5 Tennessee Cities Named Among The 'Dirtiest' In America

By Sarah Tate

Photo: Getty Images

Depending on where you live, you might experience more or less pollution than other cities around the country, from pristine beach towns to trash littered along highways stretching the length of the country.

LawnStarter compiled a list of 152 of the biggest U.S. cities, comparing them to each other using four categories: pollution, living conditions, infrastructure and consumer satisfaction. These factors were then evaluated using relevant metrics, including air quality index, greenhouse-gas emissions, population density, share of overcrowded homes, share of homes with mold, tons of waste in landfills per 100,000 residents, number of junk yards, share of residents of find city dirty and untidy and share of residents dissatisfied with pollution, among others.

These are the Tennessee cities that earned a spot among the dirtiest in the country:

  • No. 25: Memphis
  • No. 64: Knoxville
  • No. 102: Chattanooga
  • No. 105: Murfreesboro
  • No. 127: Nashville

Of the five Tennessee cities on the list, Memphis was named the "dirtiest," mainly due to ranking high in terms of infrastructure issues, poor consumer satisfaction and unfavorable living conditions. On the other hand, Nashville, for all its popularity as a tourist haven, placed low on the list thanks to its level of pollution and living conditions compared to other cities on the list. Additionally, Murfreesboro ranked second for the highest tonnage of waste in landfills per 100,000 residents.

Here are the Top 20 dirtiest cities in America, according to the report:

  1. Houston, Texas
  2. Newark, New Jersey
  3. San Bernardino, California
  4. Detroit, Michigan
  5. Jersey City, New Jersey
  6. Bakersfield, California
  7. San Antonio, Texas
  8. Fresno, California
  9. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
  10. Yonkers, New York
  11. Shreveport, Louisiana
  12. New York, New York
  13. Birmingham, Alabama
  14. Ontario, California
  15. Los Angeles, California
  16. Modesto, California
  17. Palmdale, California
  18. Hollywood, Florida
  19. Las Vegas, Nevada
  20. Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Check out LawnStarter to see its full list of the dirtiest cities around the country.

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