With Earth Day around the corner and the U.S. having experienced $165 billion in damage from weather and climate disasters during 2022, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2023’s Greenest States, as well as expert commentary.

In order to showcase the states doing right by Mother Earth, WalletHub compared the 50 states in terms of 25 key metrics that speak to the current health of the environment and residents’ environmental-friendliness. The data set ranges from green buildings per capita to the share of energy consumption from renewable resources.

Eco-friendliness and personal finance are related. Our environmental and financial needs are the same in many areas: providing ourselves with sustainable, clean drinking water and food, for example. We also spend money through our own consumption and taxes in support of environmental security.

Last year, the U.S. experienced 18 weather and climate disasters that did $1 billion or more in damage each, with the total damage from all events adding up to $165 billion. While some disasters are unavoidable, others are exacerbated by humans. For example, one big factor in the high amount of hurricanes in recent years has been unusually warm Atlantic waters. It’s possible that living more sustainably and using greener energy sources could prevent us from having quite as bad hurricane seasons in the future – and saving a lot of money in repairs as a result.

We should all try to do our part to save the world for future generations. In order to highlight the greenest states and call out those doing a poor job of caring for the environment, WalletHub compared each of the 50 states on 25 key metrics.

Greenness of California (1=Greenest, 25=Avg.):

-26th – Soil Quality

-1st – Water Quality

-8th – LEED-Certified Buildings per Capita

-17th – % of Renewable Energy Consumption

-4th – Energy Consumption per Capita

-6th – Gasoline Consumption (in Gallons) per Capita

For the full report, please visit the website.