Architects, designers, builders, and remodelers are adding practical and luxurious dog-friendly options, spurred by pet-crazy millennials.
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New survey data from Zillow and Rover shows that pets are driving housing decisions, with nearly three-quarters (72%) of dog parents considering to move to a home that better suits their dog's needs.

The two companies also found that 72% of dog parents find it important to live in a dog-friendly city with plenty of other dog owners, dog parks, and pet-friendly rentals. To find the fastest-growing, dog-friendly cities, Zillow and Rover considered newly registered dog-owner accounts from Rover's database of millions of pet profiles, together with Zillow page views of pet-friendly, single-family home rental listings.

The data revealed that Antioch, Tennessee, ranks No. 1. It landed the top spot largely because it saw the largest annual increase in new Rover dog accounts out of all cities analyzed. The city also had a significant increase in Zillow page-view traffic to pet-friendly, single-family rental units, up 62.2% from last year.

"It's clear our pets are at the center of our families, and they're influencing how and where we live," says Kate Jaffe, trends expert at Rover. "Pet parents want to do right by their dogs, including giving them the best resources and opportunities to be happy. At the same time, people have realized that pets can improve our own health and well-being. Moving to a location with a big backyard and proximity to a park can not only improve our pet's life—it may also lead to more exercise, more outdoor time, and more social interaction that can actually make an impact on our own happiness."

Rounding out the top five are Baltimore; Alexandria, Virginia; Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina; and Kansas City, Kansas, each seeing double-digit, page-view growth since last year. Check out the rest of the fastest-growing, dog-friendly cities, according to Zillow and Rover, below.

  1. Antioch, Tennessee
  2. Baltimore
  3. Alexandria, Virginia
  4. Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina
  5. Kansas City, Kansas
  6. Cumming, Georgia
  7. Bellevue, Washington
  8. Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  9. Palo Alto, California
  10. Charleston, South Carolina
  11. Lee's Summit, Missouri
  12. Bentonville, Arkansas
  13. Denver
  14. Tuscaloosa, Alabama
  15. Philadelphia
  16. Lewisville, Texas
  17. Chicago
  18. Rochester, Minnesota
  19. Norman, Oklahoma
  20. Grand Rapids, Michigan