The Burrow
Apr 28, 2025
Whether opting to take public transport for your morning commute or ensuring that every little bit of waste you throw out is correctly recycled, positive attitudes towards green city living have been increasing in recent years – especially for those with a keen interest in environmentalism.
Of course, while eco-conscious initiatives and green measures are certainly more prominent in cities around the globe, the larger the urban space, the harder it can be for local government bodies to encourage the broader development of nature-friendly infrastructure without causing significant disruptions to its residents.
However, when we step away from the largest cities and turn towards the countless small urban centres that dot every country, it’s pretty clear that the smaller stature of these areas makes introducing sustainable and green actions far more feasible!
With this in mind, the energy experts at Compare the Market Australia wanted to see which small cities in Australia and America could be considered the greenest in the country (a small city constituting a prominent urban location with less than 100,000 residents), based on a variety of key sustainability factors, such as air quality, EV charging, walkability, and more.
These metrics were then scored accordingly and added together to produce a total score out of 100 for each location, which we then used to rank the chosen cities on our lists from best to worst for their eco-friendly potential.
Take a look at our two data sets below to see how the smallest green cities in each country performed!
Starting with our home country first, Australia is certainly no stranger to environmental initiatives, especially when it comes to looking after our local wildlife spaces and ocean habitats – but what about our small cities?
Well, as you’ll soon see, plenty of locations across the country are teeming with the kind of green energy that makes them the perfect destination for those seeking to live a more sustainable lifestyle.
Nestled on the outskirts of one of Australia’s most famous cities, Penrith has the honour of being named Australia’s greenest small city! Boasting a phenomenal 100 points out of 100, Penrith is the joint highest-scoring city for both our data sets – and for good reason!
To start with, Penrith is the most walkable small city in Australia, having a walkability score of 16 out of 20, and the third-best air quality score overall at 22. Not only that, Penrith also had the best renewable energy installation rating on our Australian city list, peaking at a brilliant 9.61 out of 10.
The good news doesn’t stop there for Penrith because it also had the second-best alternative public transport rating, almost maxing out at 9.75 out of 10, alongside the third-highest number of EV charging stations across all the areas we examined (21), making it a sound spot for those looking to invest in their electric vehicle.
The only metric that Penrith did not come in the top five for was the quality of its green spaces. But even here, the city still scored a reasonable 5.53 out of 10.
To put all this information another way, if you’re interested in moving to a green city with easy access to one of Australia’s largest urban centres, you can’t do much better than Penrith!
Next up, and just behind Penrith in score, we have fellow New South Wales resident Port Macquarie and its excellent green city ranking of 88.78. Much like Penrith, Port Macquarie has a lot to offer those chasing a greener lifestyle while gifting you staggering views of Australia’s east coast.
First, Port Macquarie has the best air quality score of any small Australian city we looked at, topping out our ranking with an index score of 25 points. And this is no surprise when you also consider that Port Macquarie has the second-highest EV charging spots (27) and the fourth-best public transport score (8.69) overall.
On top of this, Port Macquarie matched this by having the fourth-best walkability score as well at 11.5 (and the second-best out of our top three small cities), alongside being the fourth-best in terms of renewable energy installation rating at a solid 7.33.
Add to all this the city’s commendable green space rating of 6.98 (putting it fifth in this category and above Penrith), and Port Macquarie can certainly challenge our first-place city for its green credentials!
Finally, we have Launceston in north-eastern Tasmania to wrap upour top three. Sitting right behind Port Macquarie, thanks to its brilliant green city score of 86.36, Launceston is arguably just as green, if not more so, than our other top three green Australian cities.
For one thing, Launceston has the best green spaces out of any of the small Australian cities we analyzed, taking the number one spot by scoring a whopping 10 out of 10 for this factor! Better still, Launceston also had the most EV charging points available for use in the local area, with an impressive 30 dotted throughout the city.
And Launceston’s air quality is nothing to be sniffed at either, coming joint third with Penrith with a score of 22 before placing fifth on our list for city walkability at 10.8 out of 20.
Still, there is a reason why Launceston placed third rather than second or first for our small green cities, partly because it only ranked sixth for public transport (though with a very good score of 8.25).
However, given the out-of-the-way nature of Tasmania, Launceston still has plenty to offer those wanting to move to a green city location.
Given that we know which Australian cities have the best sustainability infrastructure in place overall, what about those cities that didn’t perform so well in one area of greenery or another?
Sadly for Orange, this city had the worst green space rating at a measly 3 out of 10, while Warrnambool came dead last for EV charging stations at just 7 in the city. Meanwhile, Mandurah had the lowest air quality of the cities we rated (16). Hervey Bay had a poor walkability score of just 8.3 – making it worse than some of the largest American cities!
Moving over to America, we had to alter our approach slightly to break down our top three greenest small cities. As you’ll see, some of the factors we used to calculate each city’s green score differ from those we used for Australia due to data availability. Still, each was carefully picked to reflect similar factors to our Australian data set.
That being said, let’s look at our top three greenest American small cities to see which locations came out on top.
Given its reputation for green living and environmentalism, it should come as no real shock that a small Californian city made it to the top of our US green city rankings – and Palo Alto certainly doesn’t disappoint! Matching our top Australian small city with a total score of 100 out of 100, this bay-side area is perfect for those seeking a greener lifestyle.
Right out of the gate, Palo Alto is a sustainable vehicle and food lover’s dream, coming joint first for food thanks to its six farmers markets, alongside second place for EV charging stations at a whopping 379 in and around its various streets and parks (and only beaten by Menlo Park’s 772).
This is then followed by the city placing second for ENERGY STAR-certified buildings at 75 in total and fifth for its public transportation options thanks to a high total of 7 points out of 10 for this factor.
Still, Palo Alto is not in the top five for all categories. Walkability is always a concern in many American cities, and sadly, Palo Alto only ranked 24th here with its below-average rating of 8.2 out of 20. The city’s air quality could also be better sitting 16th, though Palo Alto still came in with a solid score of 26.
Finally, regarding renewable energy usage, Palo Alto sits in the middle of the table. Scoring 8.30 out of 10 (which is still an excellent total score for this factor), Palo Alto has room to improve in this area but has plenty to offer anyone looking to move to an environmentally conscious city space.
Sitting behind Palo Alto, we next have Rockville in Maryland. Located near the capital, Rockville is gnashing at the heels of our first-place small city thanks to its total green city score of 93.02 and a respectable ranking in nearly all our chosen factors.
Beginning with walkability, despite being so close to Washington DC, Rockville came second for this area, scoring a fantastic 16.8 out of 20. The city has a brilliant air quality score of 37, putting it first for our top three and 10th in general.
But where Rockville shines is in its public transportation network. With an overall score of 8.5, it was the number one city on our list overall for this factor, not to mention also being third for ENERGY STAR buildings (69).
Even farmers markets aren’t lacking in Rockville, as the city was joint third in this area by having four regular markets that locals can attend, while also being no slouch when it comes to EV chargers, having 153 available for use in its local area (the sixth highest).
Indeed, like Palo Alto, the one area in which Rockville did not perform so well was in its renewable energy rating. Here, the city came just 21st – though when you consider that this was with a score of 7.67 out of 10, that’s not so bad.
Lastly, for our third greenest small American city, we return to California and the southern, near-coastal city of San Luis Obispo. Scoring a slightly lower yet still commendable green city score of 80.95, San Luis has plenty to offer those with as keen an interest in green living as Palo Alto and Rockville.
San Luis had the fifth-best score for renewable energy at 9.01 out of 10, and it placed joint second for farmers’ markets with five in the city. To go alongside this, San Luis also had a walkability score of 14, putting it joint 10th here but still making it more walkable than many larger US cities.
When looking at San Luis as a whole, the city settled comfortably in the middle for several of our other chosen factors, being joint 9th for public transport thanks to a score of 6.10 out of 10, and 12th overall for EV chargers, with 88 in total being installed in the city limits.
However, San Luis Obispo is prevented from claiming a higher spot on our list due to its low number of ENERGY STAR buildings, of which it only has seven and thus only came 13th for this factor, while having a very low air quality index score of just 13. But even with these hurdles, San Luis is still a fine green city choice, especially if Palo Alto is too urban for your tastes.
As you may have noticed, while all our top American cities did well across the board, they did not place first for all our chosen green factors – which begs the question, which US cities took these spots?
Well, in terms of renewable energy ratings, Wenatchee, Blacksburg, and Troy took the top three positions above San Luis, scoring 9.52, 9.41, and 9.16, respectively. At the same time, Milwaukie and Troy proved to have great public transportation options with scores of 7.50 and 7.20. And as for air quality, Littleton and Brookhaven take pole position with index scores of 64 and 62.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the table, Edina should be avoided if city walkability is important to you, as it scored just 6.7 out of 20, and Walla Walla is a no-go for air quality with an abysmal index score of just 4. Finally, Alpharetta is not the city for you if you need to use public transport, as it placed last with a total of 2.80 out of 10.
Compare the Market Australia’s Head of Energy, Meredith O’Brien, notes that there are plenty of ways for you to begin the transition towards a more sustainable lifestyle.
“Although we’re all aware of how easy it is to recycle our waste and make use of public transport for travel where we can, not everyone takes the time to consider just how financially savvy doing these things can be,” Ms O’Brien says.
“While it might take a little more effort on our part, it can be cheaper to make use of public transport for a trip into town than relying on the high fuel costs of our cars.
“Sustainable living can start at home, through a better understanding of your energy usage and making an effort to reduce, reuse and recycle.
“In the same vein, comparing energy plans can be another way to try and save on your energy bills.”
This study reveals the greenest small cities in Australia and the USA based on key sustainability metrics, such as renewable energy adoption, public transportation, and air quality.
While some metrics share the same name across both rankings, differences in data availability meant certain calculations needed to be adapted to accommodate for these variations. Therefore, each ranking is independent, with cities compared only within their own country.
To find the greenest small cities in Australia, we started with data from SimpleMaps and World Population Review, filtering for cities with fewer than 100,000 residents – where population figures conflicted, we used the lower number. From there, we then narrowed it down to 31 cities based on data availability.
Each of these 31 cities was then ranked based on our chosen metrics, which were normalized and given equal weight, to produce a final score for each city out of 100.
The factors used were as follows:
To find the greenest small cities in America, we sourced city data from SimpleMaps, filtering for locations with under 100,000 residents. This left over 3,000 cities, which we refined to 326, based on data availability.
Each of these 326 cities was then ranked based on our chosen metrics, which were normalized and given equal weight to produce a final score for each city out of 100.
The factors used were as follows:
Please note that both rankings were created independently using different datasets and methodologies. While similar categories were assessed, these scores are not designed for direct country-to-country comparisons – only to highlight the top-performing small cities within each nation.
Disclaimer:
While every effort has been made to source reliable data, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of information obtained from public datasets.
This ranking is also not an assessment of government policy or an official measure of sustainability efforts. It is a curated analysis designed to highlight trends in green infrastructure and livability.
For verified information on a city’s sustainability initiatives, we recommend consulting the relevant governing bodies or environmental agencies.