Depending on where you live, you might experience more or less pollution than other cities around the country. While one locale may have pristine parks and crystal clear water, another destination within the same state may struggle with rubbish littering streets and car exhaust polluting the air.
LawnStarter compared over 300 cities around the country to determine which are the "dirtiest cities in America," basing its rankings on factors like air pollution, water quality, waste management and resident dissatisfaction. Among the destinations featured on the list are 11 cities in North Carolina:
- No. 49: Fayetteville
- No. 154: Asheville
- No. 162: Cary
- No. 183: Raleigh
- No. 201: Durham
- No. 238: Greenville
- No. 244: Charlotte
- No. 256: Concord
- No. 277: Greensboro
- No. 285: Winston-Salem
- No. 299: Wilmington
These are the 10 dirtiest cities in America, according to the study:
- San Bernardino, California
- Detroit, Michigan
- Reading, Pennsylvania
- Newark, New Jersey
- Ontario, California
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Trenton, New Jersey
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Houston, Texas
- Baytown, Texas
Here's how LawnStarter determined its rankings of the dirtiest cities in the U.S.:
"For each of the 500 biggest U.S. cities, we then gathered data on each factor from the sources listed [on the site]. We eliminated 197 cities lacking sufficient data in a single category, resulting in a final sample size of 303 cities. Finally, we calculated scores (out of 100 points) for each city to determine its rank in each factor, each category, and overall. A city's Overall Score is the average of its scores across all factors and categories."
Check out the full list at LawnStarter to see more of the "dirtiest" cities around the country.