When discussing the cleanliness of a city, it's generally the amount of litter on the sidewalks or how well-kempt public areas are that comes to mind, but a recent study from Lawn Starter took a deeper dive into what it means for a city to be "clean." The study compared 152 cities across the United States to see how they stack up when it comes to pollution, living conditions, infrastructure and consumer satisfaction. The study found Anchorage, Alaska to have the best air quality of all included cities, followed by Honolulu, Hawaii. On the flip-side, they declared a five-way tie for the worst median air quality between Riverside, San Bernadino, Fontana, Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga, which are all in California. They also examined the quality of the cities' drinking water, and found evidence of how the Southwest's limited water supply has been affected by decades of drought, climate change and over-consumption, which have led to contamination issues. With the exception of Salt Lake City, Utah, Lawn Starter's study found every Southwest city they included had violated the Safe Drinking Water Act at least once in 2020. A lack of clean water, along with pollution, can have a marked effect on residents' satisfaction with their city. The study found Bakersfield, California had the highest share of residents who were dissatisfied with time in their city due to pollution, while Rancho Cucamonga, Santa Clarita and Salinas, California, along with Fayetteville, North Carolina and McKinney, Texas had the fewest dissatisfied residents. In the slideshow above, we'll look at which cities Lawn Starter has named the overall ten dirtiest in the U.S.

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