Highest Ranked Cities in USA for Air Quality

• Air Quality (SustainLane, 2008 Rankings)

This annual ranking of the most sustainable cities in the USA points to cities in the Northwest at the top across all categories (Portland was #1 overall) and to the Pacific coast for both the best and worst for air quality. Some lessons learned from looking at cities which moved up and down are of general significance- such as New Orleans, which after the flooding in 2005, replaced dirty old fleet vehicles with cleaner new ones.



Key Quotes:

Honolulu – “The Pacific island city owes its clean air to ocean breezes that blow pollution out to sea”

Fresno, California – “With a high concentration of agricultural operations, dairy farms, busy Interstates (5 and 99), and being stuck downwind from Los Angeles, the inland valley city finished dead last”

New Orleans – “In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the city government replaced 100 percent of its (flood damaged) fleet with alternative fueled vehicles, which may account for some of the improvement”

Top 10- “Leading”

1. Honolulu, HI
2. Portland, OR
3. New Orleans, LA
4. San Francisco, CA
5. Oakland, CA
6. Virginia Beach, VA
7. Seattle, WA
8. Miami, FL
9. Austin, TX
10. Minneapolis, MN

“Fresno, California can thank its less-than-lucky coordinates for its finish too: With a high concentration of agricultural operations, dairy farms, busy Interstates (5 and 99), and being stuck downwind from Los Angeles, the inland valley city finished dead last”

Bottom 10 - “Endangered”

41. Houston, TX
42. Atlanta, GA
43. Chicago, IL
44. El Paso, TX
45. Las Vegas, NV
46. Mesa, AZ
47. Phoenix, AZ
48. Long Beach, CA
49. Los Angeles, CA
50. Fresno, CA

Related articles

• Cities with nation's best overall air quality were Honolulu and Santa Fe, New Mexico, (robbiz1978.blogspot.com)
• Report Names U.S. Cities with Foulest, Cleanest Air (nlm.nih.gov)
• Bakersfield= Worst Air Quality in USA (margauxbangs.com)
• Is Your ZIP Code Killing You? (foxnews.com)
• LA Ranks Number One For Dirty Air (fitsugar.com)
• Philadelphia tops list of U.S. most toxic cities (reuters.com)
• Finally something Fresno can be proud of! (queerfresno.com)
• America's 10 Most Polluted Cities (abcnews.go.com)
• America's 10 Most Toxic Cities (abcnews.go.com)
• How Bad Is The Air You Breathe? (huffingtonpost.com)
• The Impact of Pedestrian Zones on Urban Air Quality (pollutionfreecities.blogspot.com)
• Shanghai air pollution reaches record levels - how to track air quality around the world (environmentaleducationuk.wordpress.com)
• Health Outcomes of Reducing the Local Air Pollution Burden (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)