Study: California has greenest U.S. cities; Arizona at bottom

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(The Center Square) – No city in the U.S. is greener than San Jose, and four other California cities join it in the top 10. 

That’s according to a recent WalletHub study of the nation’s 100 most populated cities and their progress on environmental and climate issues.

WalletHub said San Jose stood out for having the fifth highest number of solar panel installations per capita, a bicycle-sharing program, a ban on plastic bags and initiatives promoting green energy.

“There’s a lot of environmentally conscious legislation,” WalletHub analyst and writer Chip Lupo told The Center Square about the Golden State. “In the case of San Jose and a number of cities, they have a high percentage of renewable energy sources.”

Others in the top five were Washington, D.C, at No. 2, where residents are known for growing their own food, and the California cities of Oakland,  Irvine and San Francisco at Nos. 3, 4 and 5 respectively. WalletHub said Oakland had the second-lowest greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and the country’s 15th-best air quality.

WalletHub said it based its rankings on environment, transportation, energy sources, and lifestyle and policy. The environmental category included air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, green space and water quality. Transportation included scores on walking, bicycling, public transit and average commute time.

While it ranked No. 1 overall, San Jose was listed as eighth in environment, 18th in transportation, ninth in energy and 25th in lifestyle and policy.

Despite its No. 5 ranking overall, San Francisco was 27th in the environment and 21st in energy. It apparently made up for it with placing No. 3 in lifestyle and policy and No. 5 in transportation.

Hawaii got its place in the sun on the list. Honolulu landed at No. 6 in the U.S. for the overall rankings and No. 2 for environment.

And a popular California metropolis and Navy base location, San Diego, placed seventh overall and ninth for the environment. 

The top 10 was rounded out with Minneapolis at No. 8; Portland, Ore., at No. 9, and Seattle at 10.

California continued to place high on the list with Freemont ranked 11th; Sacramento, 14th; Chula Vista, 17th, and the home of Disneyland, Anaheim, 18th.

Bakersfield, which is in oil-producing Kern County, ranked 20th on the list, with Los Angeles, despite its previous longtime history of smog, placing 22nd.

In fact, Los Angeles ranked 14th in transportation and 22nd in lifestyle and policy. But its record on the environment isn’t exactly green. Its environmental ranking is 86th in the nation.

But L.A. has made great strides, said Lupo, a Columbia, S.C., resident who used to live in Los Angeles. “I remember in the 1970s and the early ’80s the smog. They’ve made tremendous headway in reducing that.”

He added that L.A. today has environmentally friendly policies, including bicycle sharing. 

Despite all its natural beauty, Colorado didn’t make the top 10. Denver placed No. 13; Colorado Springs, No. 32; Aurora, No. 54. Those are overall rankings. Denver placed 80th in the nation for the environment.

Elsewhere, Arizona fared more poorly than the rest of the Southwest on the green list, with Scottsdale as its top city at No. 41. Four cities in Arizona landed in the bottom 10, including Chandler at No. 93, Gilbert at No. 94 and Mesa at No. 97. 

The least green city in America? That’s Glendale, Ariz., according to WalletHub. The Phoenix suburb, which ranked No. 100 overall, was near the bottom in environment, transportation and lifestyle and policy. It ranked a bit better, at No. 68, for energy.

While it did better than Arizona, Nevada didn’t excel on the list. Its highest city on the list was Las Vegas, at No. 39 overall and 89th in environment, followed by Reno at No. 47 overall and 62nd in environment. Henderson ranked 60th overall and 56th in the environment. North Las Vegas was No. 80 overall and 77th in the environment.