Breathe cleaner air than important to your long-term health: It is necessary for healthy lungs, improve cognitive function and maybe even make you happier.
The Natural Resources Defense Council also says cleaner air helps avoid estimates 370,000 premature deaths in the US each year and 189,000 fewer hospitalizations for heart and respiratory conditions, such as heart disease, asthma or pneumonia.
In summary, you can expect many benefits from living in an area with clean air. That’s good news for residents of some states, according to a new source Analysis by US News and World Reportrank all 50 states by How are they contaminated? and the risks that pollution poses to the health of their populations.
Rankings are based on on 2019 data from the US Environmental Protection Agency, which measures the total toxic chemical pollution generated in each state and the risks of chronic, long-term health effects – such as cancer and birth defects birth – caused to the per capita population of each state.
According to US News and World Report. They don’t take into account pollution from transportation, agriculture, or small establishments like dry cleaners and auto parts stores.
Here are the seven least polluted states, according to the ranking:
- Vermont
- New Hampshire
- South Dakota
- New Mexico
- Wyoming
- California
- Rhode Island
Vermont comes out on top as the least polluted state in the nation, a fitting title for a “Blue Mountain State” known for its pristine natural attractions. That ranking is in line with other analyzes in 2022: American Lung Association (ALA) says Vermont cities among the cleanest by domestic air quality, and has low levels of the most harmful and common types of air pollution.
The state’s Burlington-South metro area in particular is one of only two US cities Rated as the cleanest for the worst types of air pollution, which includes particulate pollution and ozone air pollution.
New Hampshire’s status as the second least polluted state may come as a surprise. In 2022, the ALA indicates the state’s air quality have “mixed scores”. Overall, New Hampshire shows improvement in ozone air pollution category, but three counties have higher levels in the long term particle pollution – lethality – compared with the previous year, according to the ALA.
Another surprise is California’s high ratings, considering that its many cities ranked among the country’s most polluted, according to the ALA. California may have stricter emissions standards than most states, but factors like Forest fires and drought has been found to worsen the state’s air quality.
It is not surprising that the state ranked as The most polluted in America.: Louisiana. Several studies point to poor air quality in the state. For example, a Analysis of the year 2020 found by the Environmental Integrity Project that Louisiana is home to four of the top ten “super-polluting” chemical plants in the United States A ProPublica Investigation 2019 also found that the number of Louisiana factories with high emissions has actually increased since the 1980s, although the overall number is declining nationally.
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