MyApartmentMap Blog

For the first time ever, a city not named Los Angeles has been named America’s “sootiest” city. Soot, also known as particle pollution, is one of the categories the American Lung Association uses to determine the most polluted cities in the country. Pittsburgh overtook Los Angeles in the category that measures short-term particle pollution or soot.

The association’s “State of the Air: 2008″ report, which was released today, is based on air quality measurements reported to the E.P.A. by state and local agencies between 2004 and 2006. The study looks at three key pollution measures.

The top metropolitan areas the report considered the “sootiest” are as follows:

#1 Pittsburgh #2 Los Angeles #3 Fresno #4 Bakersfield #5 Birmingham #6 Logan #7 Salt Lake City #8 Sacramento #9 Detroit #10 D.C./Baltimore

The cleanest cities in America were Fargo (great movie, if you’ve seen it, you will know that there is nothing in Fargo that could cause pollution except for snow mobiles), N.D., and Salinas, California.

To see the complete list of most polluted cities on a map(yes, we love MAPS!), visit: State of The Air dot Org.