Cities With the Cleanest Air And Water

With nearby mangrove estuaries and natural reserves such as the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Ten Thousand Islands, and the Everglades, residents of Naples, Fla., can take a deep, and worry-free, breath.

Naples ranked first on the list of the nation’s least polluted cities from Realtor.com. The findings measured air and water quality, based on the number of clear days in a year and the amount of contaminants like lead, copper, and arsenic in the water supply. Toxic chemicals production, greenhouse gas emissions, and the number of Superfund sites, also played a factor.

A few agricultural communities in Northern California made the list, as did two Oregon cities, Eugene and Salem.

That’s eco-conscious Salem (No. 2) for you—and Oregon as a whole. Last year, the state became the first in the nation to pass a law to phase out coal completely, requiring its largest utilities to supply at least half of their electricity from renewable resources, like wind and solar, by 2040.

Ocala, Fla., Anchorage, Alaska, Ann Arbor, Mich., Little Rock, Ark., and Salisbury, Md., rounded out the top 10.

The site also found the most polluted cities, which contained numerous industrial cities, oil hubs, and dense urban areas with a dirty rep: Chicago, Milwaukee, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, and Philadelphia.

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