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Study Scores American Cities Based on Cleanliness

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A fascinating new study from OxiFresh shows us that cities can be scored and analyzed on how clean they are. Cleanliness may seem subjective, but the team took a brilliant approach to quantifying and scoring cities with a method that issued cities a score out of 100 in seven categories.

They used these seven areas to form their scoring system:

  • Population density: number of people per square mile
  • Rodents: Percentage of homes with signs of mouse and rat infestations
  • Cockroaches: Percentage of housing units with cockroach infestations
  • Vandalism: Percentage of homes without vandalism and abandoned buildings in a half-block radius
  • Litter: Percent of homes without litter surrounding the property within a half-block radius
  • Air quality: Number of days in 2024 that scored “Good” or higher on the Air Quality Index
  • Tap water quality: Average number of contaminants in the municipal drinking water

The strength of this graphic lies in the details. We can see exactly how each of the 25 cities analyzed scored so that we can consider them individually and as part of a whole.

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The Cleanest Cities in the United States: A 2025 Study

The team’s scoring system determined that these cities are the cleanest:

  1. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Oregon/Washington
  2. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington
  3. Rochester, New York
  4. Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Michigan
  5. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minnesota/Wisconsin
  6. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  7. Richmond, Virginia
  8. Denver-Aurora-Centennial, Colorado
  9. Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, Arizona
  10. Kansas City, Missouri/Kansas

And at the bottom of the list, we find these ten cities:

  1. New York-Newark-Jersey City, New York/New Jersey
  2. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, California
  3. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pennsylvania/New Jersey/Delaware/Maryland
  4. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, Texas
  5. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, Washington DC/Virginia/Maryland/West Virginia
  6. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Illinois/Indiana
  7. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
  8. Birmingham, Alabama
  9. Cincinnati, Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana
  10. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

We can see which factors the team considered the strongest indicator of whether or not a city is clean. For example, waste management obviously has a huge influence on a city’s cleanliness. The team included population density on the list because higher populations produce more garbage and may strain the local waste management system. However, even large cities can manage waste effectively with the right investments. The Portland metro area is the cleanest on the list, and it has made a strong investment in robust recycling and waste removal, which pays off. The city’s clean streets and parks lead to lower pollution levels and fewer rodents and insects, all adding to the city’s excellent cleanliness score.

The lowest scorer, the New York City metro area, has struggled with trash removal for decades. The city is full of back alleys that tend to collect rubbish, grime, and pests. These nests of trash and garbage lead to pollution, unpleasant smells, and the city’s famous rat infestation. As the biggest metro area in the country, though, the city has a lot of challenges to overcome to get cleaner.

The way this map and graphic present information lets us draw conclusions and ask new questions. How did your city score? Do you agree with the team’s methodology?

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A Hidden Health Crisis: Where Children Drink the Most Soda

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A new study from the PA Requirements team unveiled regional patterns in children’s soda consumption across the U.S. Some states have consumption rates up to five times higher than others, revealing some truly alarming statistics. The map is based on the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which included 42 states in a week-long analysis of soda drinking behavior. The end result is a map that paints a concerning picture of soda consumption among American children.

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In Which States Do Children Drink the Most Soda?

West Virginia is at the top of the list, with 22.5% of high schoolers there reporting that they drank soda twice or more every day. That’s one in four West Virginia teens having several sodas every single day. Kentucky is close behind, with 18.5% of teens drinking multiple sodas, followed by Mississippi at 17.1%. These numbers seem especially high compared to the state with the lowest consumption, Massachusetts. Only 4.9% of teenagers there reported drinking multiple sodas a day.

The survey asked students to report their soda consumption with one of three answers each day: didn’t drink any soda, drank one soda, or drank two or more sodas. Responses show that children in Southern states drank the most soda.

Unfortunately, the results show us more than beverage preferences. There are a lot of health implications we can glean from these results. One soda contains 7 to 10 teaspoons of sugar, comprised of high-fructose corn syrup. For small children, the impacts of consuming so much processed sugar are even more pronounced. High sugar consumption is linked to obesity, dental disease, sleep disruption, and type 2 diabetes.

Children are also more prone to developing a sugar addiction. Drinking too much sugar leads children to develop a sugar addiction and symptoms of excessive sugar consumption, which include weight gain, mood swings, and trouble focusing.

The map colors show us a “sugar belt” across the Southern United States, with seven of the top highest consuming states located in the South. Research has shown that education impacts nutritional choices as well as income levels. Some of the states on the high end of the spectrum have lower public school ratings and high poverty levels, so it seems this isn’t coincidental. Culture may play a part as well. With many soda companies originating in the South, it might be that Southerners enjoy soda more and have normalized having a soda with meals.

Understanding soda consumption rates and health risks can help parents and educators make informed decisions about health choices for children. We don’t always realize how much soda we’re consuming until we look at hard data like this. This map and research underscore the need for soda-drinking interventions, especially in certain regions. While soda is a good treat, it’s not intended to be drunk daily, especially not for children. Through studies like this, awareness, and education, we can improve the health of American children.

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New Map Displays the Geography of Desire

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When dating apps connect people all around the world, sparking more long-distance relationships than ever, this prompts a fascinating question: does region affect what we find attractive? A new study from NapLab sheds some light on the answers, revealing that location does seem to affect what features Americans find most attractive.

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Which Part of the Body Turns Each State on the Most?

The survey had 1,012 participants across 50 states. Their approach was straightforward, asking participants three questions: which body part do you find most attractive on others, what is your gender, and what state do you live in? This method allowed the team to map out the results across America, showing us patterns based on location while challenging some of what we thought we knew about universal standards of beauty.

The research reinforced some of what we already know about what different genders find most attractive. For example, men are believed to be most drawn to features associated with fertility. This held true in the NapLab study, showing that 25.82% of men are most attracted to buttocks and 20.60% are most attracted to breasts.

Women are thought to be drawn to more emotional aspects of a relationship, which holds true in what they’re attracted to. The study showed women being most drawn to expressive features, with 26.10% saying they find the face most attractive, 26.09% favoring eyes, and 17.39% answering smile.

This research helps show how factors beyond biology could influence attraction. Climate might play a role, as we can see from Hawaii’s results. Its tropical climate and plentiful beaches mean more skin exposed and a bigger emphasis on physical fitness. Hawaii was the only state in which women found abs most attractive. In some of the rural states, men were predominantly attracted to buttocks. On the opposite end of the spectrum, more conservative states seemed more hesitant to express sexual attraction, stating that they found smiles and eyes most attractive. This indicates that religious background and other cultural norms can affect what people are attracted to or what they admit feeling attracted to.

Despite these variations, there were things that Americans had in common across the nation. Almost no respondents said they were most attracted to skin, feet, or hands. Neck and jawline received zero votes. It seems there are some biologically driven constants that geography doesn’t change.

This research shows that there is no universal agreement on what features are most attractive. There’s already been plenty of scientific research on what we’re biologically attracted to and why, but this study shows other factors might be in play. While some of our feelings are driven by biological impulses, it’s clear that culture, climate, and other regional factors change what we’re attracted to. This is a fun study for couples to discuss together, as well as giving armchair sociologists some food for thought. Find many more intriguing insights in the details of this map!

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Timeline Displays Average U.S. Internet Speeds Over Time

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In 1993, when the Internet became publicly available, the average speed was 14.4 Kb/s, and today, the average speed is 214 Mb/s. These are huge leaps in speed that can be difficult to understand. The team at Ooma shows the progression of this leap with a timeline of Internet speeds year by year. Tracking these Internet speeds can help us understand the technological developments that made this possible and show how the Internet has proliferated in daily life.

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Average U.S. Internet Speeds Over Time

At the top of the timeline, we see Internet speeds throughout the ‘90s at their slowest. Internet users had dial-up modems using phone lines to connect to the web. This was the slowest version of Internet technology we have seen on the timeline. The team provides context for the speed, explaining it would take almost four seconds to download an image of a meme, 11 minutes and 41 seconds to download an MP3 file of a song, and almost 34 hours to download the film, “The Dark Knight.” The peak speed reached in the dial-up era was 44.3 Kb/s. The graph shows significant jumps in speed in 1999, 2005, 2014, and 2022. These jumps occurred mainly due to technological advances, such as the creation of broadband and satellite Internet, as well as the expansion of access to higher speeds.

Context for today’s speeds compared to the past shows that it takes less than a second to download a meme, half a second to download an MP3, and only 8 seconds to download a long movie like “The Dark Knight.” Even though there have been vast improvements, the United States doesn’t have the fastest Internet speeds in the world. Singapore and the United Arab Emirates have higher speeds. The team tells us this is because of America’s vast landmass. It has been a challenge to provide high-speed Internet to rural areas, but there have been big improvements. Thanks to satellite Internet connections, people in more remote areas can have access to higher speeds.

Current projections show that by 2025, most of the world will have Internet access, even in remote areas with less infrastructure. The best equipment will be able to download a terabyte of data in just seconds through the use of fiber-optic cables, which are much faster than coaxial cables.

While there’s been great progress in providing high-speed Internet to rural areas, millions of Americans still don’t have access to high-speed Internet. The challenge is how to connect these locations to broadband. There are countless ways we have seen the Internet improve quality of life for people, from bringing them the ability to use telehealth, to social connections, to remote work opportunities. Timelines like this one from Ooma highlight progress but also remind us of the work that still needs to be done to improve American infrastructure. When we’ve seen such huge leaps in speeds, it’s not fair for some people to lack access to reliable Internet because of where they live.

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