LawnStarter has released its annual list of the most sustainable US cities. The company looked at 39 total metrics, such as zero-energy buildings, alternative fuel stations, and greenhouse-gas emissions. From those metrics, they developed five sustainability categories: policy, sustainable development, pollution, transportation, and food production.
The top of the list reads very much like the country’s most populous cities. That’s a good thing, since, you know…a ton of people live there. We’ve got New York at No. 1, Los Angeles at No. 2, and Chicago at No. 3. There’s a bit of population deviation after that, with San Franciso and San Diego rounding out the top five.
The Most Sustainable Texas Cities
Several Texas cities made the Top 100, with Austin leading the way at No. 16. The Lone Star State capital was praised for its sustainable development (12th on the list) and policy (41st) rankings. In individual metrics, Austin is 5th among U.S. cities in number of global green partners, 6th in electric vehicle charging stations, and 8th in urban gardening rank. As someone who’s currently managing an out-of-control tomato plant in his backyard, I appreciate this focus on gardening and growing locally!
Dallas and San Antonio are right behind each other at No. 35 and No. 36, respectively. Though their overall scores are similar, they each have their strengths. Dallas scored better in the food production and transportation rankings—DART ain’t so bad!—while San Antonio finished higher in policy and pollution rankings.
Houston sits at No. 55. Its current pollution rank is among the worst of all the cities examined, but its sustainable development ranking of No. 6 shows it’s taking steps to curb that pollution and make the greater area more sustainable. In 2020, the city launched its Resilient Houston plan, which includes steps like improving parks, electrifying fleets, and improving funding for arts and nonprofits. The Houston government had made progress on 83% of its Climate Action Plan items within two years of launch.
All four of these major Texas cities improved from their rankings last year. Austin was No. 23; San Antonio (64), Houston (83), and Dallas (85) have all made impressive leaps.
How do other Texas cities fare?
While Texas has dozens of places on the most sustainable US cities list, the majority are in the bottom half of the 500 cities examined. Here are the remaining Texas locations, including some notable drops—Denton, El Paso, and McKinney were all hovering around 100th in last year’s rankings:
115 Fort Worth
245 Plano
254 Denton
289 El Paso
292 Richardson
293 Frisco
316 Garland
327 Irving
330 Grand Prairie
361 Georgetown
363 McKinney
372 College Station
389 Allen
390 Arlington
391 Amarillo
392 Lubbock
398 New Braunfels
400 Round Rock
402 Lewisville
404 Cedar Park
429 Sugar Land
432 Flower Mound
436 Carrollton
435 Mesquite
440 Conroe
441 Bryan
448 Pasadena
452 Corpus Christi
457 Midland
456 Odessa
459 Waco
462 Missouri City
464 Killeen
465 Abilene
470 Mansfield
475 Baytown
477 San Angelo
476 Laredo
478 Wichita Falls
483 Longview
485 Mission
484 McAllen
486 Pearland
487 Temple
488 Brownsville
493 League City
492 Tyler
497 Edinburg
499 Beaumont
500 Pharr
Check out the full LawnStarter list of the most sustainable US cities and learn more about their methodology. Cheers to keeping our Earth in good shape!