Top Most Sustainable Small Cities in the U.S., and Idaho has 2 of Them

When people are ready to make a move into a new home, many realtors let prospective home buyers know how close the house for sale is to schools, grocery stores, and other desired locales. It is known as walkability.

When moving to a new city, perhaps people should be concerned with sustainability. It is an idea of how to exist and develop without depleting natural resources in the process. Trying to live without ruining the land around us might be a good idea to have a place for our children that isn’t trashed.

In a recent report, the idea of sustainability pooled information on Energy Star-rated buildings, walkability, number of transit types, train stations, farmer’s markets, and alternative fuel stations. Not sure what constitutes a small city since the top small city has over 420,000 people, but Idaho Falls is listed at #41 and Pocatello made it into the list at #45.

Colorado has only 1 city on the list. It’s in the top 10, but still only 1. Washington just has 1 as well. Oregon and Montana get 3 cities each in the top 50 list, and there is no surprise that California tops this list with 5. Californians are evidently concerned with sustainability, but if nobody wants to live there, how truly sustainable is your city?

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Trying to take care of the planet isn’t a bad thing. The hole in the ozone layer is slowly healing. Rivers and oceans are no longer the dumping grounds they used to be. Sure, there is more that can be done, but working on small things like not having to drive for a half hour just to get to a grocery store or making sure recycling is available is a step in the right direction.