Here Are the Most Sustainable U.S. Cities in 2022
A recent SmartAsset study compared 94 of the largest cities across three categories based on topics of transportation, green efficiency, and climate resilience to determine the most sustainable cities in the U.S. Boston, Massachusetts takes the top spot overall, while a number of other Northeast and Pacific Northwest cities also made up the majority of the top 10, SmartAsset reports.
Green building is also on the rise in West and Southern regions, where a number of popular metros are home to more than 100 LEED-certified green buildings per 100,000 people.
Boston, Massachusetts ranks as the most sustainable city, scoring especially high in transportation (No. 2) and green efficiency (No. 1). The city is particularly walkable for residents and nearly 18% of workers in the city rely on public transit to commute (third-highest). Electric vehicle owners also have access to the fifth-highest number of charging ports available per capita (roughly 16 ports for every 100 EVs). Additionally, in 2020, renewable energy production made up all of total energy production in the state of Massachusetts.