I've traveled to a lot of the fifty United States. I will admit, some have a unique aroma. Sometimes it's a pleasant smell, and other times not so much.

The career website Zippia recently compiled a list of the smelliest states in the U.S. Some I agree with, others I would rank completely different.

If you have ever travelled to Yellowstone National Park, one of the things you will remember the most is the smell of Sulphur. However, the state in which Yellowstone is mostly located, Wyoming, ranks as one of the least smelliest states (#48).

The ranking system Zippia uses is different than just using your nose. They are basing their findings on dirty air, population, and the percentage of each state that is a landfill. Using those criteria, I can see how Wyoming comes in near the bottom of the list.

Last spring I was in New Orleans, LA. I have been there several times, at all different times of the year, and the town always smells like a cross between vomit and a rotting dumpster. Louisiana falls into the list at #18, smellier than Michigan.

The top five smelliest states are:

  1. Maryland
  2. California
  3. Florida
  4. Delaware
  5. Massachusetts

Florida in the top five? I've always liked the smell of the salty sea breeze in Florida. And most of the central, southern part of that state is nothing but swamp land. No landfills or people living there!

So where does Michigan fall into the list? At #21. Zippia figured that 0.0079% of our state is a landfill. Our air quality ranking (the higher the number, the worse the air quality) is 43. The worst air quality ranking I found on the list was surprisingly in the states of Alabama and Maine, at 49. I would have figured more industrialized states like California, New York, or Illinois would have come in with the worst air quality.

You can see the Zippia rankings for yourself here.

Perhaps we can get some big "Stick Up" air fresheners for those states that need them the most!

 

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

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