Earth Day Network
 Urban Environment Report: How Does Your City Rank?
 
PARKS & RECREATION, VPI Rank
 
All cities have vulnerable populations. However, in some U.S. cities the concentration of citizens at risk is of particular concern. Earth Day Network’s Vulnerable Population Index (EDN VPI) is a measure suggesting what portion of a city's population may have greater sensitivity or susceptibility to environmental change. In the list below city Subject Area scores are weighted by the city’s VPI, yielding a VPI Score and Rank from best to worst.
 
VPI Rank
(1 is best, 72 is worst)		 City, State VPI Score
(1 is best, 10 is worst)
1 Columbia*, SC (1.3)
2 Burlington*, VT (2.4)
3 Charleston*, WV (2.6)
4 Birmingham*, AL (2.8)
5 Seattle, WA 2.9
6 Virginia Beach, VA 3.0
6 Minneapolis, MN 3.0
6 San Diego, CA 3.0
9 Phoenix, AZ 3.2
10 Honolulu, HI (3.2)
11 Fargo*, ND (3.3)
12 Portland, OR 3.4
13 Boise*, ID (3.4)
14 Denver, CO 3.6
14 Mesa, AZ 3.6
16 Portland*, ME (3.6)
16 Lexington, KY (3.6)
18 Colorado Springs, CO 3.7
18 Charlotte, NC 3.7
18 Jacksonville, FL 3.7
18 Nashville-Davidson, TN 3.7
18 Milwaukee, WI 3.7
18 San Jose, CA 3.7
24 Kansas City, MO 3.9
24 Sacramento, CA 3.9
24 Baltimore City, MD 3.9
27 Las Vegas, NV 4.0
27 Tucson, AZ 4.0
29 Wilmington*, DE (4.0)
30 Arlington, TX 4.1
30 Indianapolis, IN 4.1
32 Austin, TX 4.2
32 Columbus, OH 4.2
34 Oklahoma City, OK 4.3
34 Washington, DC 4.3
36 Albuquerque, NM (4.3)
37 Philadelphia, PA 4.4
37 Long Beach, CA 4.4
39 Omaha, NE (4.4)
40 Boston, MA 4.5
40 Los Angeles, CA 4.5
42 Sioux Falls*, SD (4.5)
43 Fort Worth, TX 4.6
43 Chicago. IL 4.6
45 New York City, NY 4.7
46 San Antonio, TX (4.7)
47 Cheyenne*, WY (4.7)
48 Louisville-Jefferson County*, KY 4.8
49 Manchester*, NH (4.8)
49 Des Moines*, IA (4.8)
49 San Francisco, CA (4.8)
49 Fresno, CA (4.8)
53 Salt Lake City*, UT (4.9)
53 Oakland, CA (4.9)
55 Dallas, TX 5.0
55 Atlanta, GA 5.0
57 Little Rock*, AR (5.0)
58 Wichita, KS (5.1)
59 Tulsa, OK 5.2
60 Memphis, TN 5.3
61 El Paso, TX (5.4)
62 Houston, TX 5.7
63 Jackson*, MS (5.7)
64 Billings*, MT (5.8)
65 New Orleans, LA 6.0
66 Detroit, MI (6.6)
67 Miami, FL 6.8
68 Cleveland, OH 6.9
69 Bridgeport*, CT (7.1)
70 Providence*, RI (7.3)
71 Newark, NJ (8.0)
72 Anchorage, AK Not Available

Note:

• All rank information is out of 72 cities, though not all cities may have scores/data in every category.
   1 is the 'best' (least polluting, most educated, etc) and 72 is the 'worst'.

• Scores in parenthesis indicate partial scores, e.g. at least one scored indicator was not available
   or reported for this city.

• Use of the asterisk (*) after the city name indicates year 2000 data was used in instances where
   2005 or 2004 Census data was not available.