𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀?

A❤️407-word🧡under💛2-minute💚read.

Each year WalletHub evaluates the states for things like air and water quality, energy efficiency, renewable energy installations and consumption, emissions per capita and a host of other variables. There are 28 criteria in all divided into three buckets:

▶   Environmental Quality (35 points)

▶   Eco-Friendly Behaviors (35 points)

▶   Climate Change Contributions (30 points)

It’s a fairly thorough analysis and fun exercise which usually reveals some unexpected results. The 2025 findings are no different. The top five states for 2025 are:

▶   1. Vermont (73.97)

▶   2. Hawaii (72.74)

▶   3. New York (71.59)

▶   4. Maryland (70.01)

▶   5. Maine (69.96)

Hawaii scored the highest in air and water quality which isn’t particularly surprising. Wyoming was 2^nd in air quality while North Dakota was 2^nd in water quality. New York had some of the lowest energy and gas consumption per capita which is a bit surprising. Vermont has the lowest CO₂ emissions per capita. However, a factor that helped the Green Mountain State claim the top spot was living up to its nickname. Vermont has the most organic-farm acreage per capita.

Still, the real surprise in the changes from 2024 to 2025.

California’s score declined from 75.75 in 2024 to 69.22 this year. Consequently, the Sunshine State dropped from the top spot in 2024 to 7^th this year. Also dropping out of the top five was Washington State.

Hawaii vaulted from 7^th last year to runner-up this year by improving its score from 70.36 to 72.74. Year-over-year, New York and Maryland remained at 3^rd and 4^th respectively.

Finally, there was one other change from 2024 that I wouldn’t categorize so much as surprising as disappointing. For each of the top five spots, the scores were lower than last year.

In 2024 California was top dog with a score of 75.75. This year Vermont was 1^st with a score of 73.97. Last year Washington rounded out the top 5 with a score of 72.90. This year Maine captured the 5^th spot but scored under 70. In 2024 Maine’s 2025 score of 69.96 would have placed it 9^th.

The trend is not the friend of environmentalists. The good news is that two data points don’t constitute a trend. I have to see if I can find the 2023 results to determine if any sort of trend does exist. Nonetheless, it isn’t a welcome finding.

Tomorrow we’ll review the bottom five states.

#wallethub #greeneststate #environment #climatechangeisreal #globalwarming