Posted on 04/24/25
| News Source: FOX45
Baltimore, MD - April 24, 2025 - Baltimore has been ranked as the dirtiest city in America, according to a study by HouseFresh.
The city is home to six of the dirtiest ZIP codes, with the highest number of 311 complaints in areas located either in or around Baltimore.
In the study, the six dirtiest ZIP codes were ranked as the following:
"According to our research, it’s the East Coast city of Baltimore that needs to concentrate on its cleanliness the most," the report stated.
The study highlighted Baltimore's high crime and poverty rates, noting that 47,295 complaints per 100,000 people were issued in the city. Sacramento followed in second place with 34,186 complaints.
The report also pointed out a lack of cleanliness awareness among Baltimore residents. "With a staggeringly high complaint rate of 47,295 per 100k population, there seems to be a disconnect between the needs of the community and the cleanliness of the city," it said.
HouseFresh analyzed 12.3 million sanitation-related 311 complaints across various U.S. cities to determine the dirtiest city.
The analysis involved calculating the number of complaints per 100,000 population at both city and ZIP codes. The cities and ZIP codes were then ranked based on the number of complaints per 100,000 population.
The process began with manually exploring which cities have 311 service call data in the United States, selecting the latest 365 days for each city to establish a uniform time frame.
HouseFresh examined how sanitation-related categories were named in each city and selected 644 categories related to sanitation issues, including keywords such as waste, recycling, and garbage.