San Diego In Middle Of The Rat Pack Of Dirtiest Cities: Study

SAN DIEGO, CA — A recent study ranking the dirtiest cities in America put San Diego County in the middle of the rat pack.

San Diego and Escondido were ranked 103rd and 113th out of 152 cities on LawnStarter’s 2023 list.

Also in the middle of the list is nearby Orange County, where Santa Ana was 84th, Anaheim was 85th, Huntington Beach was 94th and Irvine was 104th.

It could definitely be worse. Inland Empire hub San Bernardino was ranked the third dirtiest city in the nation, with the worst rankings in the country for the categories of pollution and consumer satisfaction. Los Angeles came in 15th overall.

Faring far better was the Bay Area. Sunnyvale was the second-least dirty city ranked, at 151st. San Francisco was 97th.

The study compared over 150 of the biggest U.S. cities across four categories: pollution, living conditions, infrastructure and consumer satisfaction. LawnStarter gathered public data on factors such as median air quality index, greenhouse gas emissions, the share of homes with signs of mice or rats, the number of unsheltered unhoused people per 1,000 residents, and tons of landfill waste per 100,000 residents.

To determine the rankings, LawnStarter calculated weighted scores for each city in each category and averaged the scores.

“These problems are unsightly, but they’re more harmful than we might realize," LawnStarter reported. “Air pollution, for instance, worsens lung cancer and increases our chances of heart disease and stroke.”

For more information and to view the full rankings, visit bit.ly/3WAIWRr.