This Is The Stinkiest City In The U.S. — And No, It’s Not New York

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Despite the stench that hits you as soon as you step outside and spot the heap of sun-soaked trash bags, New York City narrowly avoided being named the smelliest city in the U.S. That unfortunate title actually goes to Houston, Texas, according to a recent comprehensive urban odor analysis from Prilla.

By poking around odor data from 74 of the largest U.S. cities, the study sniffed out which places will have you plugging your nose—and which ones let you breathe easy.

Smell-related factors that were under consideration included the number of landfills and waste transfer stations, sewage complaints filed with city services, industrial facilities, air quality data, estimated pet ownership, and Google searches for odor-related terms to reach an ultimate City Freshness Score. The lower the score, the stinkier the city.

Surprisingly, NYC did’t even come right behind Houston. Instead, second place was claimed by none other than LA—if Angelenos needed anymore proof of why we’re better, just look at their traffic ranking too. Thus, NYC snagged a spot as the third smelliest city in the country.

10 smelliest U.S. cities

1. Houston, Texas
2. Los Angeles, California
3. New York City, New York
4. Orlando, Florida
5. Riverside, California
6. Anaheim, California
7. Long Beach, California
8. Phoenix, arizona
9. Portland, Oregon
10. Chicago, Illinois

Interestingly enough, city size didn’t have a direct correlation with smell. Although NYC had more sewage complaints than Houston (79.62 sewage complaints per 100,000 residents compared to Houston’s 49.73 sewage complaints per 100,000 residents), a slew of other stench factors crowned the Texas city as the smelliest, from its 687 industrial facilities to 63 unhealthy air quality days in 2024.

The study inversely took a look at the freshest-smelling cities, declaring Reno, Nevada to have the best scent. P.S. if you’re looking to move to NYC and smell is a key factor, you might want to consider relocating across the Hudson…

10 freshest U.S. cities

1. Reno, Nevada
2. Honolulu, Hawaii
3. Anchorage, Akaska
4. Oakland, California
5. El Paso, Texas
6. Virginia Beach, Virginia
7. Jersey City, New Jersey
8. Henderson, Nevada
9. Stockton, California
10. Lincoln, Nebraska

However, if you can get over NYC’s more unpleasant scents, rest assured in the fact that the smell of pizza can ease anxiety and boost your mood, according to science.