I woke up today thinking that one of the reasons Austin seems great to so many people has to do with the dining culture.   They must eat out more frequently, I thought, perhaps because the city offers so many low-cost eateries.  

This report gives credence to my theory that it all comes down to dining, but beyond that, it confounds me. It says Atlantan's spend the highest PERCENTAGE of the food budget on Dining out, but that Austins have the highest total food budget.

I understand that Austin buys its groceries at expensive outlets like  WholeFoods and Central Market, but that still doesn't seem to add up to me.

I wonder if the report takes into consideration that in Austin people are buying Booze as a "Grocery" at the supermarket? Or, for that matter, bars and happyhours are inflating both sides of the Austin metric.

I wonder if , and this is touchy ground here,  Atlanta Poor eat out more than Austin Poor, or if that could even explain something like this.

http://money.bundle.com/article/food-spending-in-the-biggest-US-cities-11040