America’s Greenest Cities 2014: From Portland to New York City (PHOTOS)

A lot has changed in the 44 years since the first Earth Day, when 20 million people rallied across the country to bring awareness to environmental issues such as oil spills, pollution, and the extinction of wildlife. Now Earth Day advocates have added climate change to their campaign.

As more than half of the world’s population lives in cities, it’s the environmental initiatives of urban populations that will drive the country toward a more sustainable future. So once again, The Daily Beast is turning to America’s biggest cities to see whose residents care the most about their environment and walk the walk by making environmentally conscious choices.

As in years past, we looked at data from government sources as well as the market research firm Experian Marketing Services, which has tracked the greening of America for half a decade.

We weighed the data below equally to come up with our final rankings:

*The percentage of people who think and act in an eco-conscious way;

*The percentage of people who do not think and act in an eco-conscious way and may have a negative attitude toward environmental issues;

*The percentage of people who make a conscious effort to recycle;

*The number of public-transportation trips per capita for 2013, as recorded by the American Public Transportation Association;

*The number of energy efficient commercial buildings per capita, as recorded by the Environmental Protection Agency.

galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-miami01_gxkkue

Eco-conscious residents: 57.4%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 14.1%

Recycling-conscious residents: 61.4%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 268

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.13

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Eco-conscious residents: 58.0%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 14.6%

Recycling-conscious residents: 64.1%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 116.9

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.16

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galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-Phoenix03_iekexy

Eco-conscious residents: 59.1%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 13.0%

Recycling-conscious residents: 63.6%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 45.9

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.14

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galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-Albuquerque04_swfpbj

Eco-conscious residents: 59.0%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 13.0%

Recycling-conscious residents: 63.3%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 2.5

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.23

David Liu/Getty

galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-Minneapolis05_cfaxjq

Eco-conscious residents: 55.6%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 13.8%

Recycling-conscious residents: 66.0%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 207.1

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.15

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galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-Albany06_phuspf

Eco-conscious residents: 56.8%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 15.4%

Recycling-conscious residents: 64.7%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 166.2

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.37

JIM MCKNIGHT/AP

galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-newyork07_sc6rys

Eco-conscious residents: 57.9%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 14.8%

Recycling-conscious residents: 64.3%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 441.3

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.03

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Eco-conscious residents: 58.3%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 13.7%

Recycling-conscious residents: 65.3%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 138.5

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.2

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galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-LA09_gf6la8

Eco-conscious residents: 60.5%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 12.2%

Recycling-conscious residents: 64.8%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 127.7

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.06

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Eco-conscious residents: 61.3%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 11.9%

Recycling-conscious residents: 66.1%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 86.5

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.01

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galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-Reno11_ygv2yg

Eco-conscious residents: 60.6%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 11.7%

Recycling-conscious residents: 66.9%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 35

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.05

George Rose/Getty

galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-Anchorage12_cmr6ip

Eco-conscious residents: 59.8%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 10.5%

Recycling-conscious residents: 67.8%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 0.5

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.01

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galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-Spokane12_ubfqhg

Eco-conscious residents: 60.5%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 11.8%

Recycling-conscious residents: 66.9%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 56.4

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.1

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galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-boston13_axyezu

Eco-conscious residents: 55.4%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 15.5%

Recycling-conscious residents: 66.9%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 618.3

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.14

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galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-San-Diego14_ld6pvj

Eco-conscious residents: 59.9%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 11.9%

Recycling-conscious residents: 65.9%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 64.7

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.26

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galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-atlanta15_oy4jqz

Eco-conscious residents: 58.1%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 14.6%

Recycling-conscious residents: 63.0%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 294.7

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.49

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Eco-conscious residents: 57.8%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 13.0%

Recycling-conscious residents: 63.9%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 16.5

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.72

Linda Armstrong/Getty

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Eco-conscious residents: 61.4%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 12.7%

Recycling-conscious residents: 66.1%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 233

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.29

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Eco-conscious residents: 61.4%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 11.4%

Recycling-conscious residents: 66.7%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 58.1

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.37

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galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-portland19_iuctgp

Eco-conscious residents: 62.7%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 10.9%

Recycling-conscious residents: 68.9%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 163.9

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.17

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galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-dc19_laz5vt

Eco-conscious residents: 57.2%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 14.5%

Recycling-conscious residents: 66.0%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 645.5

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.4

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galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-seatle20_ba2bgb

Eco-conscious residents: 62.3%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 10.8%

Recycling-conscious residents: 69.4%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 277.4

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.18

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galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-san-fran21_qx2wj0

Eco-conscious residents: 64.0%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 10.1%

Recycling-conscious residents: 69.2%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 429.8

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.28

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galleries/2014/04/22/america-s-greenest-cities-2014-from-portland-to-new-york-city-photos/140421-green-cities-Honolulu22_iohx0r

Eco-conscious residents: 66.1%

Non-eco-conscious residents: 5.2%

Recycling-conscious residents: 71.6%

Public transportation trips per capita in 2013: 209.9

Energy efficient buildings per 1,000 residents: 0.15

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America’s Greenest Cities 2014: From Portland to New York City (PHOTOS)

Forty-four years after the first Earth Day, which metropolitan areas make the environmental grade? From Florida’s finest (Miami, West Palm) to the best overall (Honolulu), see the list.

Brandy Zadrozny