Bay Area Leads New Ranking of US Eco-Friendly Cities


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There’s a new survey of the greenest US cities out, ranking them on per-capita availability of eco-friendly services, as well as the premium charged by some green businesses. The very top results aren’t all that surprising, but some of the top ten are, both in which cities are included and which aren’t.

According to Thumbtack, a site self-described as “where you can easily hire local help,” ranked US cities based on availability of solar panel installation, bicycle repair, chemical-free house cleaning, organic catering, electronics recycling, chemical-free pest control, chemical-free carpet cleaning, sustainable interior design, green architects, and home energy audits.

Based on that criteria here are the top 10 eco-friendliest cities in the nation:

  1. San Francisco
  2. Oakland
  3. San Jose
  4. Las Vegas
  5. Raleigh, NC
  6. Columbus, OH
  7. Seattle
  8. Kansas City, MO

  9. Denver
  10. San Diego

And the full rankings:

© Thumbtack

Some of the perhaps counter-intuitive results of the survey Thumbtack is highlighting include: 1) The fact that in terms of the availability of bike repair versus auto repair Virginia Beach, Sacramento, and Charlotte NC take the top three spots; and, 2) Las Vegas leads the nation, by a wide margin, in the per capita availability of green architectural services.

As or the premium paid for green services (adjusted for regional price differences), Thumbtack found that green house cleaning costs 20% more than non-green cleaning, green architects charge 14% more for their services (outside of an increased cost due to materials), and green landscaping services charge 11% more than their chemical-spraying brethren.

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