Orlando was recently named the best city in the United States for enjoying a staycation.
On Monday, WalletHub announced its 2026 Best & Worst Cities for Staycations, ranking the City Beautiful as the top destination for staycationers.
The company compared more than 180 cities across three key dimensions: Recreation, Food & Entertainment, and Rest & Relaxation. Those dimensions were broken down into more than 40 key indicators, including parks per capita, average restaurant meal prices, public beaches per capita, and idealness of summer weather, to list a few.
Those metrics were graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for staycations. WalletHub then calculated each city’s weighted average across all metrics to determine its overall score.
According to the 2026 list, Orlando earned a top overall score of 65.13, once again ranking first in the Food & Entertainment category. The City Beautiful also ranked highly on the list for Rest & Relaxation (7th) and Recreation (20th).
Specifically, WalletHub cited Orlando’s abundance of entertainment options, such as amusement parks, water parks, festivals, nightlife activities, zoos, and arcades per capita. The city also has a plethora of affordable restaurants rated at least 4.5 stars out of 5, along with numerous ice cream shops.
“It’s fun to visit an exotic location on vacation, but during rougher economic times, a staycation can save you a lot of money while being just as memorable,” stated WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo. “Not only do you avoid the cost of overnight accommodations and minimize travel costs, but you can also discover all kinds of fun activities close to home that you might not have tried out otherwise.”
WalletHub ranked Cincinnati, Ohio, as the second-best city for a staycation, with an overall score of 63.97. Las Vegas, Nevada, followed in third place with a score of 63.01. Honolulu, Hawaii, which ranked second in 2024, fell to fifth place on this year’s list with an overall score of 60.29.
Orlando was one of 11 cities in Florida that made the 2026 list, including Tampa (#8), Fort Lauderdale (#23), Miami (#31), St. Petersburg (#42), Jacksonville (#67), Cape Coral (#101), Pembroke Pines (#118), Tallahassee (#141), Port St. Lucie (#157), and Hialeah (#176).
For more information, or to view the complete rankings, visit WalletHub’s Best & Worst Cities for Staycations 2026 webpage.