America's top 5 dirtiest cities run by Democratic mayors, study finds 

A new study released on Thursday found that 2023’s top five dirtiest cities in the United States are run by Democratic mayors, according to LawnStarter, a site that conducts and publishes area geographic studies. Two of the five cities were based in New Jersey. 

LawnStarter compared over 150 of the largest cities across the nation across four categories, including pollution, living conditions, infrastructure, and consumer satisfaction. 

The study awarded the first place for the dirtiest city in the U.S. to Houston, followed by Newark, New Jersey, San Bernardino, California, Detroit, and Jersey City, New Jersey.

The nation’s dirtiest city, Houston, is run by Democratic Mayor Sylvester Turner. Not only did it rank number one in the overall dirtiest city, but it also ranked third for worst pollution, fourth on poor living conditions, twelfth on infrastructure, and 34th on consumer satisfaction. Additionally, Houston has bad gas emissions from large industrial facilities and a cockroach problem. 

Newark, New Jersey, run by Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka, was bumped down to second place this year after taking the spot of America’s dirtiest city in 2022. The city also earned the third spot for worst consumer satisfaction and the fifth for poor living conditions. 

San Bernardino, California, which ranked as America’s third dirtiest city, is run by Democratic Mayor Helen Tran. This California city also received the number one spot for worst pollution, as well as consumer satisfaction.

Run by Democratic Mayor Mike Duggan, Detroit also ranked fourth for worst consumer satisfaction and ninth for pollution. 

Lastly, Jersey City, run by Democratic Mayor Steven Fulop, ranked second for poor living conditions and fifteenth for consumer satisfaction. 

On the flip side, America’s cleanest city award went to Virginia Beach, Virginia, for the second year in a row. The mayor of Virginia Beach is Robert Dyer, a Republican mayor.