Two Minnesota Cities Have Some of the Cleanest Air in America

Now that spring is here, the thought of getting outside and breathing some good, clean air sounds pretty appealing.

So just where can you go to ensure that your lungs are getting the best possible experience?

The American Lung Association is out with their 2023 State of the Air report, which grades cities and counties on air quality.

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Two Minnesota cities have some of the cleanest air in America, based on their amounts of year-round particle pollution.

Duluth landed in the top ten at number eight, while the Rochester-Austin area cracked the top 20 at 19th overall.

CLEANEST U.S. CITIES BY YEAR-ROUND PARTICLE POLLUTION

Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Wilmington, North Carolina
Bangor, Maine
Bellingham, Washington
St. George, Utah
Duluth, Minnesota
Amarillo-Pampa-Borger, Texas
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Salisbury-Cambridge, Maryland/Delaware

The rest of Minnesota didn't fare so well.

Only one of the 17 counties reporting data scored as high as a 'B' (Scott).

Nine received a grade of C' (Anoka, Carlton, Cook, Dakota, Lake, Lyon, Olmsted, Ramsey, and Wright), while three were graded at a 'D' (Crow Wing, Hennepin, and Stearns).

Four Minnesota counties were slapped with a failing grade (Becker, Beltrami, Cass, and
St. Louis).

Of the nine South Dakota counties reporting data, the highest grade was a 'C' for seven counties (Brown, Custer, Hughes, Jackson, Minnehaha, Pennington, and Union).

Two other counties (Brookings and Codington) received a 'D' grade.

In Iowa, 13 counties reported data and seven scored an 'A' grade (Black Hawk, Clinton, Johnson, Lee, Linn, Montgomery, and Van Buren), five were graded at a 'B' level (Muscatine, Palo Alto, Pottawattamie, Scott, and Woodbury), while Polk County received a 'C' grade.

DIRTIEST U.S. CITIES BY YEAR-ROUND PARTICLE POLLUTION

Bakersfield, California
Visalia, California
Fresno-Madera-Hanford, California
Los Angeles-Long Beach, California
Fairbanks, Alaska
Sacramento-Roseville, California
Medford-Grants Pass, Oregon
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California
Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona
Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie, Indiana

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