[title]
New York, you’ve done it again. And by “it,” we mean earned the dubious honor of being the dirtiest metro area in the United States, according to a new study by carpet cleaning company Oxi Fresh. The nationwide cleanliness audit ranked 35 major U.S. metro areas across seven factors, including rodent and roach infestations, air and water quality, litter, vandalism and population density. New York City came in dead last, clocking a dismal “D” grade. Are you surprised? Unfortunately, we are not.
The culprit of it all is a classic Gotham cocktail of too many people (more than 23 million in the tri-state metro), too much trash (thanks, garbage bags piled high on sidewalks) and a long-running rat problem that just won’t quit.
According to the study, nearly 17% of homes reported rodent issues and 20% reported cockroach sightings, both of which are among the highest in the nation. Litter and vandalism metrics didn’t help, with New York scoring below 82% on the cleanliness of nearby streets and buildings.
By contrast, the top-ranking metros—Portland, Seattle and Rochester—benefit from strong environmental policies, lower population density and higher investment in public services, such as waste management and green space maintenance. New York’s dense infrastructure and aging sanitation systems continue to pose major challenges, too, despite recent initiatives like the appointment of a city "rat czar" and an expansion of curbside composting.
Even so, city officials have been working to clean up their act. New trash containerization efforts are underway and mayoral campaigns have made rat eradication a headline issue. But if our city wants to shed its trashy title, it’ll take more than good intentions: we need better infrastructure, smarter urban planning and some serious collective pride in keeping the streets clean.
Until then, Gotham will keep hustling… with a broom in hand.
Here is the ranked list of clean and dirty cities in the U.S.:
1. Portland, Oregon: A+
2. Seattle, Washington: A
3. Rochester, New York: A-
4. Detroit, Michigan: B+
5. Minneapolis, Minnesota: B+
6. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: B
7. Richmond, Virginia: B
8. Denver, Colorado: B
9. Phoenix, Arizona: B
10. Kansas City, Missouri: B-
11. New Orleans, Louisiana: B-
12. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: B-
13. Atlanta, Georgia: B-
14. Las Vegas, Nevada: B-
15. San Jose, California: B-
16. Baltimore, Maryland: B-
17. Raleigh, North Carolina: B-
18. Boston, Massachusetts: B-
19. Riverside, California: B-
20. Cleveland, Ohio: B-
21. Miami, Florida: C+
22. Memphis, Tennessee: C+
23. Tampa, Florida: C+
24. San Antonio, Texas: C+
25. San Francisco, California: C+
26. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: C+
27. Cincinnati, Ohio: C+
28. Birmingham, Alabama: C
29. Dallas, Texas: C
30. Chicago, Illinois: C
31. Washington, D.C.: C
32. Houston, Texas: C-
33. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: D+
34. Los Angeles, California: D+
35. New York, New York: D