Many cities in the U.S. enjoy air that is considered clean for one or more of the pollution measures tracked in “State of the Air.” In this year’s report, 59 of the cities for which there is monitoring data had zero high short-term particle days and 80 cities had zero ozone days. Because year-round particle pollution is scored differently, the cleanest cities for this measure can be ranked, and the best 25 are considered cleanest.
Seven cities rank on all three cleanest cities lists for particle pollution and ozone. They had zero days high in particle pollution or ozone and are among the 25 cities with the lowest year-round particle levels. Added to the list this year are Asheville and Greenville, NC and Rochester NY. The other four repeat their appearance on the list this year. Elmira NY, Burlington VT and Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Roanoke and Virginia Beach, VA all lost their place on this year’s cleanest list because of increases in either short-term or annual particle pollution.
Listed alphabetically, the cleanest cities are:
- Asheville-Marion-Brevard, NC
- Bangor, ME
- Greenville-Kinston-Washington, NC
- Lincoln-Beatrice, NE
- Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls, NY
- Urban Honolulu, HI
- Wilmington, NC