Two Iowa Cities Just Ranked Among the Cleanest in America

Last year, Minnesota had something to brag about - Duluth was ranked the second cleanest city in the entire country. But this year? Not only did Duluth drop out of the top 10, it plummeted. Wait until you see how far down on the list it landed this year - yikes!

Minnesota, overall, took a bit of a hit in the latest cleanliness rankings. Not one of our cities cracked the top 10 cleanest. That's not the case for Iowa though - they absolutely dominated with not one, but two cities in the top 5!

Before us Minnesotans get too defensive, let’s be honest, our state still holds its own when it comes to cleanliness. I mean, the Midwest in general feels pretty clean especially compared to places like NYC.

Surprisingly, New York City wasn’t even ranked as high on the “dirtiest” list like I totally expected. It came in at #35. Mind. Blown! At least no Minnesota cities landed among the dirtiest.

LawnStarter’s 2025 Dirtiest Cities in America report looks at more than 300 cities across the U.S. and scored them based on 21 factors, including air quality, water quality, waste management, and how unhappy residents are with local cleanliness.

The dirtiest cities in America: 

#5: Ontario, California
#4: Reading, Pennsylvania
#3: Detroit, Michigan
#2: Los Angeles, California
#1: San Bernardino, California (again)

Yikes, California with 3 cities in the top 5 including San Bernardino taking the to spot again this year. According to Lawn Starter, San Bernardino has the highest share of residents dissatisfied with pollution - 75% - and ties with 9 other California cities with the worst median air quality.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the list - the cleanest in the country. Cities, that according to Lawn Starter, boast decent air and water quality, low excess fuel consumption, and high shares of residents who are satisfied with their local environment and city waste management.

The cleanest cities in the country:

#5: Athens, Georgia
#4: Davenport, Iowa
#3: Des Moines, Iowa
#2: Wilmington, North Carolina
#1: South Bend, Indiana

Yes, Iowa snagged two of the top five cleanest spots. Meanwhile, Minnesota was nowhere to be found in that group. We did, however, have three cities land in the top 50 cleanest.

St. Paul lead the way for us at #14 - a solid jump up from #24 last year. Minneapolis also climbed, moving from #45 to #26, and Rochester saw a small bump, improving from #76 to #66.

Also See: More People Are Moving Here Than Anywhere Else in Minnesota

The real shocker? Duluth, which was named the 2nd cleanest city in the entire country last year, slid all the way down to #43. Oofta.

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