Some American cities have a dirty secret. And a new study just made sure the whole country knows about it.
Every traveler wants the full picture before booking a trip. The good stuff, the great stuff, and yes, the not-so-clean stuff.
A ranking from lawn care platform LawnStarter pulled back the curtain on pollution, poor living conditions, failing waste infrastructure, and resident dissatisfaction across 303 of the largest U.S. cities.
The result is a pretty eye-opening snapshot of where America is struggling to keep things clean. Here’s what the data revealed.
San Bernardino, California Takes the Top (Dirty) Spot
San Bernardino landed at number one on the dirtiest cities list, and the numbers behind that ranking are hard to ignore.
Three quarters of residents report dissatisfaction with pollution levels. The city also ties with nine other California cities for the worst median air quality in the entire study.
A big driver of that pollution is the sheer density of industrial development in the area. San Bernardino County is home to more than 850 large warehouses spread across 12 cities, and nitrogen dioxide levels run about 20 percent higher near those facilities.
Locals aren’t sitting still, though. A group of college students recently hauled roughly 500 pounds of trash from the Santa Ana River, pushing for cleaner conditions in the region.
Los Angeles Is Right Behind It
Coming in at number two, Los Angeles earns its place on the list largely due to road congestion and overcrowding.
Traffic exposure is a major factor. Nearly 40 percent of residents live near high-traffic roadways, the fourth-highest rate in the entire ranking.
Overcrowded housing is another issue. Just over 11 percent of homes in the city are considered overcrowded, one of the highest shares in the country.
Detroit, Reading, and Ontario Round Out the Top Five
Detroit takes the number three spot, where more than half of residents report dissatisfaction with pollution and the adult smoking rate sits at nearly 24 percent, among the worst in the nation.
Reading, Pennsylvania, claims number four with a particularly grim distinction. The city earned the worst Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators score in the entire ranking, a metric that measures toxic chemicals released into the environment from industrial sources.
Ontario, California closes out the top five. Like San Bernardino, it ties for the worst median air quality index score in the study, sitting at 97, with more than 60 percent of residents reporting dissatisfaction with local pollution.
That means three of the five dirtiest cities in America are in California.
The Cleanest Cities Are Worth Knowing Too
If clean air and satisfied locals sound more appealing, the data has plenty of good news as well.
South Bend, Indiana, ranked as the least dirty city overall. Wilmington, North Carolina, and Des Moines, Iowa, followed close behind.
Other cities earning high marks for cleanliness include Davenport, Iowa; Athens, Georgia; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Fargo, North Dakota; Frederick, Maryland; Pleasanton, California; and Lynchburg, Virginia.
What do they have in common? Strong air and water quality scores, low fuel consumption, and residents who consistently report high satisfaction with their local environment.
The full rankings are available on the LawnStarter website for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the data before planning their next trip.