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EPA rankings · EPA Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) · updated August 2026

Superfund Sites by State

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's current Superfund National Priorities List, all states are ranked here by number of NPL hazardous waste sites requiring federal cleanup. This is a count of listed NPL sites by state, not a composite environmental-quality score.

#1 · New Jersey
153
Leader
Top-12 cutoff
49
List threshold
State median
24
Cohort median
states ranked
51
Cohort coverage

The ranking, the verdict

New Jersey leads at 153 sites. The top-12 cutoff is 49 (#12), and the leader-to-tail spread is 151 across 51 states (median 24).

153
#1 New Jersey
49
top-12 list threshold
151
leader-to-tail spread
current NPL list
EPA Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) vintage

Each position reflects one reported federal count, not overall environmental quality or water safety.

Verify at EPA Envirofacts →

What This Ranking Tells Us

Superfund sites on the EPA National Priorities List are locations designated for long-term federal cleanup under CERCLA. States with more listed sites often have denser legacy industrial, military, or mining footprints in the EPA record. New Jersey consistently leads the nation in NPL site count, reflecting its dense industrial history along the I-95 corridor. This ranking is a count of listed sites by state, not a composite environmental-quality or community-health score.

This page ranks all 50 U.S. states and territories on a single indicator - sites - drawn directly from the EPA Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). The ranking draws on 51 state records in the current dataset, ordered descending (highest count at the top) by the underlying federal count.

A state's position depends on underlying geography, industrial history, population, and the density of reporting entities, not on a simple "cleaner" or "dirtier" label. Use the links in the table to open each state's full environmental profile and view county-level breakdowns, individual facility records, and violation history. Data source: EPA Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). All figures are as-filed and not weighted for toxicity or exposure.

Superfund Sites by State: top 15

Ranked by sites - full table below

  1. 1
    New Jersey 153 sites
  2. 2
    Pennsylvania 127 sites
  3. 3
    New York 122 sites
  4. 4
    California 116 sites
  5. 5
    Michigan 90 sites
  6. 6
    Florida 81 sites
  7. 7
    Texas 70 sites
  8. 8
    Washington 69 sites
  9. 9
    Illinois 56 sites
  10. 10
    Indiana 53 sites
  11. 11
    Ohio 50 sites
  12. 12
    Minnesota 49 sites
  13. 13
    Wisconsin 46 sites
  14. 14
    North Carolina 42 sites
  15. 15
    Massachusetts 41 sites

Source EPA Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) · current NPL list

The bar to make the top 12

49 sites - where #12 sits among all 51 states

49 lbs 22nd percentile higher than 22% of 51 states

#12 cutoff 2 lbs 158 lbs every state's sites, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $1M-wide band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line and filled bar mark this facility. Hover, focus, or tap a bar for its full count, share, and position.

Source EPA Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) · current NPL list

1 New Jersey
153 sites
2 Pennsylvania
127 sites
3 New York
122 sites
# State Sites
1 New Jersey NJ 153
2 Pennsylvania PA 127
3 New York NY 122
4 California CA 116
5 Michigan MI 90
6 Florida FL 81
7 Texas TX 70
8 Washington WA 69
9 Illinois IL 56
10 Indiana IN 53
11 Ohio OH 50
12 Minnesota MN 49
13 Wisconsin WI 46
14 North Carolina NC 42
15 Massachusetts MA 41
16 Missouri MO 39
17 Virginia VA 35
18 South Carolina SC 34
19 Louisiana LA 29
20 Delaware DE 26
21 Maryland MD 26
22 Tennessee TN 26
23 Puerto Rico PR 26
24 Iowa IA 25
25 Colorado CO 24
26 Utah UT 24
27 Georgia GA 23
28 New Hampshire NH 22
29 New Mexico NM 21
30 Oregon OR 21
31 Kansas KS 20
32 Kentucky KY 20
33 Montana MT 19
34 Nebraska NE 19
35 Oklahoma OK 18
36 Arkansas AR 17
37 Connecticut CT 17
38 Alabama AL 16
39 Maine ME 16
40 Mississippi MS 14
41 Vermont VT 14
42 West Virginia WV 14
43 Arizona AZ 13
44 Rhode Island RI 13
45 Idaho ID 12
46 Alaska AK 9
47 Hawaii HI 4
48 South Dakota SD 4
49 Wyoming WY 3
50 Nevada NV 2
51 North Dakota ND 2

Source: EPA Superfund National Priorities List (NPL).

Top-ranked state profiles

Explore the environmental records behind the top positions in this ranking.

#1 New Jersey 153

TRI facilities Water systems Compare

#2 Pennsylvania 127

TRI facilities Water systems Compare

#3 New York 122

TRI facilities Water systems Compare

#4 California 116

TRI facilities Water systems Compare

#5 Michigan 90

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#6 Florida 81

TRI facilities Water systems Compare

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Superfund site?

A Superfund site is a contaminated location that the EPA has placed on the National Priorities List (NPL) due to the severity of contamination. The Superfund program was created by CERCLA in 1980 to clean up the most hazardous waste sites in the country. Sites are scored using the Hazard Ranking System based on contamination type, exposure pathways, and affected populations.

How long does Superfund cleanup take?

There is no single cleanup timeline. The sequence and duration depend on the contaminants, exposure pathways, remedy design, responsible-party work, construction, and long-term monitoring. NPL deletion is a formal EPA decision made after the applicable response criteria are met; it should not be read as a claim that every trace of contamination has been removed.

Who pays for Superfund cleanup?

The "polluter pays" principle governs Superfund. The EPA identifies Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) - companies or individuals who contributed to contamination, and compels them to fund cleanup. When no viable PRP exists, the EPA uses the Superfund Trust (funded by taxes on chemical and petroleum industries) for remediation.

Explore More Rankings

Most TRI Facilities Most Toxic Releases Water Violations by State Fewest Health-Based Records Most Water Systems
All States
Environmental data by state
Facilities
TRI reporting facilities
Superfund Sites
EPA hazardous waste sites

What to do with this ranking

Use the leaders here as a starting point, then check your own state's full record.

  • New Jersey tops this list at 153 sites - see its full environmental profile, not just this one metric. View New Jersey
  • This single indicator doesn't capture the full picture. Compare against most tri facilities for a different angle. Most TRI Facilities
  • Look up any state directly to see its complete facility, water, and Superfund record in one place. Browse all states

Rankings reflect reported federal data for a single indicator; a high or low rank does not by itself measure overall environmental quality or health risk.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, this ranking is drawn from PlainEnviro's database of more than 25,000 EPA-tracked facilities and thousands of Safe Drinking Water Information System and Superfund National Priorities List records compiled since federal reporting began under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act in October 1986; see our methodology for the full data-source citations and refresh cadence.

Related

Browse all → | Rankings →
Data sourced from U.S. EPA environmental datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainEnviro

Every figure on PlainEnviro is rendered directly from EPA environmental compliance data, no number is typed in by an editor. Rankings are computed directly from EPA data. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.