'Perfect Blend' Of Coffee Culture And Affordability Made Milwaukee Best Coffee City

MILWAUKEE, WI — Enjoy your morning joe with some pride, because Milwaukee was ranked No. 1 in a national list for available and economical coffee.

The Cream City had the "Best Bargain Brews," with both affordable coffee and affordable living costs, according to a study by Clever Real Estate.

The average price for a cappuccino is around $3.56, which is 22 percent less than the national average, the study added. After crunching the numbers, Milwaukeeans can get caffeinated daily while only spending $926 per year for coffee, which is 1.5 percent of the average annual income.

There are only five cities where the cost of daily coffee costs less than $1,000 per year, and Milwaukee is one of them. Milwaukee also outpaced Portland and San Francisco, which ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the list.

"Milwaukee is the best at balancing affordable brews with a growing coffee scene," Clever said. "The area's affordable cost of living provides Milwaukee cafe owners the flexibility they need to create a unique experience for cafe-goers."

Clever Real Estate weighed the following criteria for their study:

• The average price of a cappuccino in each city
• The average number of coffee shops per capita in each metro
• The number of coffee shops per square mile in each metro
• What percentage of their income locals are willing to spend on a cup for every day of the week
• The Google search trends for coffee-related terms in each metro

Affordable cost of living also provides the chance for new faces and businesses to break into the coffee scene, Clever said.

Milwaukee is host to a diverse cast of popular coffee shops like Colectivo, Stone Creek and Anodyne. Independent coffee shops appear often in neighborhoods like Bay View and suburbs like Shorewood.