Exploring Cleanliness in American Cities
America’s cities are diverse and have a lot to offer, but everyone can agree that cleaner cities are more pleasant than dirty ones. But what makes a town clean? There are a lot of factors to consider, so the Oxi Fresh team chose a few key factors and used these to issue scores out of 100. They displayed the results on a map and explained how each city scored in every category. The team’s methodology took these factors into account: • Population density: Number of people per square mile • Rodents: Percentage of housing units with signs of mouse and rat infestations • Cockroaches: Percentage of housing units with cockroach infestations • Vandalism: Percentage of homes without vandalized or abandoned buildings within a half-block radius • Litter: Percentage of homes without litter surrounding the property within a half-block radius • Air quality: Number of days in 2024 that the Air Quality Index (AQI) values were “Good” or higher • Tap water quality: Average number of contaminants in the municipal drinking water These choices seem like the most impactful factors that affect how clean and pleasant a city is to live in and visit. Learn more here.
The cities that scored the highest in all these categories were: 1. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA 2. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 3. Rochester, NY 4. Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI 5. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI 6. Pittsburgh, PA 7. Richmond, VA 8. Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO 9. Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ 10. Kansas City, MO-KS What do you think of the results? Is this the best way to judge cleanliness?
