Inland Empire Home To Third-Dirtiest City In America: Study

SAN BERNARDINO, CA — The Inland Empire is home to the third-dirtiest city in America, according to a recent study.

San Bernardino ranked third on LawnStarter’s 2023 list, a downgrade from fourth, with the worst rankings in the country for the categories of pollution and consumer satisfaction. Houston was ranked the dirtiest city nationwide, with Newark as the runner-up.

“For the second year in a row, San Bernardino has the most dissatisfied residents when it comes to the cleanliness of their city,” according to LawnStarter. “Other cities in the region fared better overall, but some weren’t far off in consumer satisfaction.”

Ontario had an overall ranking of 14th, but came in eighth for pollution, according to the study. Fontana was ranked 30th and Riverside was 47th.

Rancho Cucamonga was an outlier, at 99th.

The city of Los Angeles didn't fare too well either, coming in at 15th dirtiest overall, while San Diego and Orange counties landed in the middle of the pack.

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.