With October being National Energy Awareness Month and 74 percent of Americans today supporting efforts to protect the environment, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s Greenest Cities in America.
To determine which cities promote an environmentally friendly lifestyle, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 100 largest cities across 20 key indicators of sustainability, ranging from “greenhouse-gas emissions per capita” to “number of smart-energy policies and initiatives.”
| Greenest Cities in America | Least Green Cities in America | ||||
| 1 | San Francisco, CA | 91 | Houston, TX | ||
| 2 | Honolulu, HI | 92 | Lexington, KY | ||
| 3 | San Jose, CA | 93 | Cleveland, OH | ||
| 4 | Fremont, CA | 94 | Tampa, FL | ||
| 5 | San Diego, CA | 95 | Louisville, KY | ||
| 6 | Washington, DC | 96 | Corpus Christi, TX | ||
| 7 | Oakland, CA | 97 | Toledo, OH | ||
| 8 | Portland, OR | 98 | Tulsa, OK | ||
| 9 | Sacramento, CA | 99 | Oklahoma City, OK | ||
| 10 | Minneapolis, MN | 100 | Baton Rouge, LA | ||
Best vs. Worst
- Honolulu has the lowest median air-quality index, 34, which is 2.9 times lower than in Riverside and San Bernardino, Calif., the cities with the highest, 97.
- Anchorage, Alaska, has the most green space, 84.2 percent, which is 63 times more than in North Las Vegas, Nev., the city with the least, 1.3 percent.
- Lubbock, Texas, has the lowest annual excess fuel consumption, 4 gallons per auto commuter, which is 9 times lower than in New York, Washington as well as Newark and Jersey City, N.J., the cities with the highest, each at 35 gallons per auto commuter.
- Minneapolis has the highest bike score, 81, which is 2.8 times higher than in Birmingham, Ala., the city with the lowest, 29.
- New York has the highest walk score, 89, which is 4.2 times higher than in Chesapeake, Va., the city with the lowest, 21.
- Honolulu has the most farmers markets per capita, 0.131, which is 69.7 times higher than in Newark, N.J., the city with the lowest, 0.002.
