gardens (via Yelp), breweries (via Yelp), and search volume for the following outdoor-venue terms from 2025–2026 (via Google): “patios near me,” “outdoor bars,” “rooftop bars,” “beer gardens,” and “outdoor restaurants.”
Together, these metrics highlighted which cities offered popular venues for socializing.
Virginia Beach, Va., Mesa, Ariz., and Colorado Springs did well when it came to patios, while Mesa and Detroit led for rooftop bars, with 21.6 and 17.2 per 100,000 residents, respectively.
The site also surveyed 1,000 Americans in the cities it reviewed about how, where and why they gather outside.
The survey found Americans are looking for more places to gather, socialize, and spend time outdoors, but many say their cities aren’t meeting that need.
Nearly 1 in 5 Americans (18%) have wanted to hang out outside with friends but couldn’t find a place that was good, legal or comfortable, while 19% say they’ve been asked to leave or quiet down while socializing outdoors in the past year.
Another 15% believe their city simply doesn’t have enough outdoor gathering spaces.
New York City leads the nation as the perceived outdoor social capital, with 16% naming it the best city for casual outdoor gatherings, ahead of LA, Miami, and San Diego at 11% each.
The demand to socialize is especially strong among younger Americans, with 41% of Gen Z saying they would go out more often if their city offered better outdoor social spaces.
The survey also found that when people don’t find what they want at home, they travel elsewhere. More than 1 in 4 Americans (28%) have traveled somewhere just because outdoor social drinking felt easier than it was at home, and New Orleans and Las Vegas topped the list of destinations.
