Every city has Poopable places. But what are the best places to poop?
We recently ran across a Reddit post asking what the most Poopable city in America is. While there was little discourse, and it focused primarily on San Francisco, it got us to thinking. What’s the best city to poop in?
Because many non-American cities charge you for public toilets, we’ve decided that we’re going to limit this list of top cities in America, since America cares about freedom, especially when it comes to taking care of gastrointestinal business.
This list is for you to know the best cities to empty your bowels.
Not all cities respect your bathroom needs.
In our research, we discovered that while many cities have a dearth of private options for bathrooms, including bars and restaurants, we are lagging behind in terms of free, public, non-customer bathroom access.
Our public bathrooms might be free, but they are hard to find.
As a nation, we average eight public bathrooms per 100,000 people. Iceland, in comparison, has 56 per 100,000. Despite our relative lack of public toilets, we have cities with a healthy mix of public toilets and extravagant bathroom experiences available for those who visit.
We compiled a list of five cities that we deem officially Poopable, in no particular order.
New York City, New York
New York City is one of the greatest in the world, and has the largest population in the United States. Granted, with 8.5 million people, they have only 1,400 public bathrooms. But they make up for that with luxurious bathroom spaces, and the fact that you can’t throw a stone without finding an A-rated restaurant or bar with a spacious, private bathroom.
Obviously, it depends on where you go. The bathroom you’ll encounter in Staten Island might have a different level of character than what you’d find in Manhattan, but in the largest city of America, you might not find a lot of public spaces, but let’s be honest…are those public spaces Pooable?
If you find yourself in a bathroom emergency in New York, you won’t have to go far to avail yourself. You might have to buy a drink from a hipster bar afterwards, but there are worse post-poo fates to have to face.
San Francisco, California
Despite the Reddit link complaining about its Poopability (there are several talks of homeless people openly defecating in public), San Francisco is a surprisingly Poopable city.
Sure, it’s one of the most expensive places in the country to live (it’s actually the 8th most expensive city to live in the world) but they’ve recently led a strong effort to improve the amount of public toilets in the city- they currently have more than 3X as many public toilets per-capita as the national average.
They also have a variety of cafes and high-end establishments where you can relieve yourself in comfort.
San Francisco unfortunately has a large homeless population due to its lack of affordable housing, which means you might actually encounter human feces on the street when you visit. Since growing their public bathroom offerings, that problem has been improving.
And if you are visiting the city, you’ll have plenty of public and private areas that you will find quite Poopable.
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the birthplace of grunge, and apparently a solid place to grump.
With 17 public toilets per 100,000 people, it has twice as many publicly available bathrooms as the national average.
On top of that, given that it rains, on average, 156 days a year in the city, you’ll likely be inside a business that can happily offer you uses of their restrooms if the need arrives.
If you like coffee, public art, and music, you can rest assured that a visit to Seattle will be quite Poopable.
Las Vegas, Nevada
They have one of the highest rates of per-capita public bathrooms in the nation, and even a website that can tell you where you can take care of business. But most importantly, this is a city that knows that they rely on tourists.
In 2022, over 38 million people visited the desert city (which has a permanent population of about 650,000).
While you might be worried about toilet overload, these tourists tend to spend their time on the Strip, which is filled with hotels and casinos that allow anyone to use their restrooms. They’d rather you take care of business in a Poopable space than suffer an emergency that might affect other potential customers.
Sure, your trip to Vegas might lead to you suffering some blackjack losses. But at least you can rest assure that your bathroom needs will be handled so long as you’re there.
Chicago, Illinois
While Chicago has fewer than 500 public bathrooms to address the needs of its 2.6 million population, they have grocery store bathrooms, as well as bathrooms in many bars and restaurants that we’ve lauded on this very site.
Chicago’s Poopable situation definitely can be a mixed bag. There are Michelin 3-star restaurants with bathrooms to die for, and a variety of thrones that are filled with personality and pizzazz.
There are dive bars that are surprisingly well-maintained (and many that are not), and most non-residential areas have plenty of Poopable options. Even Chicago’s museums have your bathroom needs in mind – the famous Field Museum is actually a member of the Bathroom Hall of Fame (and yes, that is a thing).
Ultimately, every city and town in the United States has Poopable spaces, so if your city doesn’t make this list, don’t worry. You can still easily find a spot to take care of business while feeling pampered and comfortable.
But if you’re looking for some Poopable tourism, these cities aren’t bad ways to go.