Earth Day Network
 Urban Environment Report: How Does Your City Rank?
 
AIR QUALITY, VPI Rank
 
All cities have vulnerable populations. However, in some U.S. cities the concentration of citizens at risk is of particular concern. Earth Day Network’s Vulnerable Population Index (EDN VPI) is a measure suggesting what portion of a city's population may have greater sensitivity or susceptibility to environmental change. In the list below city Subject Area scores are weighted by the city’s VPI, yielding a VPI Score and Rank from best to worst.
 
VPI Rank
(1 is best, 72 is worst)		 City, State VPI Score
(1 is best, 5 is worst)
1 Sioux Falls*, SD (1.4)
2 Cheyenne*, WY (1.6)
3 Colorado Springs, CO (1.7)
4 Fargo*, ND (1.8)
4 Burlington*, VT (1.8)
6 Portland, OR (2.0)
7 Boise*, ID (2.1)
7 Portland*, ME (2.1)
7 Des Moines*, IA (2.1)
7 Honolulu, HI (2.1)
11 Virginia Beach, VA (2.2)
11 Billings*, MT (2.2)
11 Omaha, NE (2.2)
11 Tucson, AZ (2.2)
15 Minneapolis, MN (2.3)
16 Seattle, WA 2.4
17 San Francisco, CA 2.5
18 Anchorage, AK (2.5)
18 Albuquerque, NM (2.5)
18 Oklahoma City, OK (2.5)
21 New Orleans, LA (2.6)
22 Manchester*, NH (2.7)
22 Wichita, KS (2.7)
22 Little Rock*, AR (2.7)
22 Jackson*, MS (2.7)
26 Jacksonville, FL (2.9)
27 Denver, CO 3.0
28 Tulsa, OK (3.0)
28 Columbia*, SC (3.0)
30 Kansas City, MO (3.1)
31 Lexington, KY (3.3)
31 Las Vegas, NV (3.3)
31 Nashville-Davidson, TN (3.3)
31 Providence*, RI (3.3)
35 Charlotte, NC 3.4
36 Mesa, AZ (3.4)
36 San Jose, CA (3.4)
38 Memphis, TN 3.5
39 Sacramento, CA (3.5)
39 Bridgeport*, CT (3.5)
41 Boston, MA (3.6)
41 Oakland, CA (3.6)
43 Salt Lake City*, UT 3.7
44 Milwaukee, WI (3.7)
45 San Diego, CA 4.0
46 Phoenix, AZ (4.1)
46 Long Beach, CA (4.1)
46 Newark, NJ (4.1)
46 Miami, FL (4.1)
50 Austin, TX (4.2)
50 Fort Worth, TX (4.2)
52 Arlington, TX (4.4)
52 Fresno, CA (4.4)
54 Baltimore City, MD (4.5)
55 Wilmington*, DE (4.6)
55 San Antonio, TX (4.6)
55 New York City, NY (4.6)
58 Dallas, TX 4.7
59 Atlanta, GA (4.9)
60 Columbus, OH (5.0)
60 Houston, TX (5.0)
62 Chicago, IL (5.1)
62 Los Angeles, CA (5.1)
64 Indianapolis, IN 5.2
65 Charleston*, WV (5.2)
66 Washington, DC (5.3)
66 Louisville-Jefferson County*, KY (5.3)
68 Philadelphia, PA 5.5
69 Birmingham*, AL (5.7)
70 Detroit, MI 5.9
71 El Paso, TX (6.1)
72 Cleveland, OH 6.4

Note:

• All rank information is out of 72 cities, though not all cities may have scores/data in every category.
   1 is the 'best' (least polluting, most educated, etc) and 72 is the 'worst'.

• Scores in parenthesis indicate partial scores, e.g. at least one scored indicator was not available
   or reported for this city.

• Use of the asterisk (*) after the city name indicates year 2000 data was used in instances where
   2005 or 2004 Census data was not available.