Iowa Is Officially Cleaner Than Illinois

Some people need to feel clean. Others don't care... Zippia recently did a study looking for the least clean states. Iowa ranks in the top 10 for clean states. Illinois doesn't rank as high.

Does a state's cleanliness matter to you?

Top 5 grossest states:

These are five reportadly gross states.

1. Virginia
2. South Carolina
3. North Carolina
4. Pennsylvania
5. Texas

You can find their whole list here. Do you think this list is correct, or do you think it is way off? Let us know.

Illinois Ranking

Illinois found itself in the number 23 spot which isn't too bad but does put it in the top half of the "dirtiest" States. In Illinois's defense, it does have a big city.

To get these results Zippia looked at 3 things.

• Dirty air
• Trash, or the percentage of each state that is landfill
• Spread of illnesses like the flu

To measure the dirtiness of the air, we referred Air Filters Delivered thorough ranking on air quality. For the trash rating, we simply used the EPA’s data on the percentage of each state’s land that is taken up by landfills. We then looked at the CDC’s ranking on spread of illness in each state like the flu. Because sneezing, coughing, and spreading diseases is pretty gross.

So while it is by no means the dirtiest state in America it sadly does find itself a bit high on the list.

The Cleanest States

In the rankings, Iowa ranked number 40 out of 50 when it came to grossest states, which is a good thing seeing as though the number one spot went to the dirtiest and grossest state, while the number 50 spot went to the nicest.

The Least Gross States:
40. Iowa
41. Arizona
42. Michigan
43. Utah
44. Wyoming
45. Nevada
46. Maine
47. Idaho
47. Nebraska
49. Montana
50. Alaska

Do you believe this list?