New Study Says NYC Is One of the Best-Smelling Cities in America

According to Mental Floss, new research has ranked the best-smelling cities in America, and somehow New York City came in at number 13.

That is where I stopped taking this list seriously.

New York City is the 13th best-smelling city in America? Have these people actually been to New York? Because anyone who has taken the subway on a hot August day knows there are smells down there that don't just leave your nose — they become part of your permanent memory.

And we're not talking about one bad subway station. You can walk through parts of Manhattan on a hot summer day and get hit with a combination of garbage, exhaust, food, mystery liquid and something that smells like it died sometime during the Bloomberg administration.

Apparently, the study looked at things like bakeries, candle shops, florists, perfumeries, air quality, green space and how satisfied people are with garbage disposal. So I guess they were measuring the smell of New York without actually measuring the smell of New York.

New York landed at number 13, right behind Chicago at number 11. Again, NEW YORK.

Meanwhile, Jacksonville was ranked the worst-smelling city, followed by Oklahoma City, San Antonio, El Paso and Memphis. Louisville, Houston, Nashville, Phoenix and Indianapolis rounded out the bottom ten.

And look, I'm not saying New York smells bad all the time. There are bakeries, restaurants, parks and plenty of places that smell great.

But if we're talking about the entire city, you can't convince me that New York is the 13th best-smelling place in America. Spend ten minutes on the subway in August and then tell me how you feel about this study.

Honestly, the fact that New York made the top 15 has me questioning every other ranking on this list.

The Top 10 Best-Smelling Cities:

1. Boston

2. Washington, D.C.

3. San Francisco

4. Seattle

5. Philadelphia

6. Portland, Oregon

7. Denver

8. Baltimore

9. Detroit

10. Las Vegas

13. NYC