Online study ranks El Paso as the #29 dirtiest city in the United States

UPDATE: A city spokesperson responded to the study: The study does not capture a true reflection of our community’s cleanliness. The study did not consider the overall investment in health and safety, such as the various locations within the City for residents to dispose of extra household waste at no charge, and the other solid waste disposal services such as neighborhood cleanup events, e-waste disposal, or household hazardous waste disposal.

The study determined the rankings based on air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, the share of overcrowded homes, share of homes with no kitchen facilities, share of homes with mold, among other factors.  

UPDATE - El Paso residents have responded to the news of the city ranking inside the top 30 on LawnStarter.com's ranking of 2023's Dirtiest Cities in America. Some agreeing that the city needs to get cleaned up, others saying the Sun City is one of the cleaner spots in the U.S.

It's clean here, for the most perspective and the other cities I've been in, Albuquerque...New Mexico, they're getting a little rundown too," said El Paso resident Anthony Villa.

"I think it needs a little work, some places you can see it's clean, some places it's a total disaster. So it's up to us to make that change," said El Paso Community College student Natallea Vera.

Even a flight attendant who had never visited El Paso said she was impressed with how clean the city is.

It's clean here, for the most perspective and the other cities I've been in, Albuquerque...New Mexico, they're getting a little rundown too," said Paige Weinstein.

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- A study published by LawnStarter.com titled "2023’s Dirtiest Cities in America" ranked El Paso as the #29 dirtiest city in the United States. The total number of cities included was 152, with Virginia Beach coming in as the cleanest U.S. city.

The top five dirtiest cities, according to LawnStarter.com, were Houston TX, Newark NJ, San Bernardino CA, Detroit MI, and Jersey City NJ.

The criteria included in this study to rank each major metropolitan area were: pollution, living conditions, infrastructure and consumer satisfaction.

Each city was given an overall score, El Paso's was 41.31, for reference, Houston's was 56.01 and Virginia Beach had a 19.07 score.

El Paso scored 35 on pollution, 114 on living conditions, 77 on infrastructure and 39 on consumer satisfaction.

It is important to note in LawnStarter.com's study, the lower score on each criterion, the worse that factor is considered. However, the higher the total score, the worse ranking each city received.

ABC-7 has reached out to the city of El Paso and Destination El Paso for comment.