Which city has the greenest drivers? Minneapolis? St. Paul? Fargo?
Posted on June 25th, 2008 – 6:05 AMBy Roadguy
Once again, those pesky folks in Portland, Ore., have outranked Minneapolis on a transportation-related list — and, this time, so did Fargo. But the City of Lakes did make it into the Top 10 — way ahead of St. Paul at No. 53 — on Men’s Health magazine’s ranking of which cities have the “greenest” drivers. Check out the news release below and share your theories on how certain cities got certain rankings. Is Fargo rife with Priuses? Is Highland Park harboring Hummers? Does everybody in Indianapolis drive like an Indy-car driver? And, of course, because it’s Men’s Health, please include any tips for amazing abs.
MEN’S HEALTH MAGAZINE REVEALS WHERE THE GREENEST DRIVERS AND THE WORST FUEL OFFENDERS LIVE IN AMERICA
–Seattle, WA Has The Greenest Drivers–
–Arlington, TX Is Full Of Fossil “Fools”–
New York, NY (June 24, 2008) – Seattle drivers top the list of the greenest commuters in America, according to MEN’S HEALTH magazine, which ranks 100 major cities in the new July/August issue, hitting newsstands June 24th. To uncover the best emission-minimizers and the worst gas-guzzling offenders, the magazine tabulated data on gas consumption, measured miles racked up annually, checked air quality (ozone and particle pollutants), logged vehicle efficiency (that is, their size, age, and frequency of tuneups), and incorporated mass-transit quality and usage. By tapping into the National Transit Database, the American Lung Association, the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M, SimplyMap, and the Energy Information Administration, MEN’S HEALTH has the list of cities that are driving us to extinction and those who are reducing their carbon footprint.
Other cities that are home to eco-friendly drivers: Burlington, VT (2), Portland, OR (3), Madison, WI (4), Fargo, ND (5), Rochester, NY (6), Minneapolis, MN (7), Spokane, WA (8), and San Francisco, CA (9).
Cities that garnered an “F” for having the worst “green” driving record include Arlington, TX (100), Yonkers, NY (99), El Paso, TX (98), Riverside, CA (97), Birmingham, AL (96), Fort Worth, TX (95), and San Antonio, TX (94).
The following is the complete list cited in the JULY/AUGUST issue of MEN’S HEALTH and on www.menshealth.com.
From “Greenest” drivers to Fossil “fools”
1. Seattle, WA A+
2. Burlington, VT A+
3. Portland, OR A+
4. Madison, WI A
5. Fargo, ND A
6. Rochester, NY A
7. Minneapolis, MN A-
8. Spokane, WA A-
9. San Francisco, CA A-
10. Norfolk, VA A-
11. Boston, MA A-
12. Oakland, CA A-
13. Buffalo, NY A-
14. Miami, FL B+
15. Tucson, AZ B+
16. Orlando, FL B
17. Bangor, ME B
18. Anchorage, AK B
19. Newark, NJ B
20. Lexington, KY B
21. Jersey City, NJ B
22. Hartford, CT B
23. Fremont, CA B
24. Denver, CO B
25. Pittsburgh, PA B
26. Cleveland, OH B
27. Honolulu, HI B
28. Lincoln, NE B-
29. Richmond, VA B-
30. Aurora, CO B-
31. Durham, NC B-
32. Lubbock, TX B-
33. Des Moines, IA B-
34. Corpus Christi, TX B-
35. Salt Lake City, UT B-
36. Boise, ID B-
37. Sioux Falls, SD C+
38. Greensboro, NC C+
39. Providence, RI C+
40. Washington, DC C+
41. Tampa, FL C+
42. Baltimore, MD C+
43. Austin, TX C+
44. Wichita, KS C+
45. New York, NY C+
46. St. Louis, MO C+
47. Kansas City, MO C+
48. Philadelphia, PA C+
49. Milwaukee, WI C
50. Jacksonville, FL C
51. Chicago, IL C
52. Baton Rouge, LA C
53. St. Paul, MN C
54. Columbia, SC C
55. Las Vegas, NV C
56. Raleigh, NC C
57. San Jose, CA C
58. Jackson, MS C-
59. St. Petersburg, FL C-
60. Phoenix, AZ C-
61. San Diego, CA C-
62. Atlanta, GA C-
63. Colorado Springs, CO C-
64. Cincinnati, OH C-
65. Sacramento, CA C-
66. Little Rock, AR C-
67. Dallas, TX C-
68. Albuquerque, NM C-
69. Fort Wayne, IN C-
70. Oklahoma City, OK C-
71. Omaha, NE C-
72. Billings, MT C-
73. Cheyenne, WY C-
74. Grand Rapids, MI C-
75. Bakersfield, CA D+
76. Modesto, CA D+
77. Wilmington, DE D+
78. Nashville, TN D+
79. Montgomery, AL D+
80. Memphis, TN D+
81. Columbus, OH D+
82. Detroit, MI D+
83. Anaheim, CA D+
84. Los Angeles, CA D+
85. Louisville, KY D+
86. Houston, TX D+
87. Manchester, NH D+
88. Toledo, OH D+
89. Charleston, WV D
90. Charlotte, SC D
91. Fresno, CA D
92. Tulsa, OK D
93. Indianapolis, IN D-
94. San Antonio, TX F
95. Fort Worth, TX F
96. Birmingham, AL F
97. Riverside, CA F
98. El Paso, TX F
99. Yonkers, NY F
100. Arlington, TX F
15 Responses to "Which city has the greenest drivers? Minneapolis? St. Paul? Fargo?"
Actually, the bigger surprise is that Fargo was listed as one of the top 100 cities.
I also want to point out a flaw in their calculations. They say that they calculate based on factors such as ozone and tuneups.
I spent a few years living in or out of (I was traveling quite a bit) Indianapolis. The city has 4 major freeways running through it (the only such city in America). As a result, however, it was a major truck hauling hub. Driving through there at night would show convoys of semi trucks moving through. This obviously would contribute to air quality, but would not be caused by local truckers. I suspect you get much the same effect if your city has quite a bit of polluting industries - even though this also has nothing to do with driving.
Also, by taking air quality as a factor, you punish certain cities that may have a geographic disadvantage due to lack of ocean winds, proximity to other major cities, or other weather patterns that prevent the air from being cleaned as often.
Finally - people do not drive like race cars in Indy, but they are usually more likely to avoid blocking the left lane and have heard of accelerating before merging.
This is really funny since they city does not practice green driving. I bike to work every day all year round and today just like every other time I am passed by a city of MPLS vehicle, they proceeded to feel the need to slam the accelerator of their vehicle just to get to the next stop light/sign. Teaching employees to drive green would be a huge step in both reducing the amount of gas wasted by the city and reducing the amount of money wasted.
Where, exactly, is Memphis, MN?
Wonder if Seattle made the list because it’s a terrible city for single car drivers, a major reason I never moved there when I had an opportunity. The mountains, Lake Washington, and the sound inpair mobility and the freeway system only got half built. And then they tried to soak car owners for the “monofail” project. The people that live there seem to like it so I guess whatever floats your boat. My relatives there deal by simply not driving in the city- they live and work in the northwest suburbs and rarely drive into the city or significant distances through the suburbs.
“Also, by taking air quality as a factor, you punish certain cities that may have a geographic disadvantage due to lack of ocean winds, proximity to other major cities, or other weather patterns that prevent the air from being cleaned as often.”
I guarantee this was a factor in Saint Paul being so low. The prevailing winds here blow west to east, so the pollution caused by drivers on 494, 100, 169, and throughout Minneapolis ends up in Saint Paul. I’m sure another factor is that our transit system is very Minneapolis-centric, meaning Saint Paulites have fewer options to driving. Recently, a couple of friends and I who live in Saint Paul, but work elsewhere compared our bus options. The first works in Golden Valley. His one-way bus commute would be an hour and a half. I work in Bloomington/Edina. My one way bus commute would be an hour and forty minutes, with a mile-long walk in the middle. My third friend works in Apple Valley. He cannot take the bus at all.
Oops — I had fixed several other typos in the release but missed the Memphis one. I’ve now gone out on a limb by assuming that they meant Tennessee, not Minnesota (or Egypt)!
Green Mountain Boy, I do not buy you’re “prevailing winds theory” but I will agree that Minneapolis transit is oriented to get people to downtown. I live in south Minneapolis and work in Minnetonka, like you I would have a 1.5-2 hour ride, each way with 2 transfers.
If you have more wealth you can drive greener, keep that in mind. The wait on a Toyota Prius right now in Golden Valley is 10 months, but in Maplewood it’s only 4.
And Texas is a bad one, go figure. They still argue global warming I’m guessing, and probably held out until the end on the idea that the world wasn’t flat.
Oh, in fitting with my moniker, a great big Huzzah! to Burlington. We ain’t the “Green” Mountain State for nothing! Of course, it doesn’t hurt that it is a one county, 200,000 metro, or that the city is only 39,000 and only takes up 15 square miles. But still!
Prof. S. wrote:
I spent a few years living in or out of (I was traveling quite a bit) Indianapolis. The city has 4 major freeways running through it (the only such city in America).
I think the good folks of Chicago (I-94, I-90, I-80, I-55) would disagree. Not to mention the spurs, beltways and major U.S. highways going through there.
I thought for sure Emerald City would make the top 100.
Texas is at the bottom of nearly every statistical survey of quality of life. They show up at the bottom of this one too.
Is there anything they can do well, besides blow hard, execute people and specialize in eating lots of meat?
David - Touche. Maybe it was the only state capital with 4 major freeways. I know that it’s a bid deal for the city, and is why they call themselves the Crossroads of America. Odd thing to brag about, but it’s either that or the track.
More useless lists from Men’s Health Magazine.
What exactly are they trying to measure? As silly a concept as “green drivers” is, my intuition is that, were someone to measure it, it would have to represent a measure of pollution per unit of output (e.g. vehicle-miles).
Instead, the list dances around the issue and into unrelated matters such as mass transit use.
Hence the nonsensical list that results. The only discernable pattern is that cities that rank as “green” are either small urban areas, college towns, or both.
If the point was really to measure their “carbon footprints”, then the analysis would have to be expanded to non-transportation sources. Doing so, as a Brookings Institution report recently did, results in much different results. Texas cities don’t fare nearly as poorly, as they use lower-carbon fuels for electric power generation. Also, Lexington, KY would fall from the top quintile to near the bottom.
I’ll promise to stop telling Men’s Health how to do a push-up if they promise to stop putting out lists like these.
