Bay Area Has Some Of 'Least Dirty' Communities In America

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The Bay Area came out nearly spotless in a recent ranking of the dirtiest cities in America.

The region is one of the least trash-strewn or rodent-infested in California, according to LawnStarter’s 2023 list. Out of 152 cities ranked, from least dirty to dirtiest, three Bay Area communities were ranked among the 10 least dirty, with Sunnyvale ranked 151st, Fremont 148th and Roseville 143rd. Hayward was 136th, Sacramento was 132nd and San Jose was 129th.

In the middle of the pack was Oakland at 115th, San Francisco at 97th and Salinas at 86th.

Outliers included Stockton at 33rd and Modesto at 16th.

Southern California did not fare quite as well. San Bernardino ranked third dirtiest in the nation this year, a downgrade from fourth, while Los Angeles was ranked 15th.

The study compared more than 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.