South Dakota Nearly Topped The U.S. List For The Cleanest Air

There are so many things we take for granted living in South Dakota. One of the most overlooked is our ability to breathe easy with some of the purest air in America.

Travel + Leisure recently ranked the states with the Cleanest Air in America, according to a study from Compare the Market Australia, which compared data from several sources, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Population Review. The company then examined four factors:

• PM2.5 concentrations
• Industrial toxin concentration levels
• Asthma rates
• Respiratory disease mortality

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The pure, tropical air of Hawaii topped the list, but South Dakota wasn't far behind.

The Mount Rushmore State was number two thanks to a total air quality and respiratory health score of 81.07 out of 100. The state’s low asthma prevalence of just 8.3 percent helped propel it toward the top despite the high rate of respiratory deaths of 36.1 per 100,000 people.

Only two states in the U.S. have fewer toxic pollutants than South Dakota’s 114 industrial toxins per sq mile (Vermont and New Hampshire).

Here are the top 10 states with the cleanest air, according to the study:

1. Hawaii
2. South Dakota
3. Nebraska
4. New York
5. New Jersey
6. Maryland
7. Minnesota
8. Florida
9. Texas
10. Virginia

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