Birmingham ranked as top 5 barbecue city in America; see who beat us
We’re No. 4! But is that high enough? Barbecue lovers in Birmingham may beg to differ with the results of a new ranking that names “The Best BBQ Cities in America” for 2023.
The Magic City made a good showing, taking fourth place in a national list published recently by the website Real Estate Witch. But Birmingham was bested by three other Southern cities — Austin, Texas (No. 1); Memphis, Tennessee (No. 2); and San Antonio, Texas (No. 3) — that scored higher in some of the categories used for the rankings.
Before we get too fired up about this, however, let’s consider all the positive things Real Estate Witch had to say about Birmingham barbecue. There was plenty of praise for the city in a story published July 30, which ranked barbecue cities using metrics from Yelp, Google, U.S. Census data, Roaming Hunger (food truck data) and other sources.
The website looked at the number of barbecue restaurants in each city per 100,000 people, the city’s average Yelp rating for local barbecue restaurants, the Google Trends score for searches on 12 barbecue items and more. The metrics were weighted in several ways for an overall score, as explained on the website.
Birmingham smoked most of the competition, and for good reason, according to writer Matt Brannon.
“Birmingham residents are consumed by their passion for BBQ,” Brannon said. “The city scored a 99 out of 100 in our Google Trends metric, based on search volume for a variety of BBQ-related terms. That’s the second-highest score of the 50 cities we analyzed.
“When it comes to specific BBQ terms, Birmingham beat out every city on our list for search activity of ‘BBQ sauce’ — perhaps because of the state’s recognizable white BBQ sauce.
“Fortunately, Birmingham BBQ fans have plenty of places to find the iconic sauce and other BBQ foods. The city has 4.0 BBQ restaurants per 100,000 people — 74% more than the average city on our list (2.3 per 100,000). Plus, Birmingham has 1.1 BBQ food trucks per 100,000 people — 57% more than the average city we ranked (0.7 per 100,000).
“Chowing down locally isn’t too expensive, either. A pound of BBQ meat in Birmingham costs about $5.29 — cheaper than the average of $5.32 per pound in our study.”
Jonathan “Rusty” Tucker opened Rusty’s Bar-B-Q in Leeds, Ala. in 2009. His barbecue is a favorite with drivers and their crew members who come to race at the nearby Barber Motorsports Park.(Bob Carlton/[email protected])
The website also pointed to two barbecue restaurants in the Birmingham area: Rusty’s Bar-B-Q and Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint.
READ: 5 things to know about Rusty’s Bar-B-Q
Of course, while we’d prefer to see Birmingham in the No. 1 spot — we’ll get you next time, Austin! — the city did have a secure berth in the top five. Also, folks in Alabama know we’ve got great barbecue in the Magic City, as well as throughout the state. For proof, take a look at AL.com’s recent picks for the best barbecue in Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile and statewide, and readers’ barbecue favorites.
READ: Birmingham’s best barbecue: Our Top 5
Birmingham was the only Alabama city ranked as best for barbecue by Real Estate Witch, which named 50 cities total, with Austin in the top spot and Riverside, California, as No. 50. Also, Birmingham climbed two spots higher than last year’s rankings on the website, when it took sixth place.
Trailing Birmingham in the Real Estate Witch top 10 for 2023 were Las Vegas, Nevada (No. 5); Nashville, Tennessee (No. 6); Houston, Texas, (No. 7); Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (No. 8); Jacksonville, Florida (No. 9); and Raleigh, North Carolina (No. 10). (See all the full list here, and an overview in the map below.)
More on Alabama barbecue:
The Alabama Barbecue Bucket List
Making a forgotten Alabama barbecue joint relevant again
The story of Rodney and Nick, brothers in barbecue
Alabama barbecue restaurant celebrates 60 years at BBQ and blues festival