The good news is that Grand Rapids went up in the rankings from 35 to 17. The bad news is that this ranking is for the worst allergy cities in the United States. The ranking comes from an annual report on Spring Allergies from the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America. This report identifies the most challenging places to live with allergies in the United States, in the spring season. Cities are ranked based on the following criteria:
Pollen scores
Number of allergy medications used per patient
Number of allergy specialist per patient
All three criteria are taken together to determine an overall ranking for a city. In fact, the #1 worst spring allergy city had a better than average rating on one of the criteria, number of allergy specialists per patient. This is probably due to the fact that there are so many allergy issues in that city. The top 5 for 2013 are as follows:
1. Jackson, MS
2. Knoxville, TN
3. Chattanooga, TN
4. McAllen, TX
5. Louisville, KY
Michigan had two cities that made the list. Both moved up from the previous year.
17. Grand Rapids, MI
26. Detroit, MI
Looking at Grand Rapids' ranking closer, you will find that it scored worse than average on pollen and average on the other two criteria. The total score for Grand Rapids was 77.24 with a score of 100 being the worst.
What does this mean for an allergy sufferer in Grand Rapids? It means that the allergy conditions are anticipated to be worse than last year. Make sure to start your preventative allergy regime now if you have not already.
In case you are looking to get out of Grand Rapids for an allergy friendly spring vacation, the following three cities ranked at the bottom of the list this year and last year and may offer some relief: Daytona Beach, FL, Boise, ID, and Portland, OR
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