America's Dirtiest Cities 2010

By Joshua Pramis
June 07, 2011

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From L.A. to Miami, find out which U.S. cities are in need of spring cleaning.

Anyone who’s hiked up Los Angeles’s Runyon Canyon can verify that, while the sweeping city views are beautiful, they’re accompanied by the yellow hue of smog—particularly around downtown. So when the American Lung Association released the results from its annual State of the Air report in April, it wasn’t a huge surprise to see L.A. named the most ozone-polluted city in America.

Where else did the city land itself a top-ranking spot? In Travel + Leisure’s America’s Favorite Cities survey, where voters found the City of Angels’ cleanliness to be a little less than heavenly. In fact, survey takers—who rated 30 cities around the U.S. in 10 different categories—found the centerpiece of SoCal sprawl to be the No. 3 dirtiest city in the country.

Some cities fared better. Take Honolulu, for example. People who filled out our survey voted the Hawaiian capital as the eighth cleanest city in the country, while the American Lung Association survey found Honolulu to be the seventh cleanest city for ozone pollution. Of course, clean air is expected in a romantic, tropical destination like this, and the Aloha State came through.

Okay, maybe the relative ranking for L.A. and Honolulu isn’t earth shattering. What is surprising, though, is that the dirtiest cities shared similarly low ratings in other AFC categories, like peace and quiet, public parks, and environmental friendliness. Many of the dirtiest cities also had another thing in common: great nightlife. After all, inebriated club-goers can have a tendency to be careless with their trash.

Take Las Vegas, for example. With its up-all-night party lifestyle and neon landscape—the lack of anything resembling a park doesn’t help much—it fits in with the pattern of the other cities voted dirtiest.

Conversely, the cleaner cities tended to receive strong marks for peace, parks, and a devotion to Mother Earth. Portland OR’s No. 2 spot for cleanliness stems from its eco-conscious zeal as well as countless measures to prevent overdevelopment.

The results are based on public opinion, both of residents and tourists. So while the rankings come from people’s perceptions—and not hard science—remember that a huge part of travel is the way visitors perceive a destination. So in that vein, the opinions showcased here are every bit as important as those in any other study.

Before you travel again, check to see where you can ditch the face mask and where you should wear a hazmat suit. The results may just surprise you. (But hey, if you feel compelled to come to any city’s defense, share your thoughts with us below!)

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No. 30. Minneapolis/St. Paul

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Maybe it’s the eight miles of covered skyways that keeps trash off the streets and parks. (Or maybe it’s an out-of-sight, out-of-mind thing.) Regardless, America’s Favorite Cities survey takers voted the Twin Cities as the country’s cleanest city.

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No. 29. Portland, OR

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It’s no shock that this über-eco-friendly city ranked so high in cleanliness; residents take great pride in their public parks and love of the environment. Would you really expect to see streets and parks littered with garbage?

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No. 28. Denver

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The Mile High City keeps growing, but its environmental roots run deep enough to keep the air and streets clean. After all, with the Rockies staring you in the face from downtown, it’s tough to forget about Mother Earth.

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No. 27. Austin

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Austin is a quiet city with lots of great parks. Yet despite its flourishing nightlife—rowdy club-goers can have a tendency to be careless about where their trash goes—the environmentally friendly nature of its residents seems to keep the streets looking fresh.

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No. 26. Santa Fe

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Even the sound of a stray piece of paper blowing in the wind is too much to handle in the city voted top dog for peace and quiet. Besides, the City Different, known both for its environmental friendliness and for its not-so-great nightlife, has people thinking green during the day and heading to bed early.

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No. 25. San Diego

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Polluted streets would simply ruin the tranquil vibe of America’s Finest City, voted Nos. 4 and 5 in peace and quiet and public parks, respectively. No surprise, then, that San Diego was also voted in the top 10 for environmentally friendly cities.

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No. 24. Charleston

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Regardless of being voted into the No. 10 spot for environmental friendliness, the city’s Walk and Talk Program—which has police officers patrolling on foot rather than in their cars—is probably the biggest deterrent against littering.

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No. 23. Honolulu

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It might be among the country’s major metropolises, but it’s still smack in the middle of a tropical paradise. And really, can a city be called paradise if it’s stockpiled with trash on the streets and beaches?

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No. 22. Seattle

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Sure, the Emerald City is a top dog for its parks and inclination toward all things environmental. But perusing the expansive farmers’ markets is also a nice reminder to make sure those to-go coffee cups make their way to a trash can.

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No. 21. Kansas City

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There’s mediocre nightlife and a tendency toward quiet, but KC still barely makes the cut for the top 10 cleanest cities. At least people aren’t throwing their BBQ ribs all over the sidewalks.

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No. 20. Nashville

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Music City combines a decent nightlife with not-so-decent parks and only a modest environmentally aware persona. It still qualifies as the cleanest of the dirty-city middle ground.

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No. 19. Phoenix/Scottsdale

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It’s considered a pretty quiet city, but its lack of parks may play a role in lessening people’s inclination to keep the streets clear of debris.

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No. 18. Providence

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With this city’s top 10–ranked nightlife and a less-than-impressive park situation, the real surprise may be how well Providence did in the survey.

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No. 17. Orlando

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Sure, this Florida city is home to a plethora of parks, but they’re the theme kind. And we all know that too much on-the-go theme-park fun can cause a euphoria-induced lapse in eco-friendly judgment.

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No. 16. San Antonio

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Alamo City falls right in the middle for peace and quiet, public parks, and environmental friendliness, so landing smack in the middle for cleanliness (or lack thereof, depending on how you look at it) seems fitting.

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No. 15. Chicago

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The Windy City, another urban area inhabiting this category’s middle ground, sees its fair share of trash blowing in the breeze, according to survey results. It may rank pretty high for parks, but the sub-par environmental friendliness and stellar nightlife may be bringing the city’s clean image down.

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No. 14. Houston

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It’s not very quiet. It’s home to mediocre parks. And nightlife is booming. It’s a recipe for a descent into the bottom half of America’s Dirtiest Cities.

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No. 13. Washington, D.C.

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Sure, our nation’s capital has some decent parks, but perhaps people are too wrapped up in making a big fuss about political bureaucracy to think about where they drop their trash.

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No. 12. Boston

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It seems that since dumping cases of tea into the harbor as an act of protest, Beantown has continued to throw things where they don’t belong. Of course, these days it’s trash…and without the noble purpose.

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No. 11. Dallas/Fort Worth

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The dirtiest of the middle-ground cities, Dallas/Fort Worth can attribute its rank to low eco-friendly standards, little-to-no notable parks, and lack of peace and quiet. (With no decent nightlife, where is all the noise coming from?)

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No. 10. St. Louis

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The 10th dirtiest city in America might not be a party city, but its parks and environmental friendliness aren’t all that impressive, either.

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No. 9. San Francisco

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It might be the very active nightlife that is to blame for the city’s dirtiness, because while the Golden Gate City placed low in cleanliness, it still claimed top spots for parks and environmental friendliness.

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No. 8. Cleveland

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While it’s perched comfortably on middle ground in the categories of parks and peace and quiet, Cleveland still didn’t impress. Maybe the green areas need some sprucing up…

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No. 7. Miami

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Despite being home to South Beach, where the tan and the beautiful reside, Miami seems to be a place where people are far more concerned with hitting up the hottest nightclubs (and then, of course, sleeping in) than they are with taking measures to clean up the local environment.

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No. 6. Atlanta

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Even though it doesn’t boast an off-the-hook nightlife, its lack of peace and quiet or worthwhile public parks and its seeming disregard for the environment contribute to the dirty factor in this southern hub.

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No. 5. Las Vegas

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With a name like the City of Sin, is it any surprise that the emphasis here is more on gambling and partying than it is on making sure that to-go margarita cup makes it to a trash can?

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No. 4. Philadelphia

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The City of Brotherly Love seems to get the short end of the stick in many of the AFC categories, and cleanliness is no exception. Unfortunately, locals can’t even blame the poor showing on their nightlife, which ranked only No. 13.

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No. 3. Los Angeles

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The traffic in La La Land is notoriously congested; environmental friendliness barely registers; and parks take a backseat to hopping nightclubs and all-night parties. Welcome to the third dirtiest U.S. city.

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No. 2. New Orleans

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We can’t help but think the images of Katrina’s aftermath played a role in Nah’lins’ earning the No. 2 spot, but even before the disaster, drunken debauchery courtesy of Bourbon Street and a lack of noteworthy public parks would likely have pushed the city toward a similar rank.

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No. 1. New York City

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The City That Never Sleeps is also the city that never cleans, so it seems. With low scores for public parks and environmental friendliness, and the lowest score for peace and quiet, the Big Apple grabs the ignominious title of America’s dirtiest city.

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