EPA rankings · EPA Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) · updated August 2026
Most Toxic Chemical Releases by State
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2023 Toxics Release Inventory, all 50 states are ranked here by total pounds of toxic chemicals released, the actual pollution volume from EPA TRI facilities.
- #1 · Alaska
- 3.9B
- Leader
- Top-12 cutoff
- 317.9M
- List threshold
- State median
- 183.0M
- Cohort median
- states ranked
- 51
- Cohort coverage
The ranking, the verdict
Alaska leads at 3.9B total lbs. The top-12 cutoff is 317.9M (#12), and the leader-to-tail spread is 3.9B across 51 states (median 183.0M).
- 3.9B
- #1 Alaska
- 317.9M
- top-12 list threshold
- 3.9B
- leader-to-tail spread
- 2023
- EPA Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) vintage
Each position reflects one reported federal count, not overall environmental quality or water safety.
What This Ranking Tells Us
Total toxic releases measure the actual volume of hazardous chemicals discharged into air, water, and land by industrial facilities. States topping this list have significant heavy industry, mining operations, or chemical manufacturing that generates large waste volumes. Release amounts include on-site air emissions, water discharges, land disposal, and underground injection. Some states have high release volumes concentrated in just a few mega-facilities, while others spread releases across many smaller operations.
This page ranks all 50 U.S. states and territories on a single indicator - total lbs - drawn directly from the EPA Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). 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 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). All figures are as-filed and not weighted for toxicity or exposure.
The bar to make the top 12
317.9M total lbs - where #12 sits among all 51 states
318M lbs 22nd percentile higher than 22% of 51 states
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 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) · 2023
| # | State | Total Lbs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska AK | 3.9B |
| 2 | Nevada NV | 1.8B |
| 3 | Texas TX | 1.1B |
| 4 | Utah UT | 1.1B |
| 5 | Louisiana LA | 690.1M |
| 6 | Indiana IN | 555.5M |
| 7 | Ohio OH | 485.0M |
| 8 | Alabama AL | 411.6M |
| 9 | Tennessee TN | 380.1M |
| 10 | Arizona AZ | 362.3M |
| 11 | Illinois IL | 337.8M |
| 12 | Michigan MI | 317.9M |
| 13 | North Carolina NC | 284.5M |
| 14 | Missouri MO | 280.5M |
| 15 | Montana MT | 276.8M |
| 16 | Mississippi MS | 269.4M |
| 17 | North Dakota ND | 263.3M |
| 18 | Pennsylvania PA | 253.6M |
| 19 | Florida FL | 247.9M |
| 20 | New Mexico NM | 239.8M |
| 21 | Georgia GA | 239.0M |
| 22 | Kentucky KY | 212.2M |
| 23 | South Carolina SC | 203.0M |
| 24 | Idaho ID | 200.0M |
| 25 | California CA | 191.8M |
| 26 | Iowa IA | 183.0M |
| 27 | Arkansas AR | 173.2M |
| 28 | Oklahoma OK | 166.2M |
| 29 | Virginia VA | 166.0M |
| 30 | Wisconsin WI | 147.9M |
| 31 | West Virginia WV | 131.3M |
| 32 | Kansas KS | 122.2M |
| 33 | Minnesota MN | 113.1M |
| 34 | Colorado CO | 112.9M |
| 35 | Oregon OR | 97.8M |
| 36 | Wyoming WY | 93.9M |
| 37 | Washington WA | 92.7M |
| 38 | Nebraska NE | 86.7M |
| 39 | New York NY | 79.9M |
| 40 | New Jersey NJ | 58.3M |
| 41 | South Dakota SD | 43.0M |
| 42 | Maine ME | 37.7M |
| 43 | Delaware DE | 34.2M |
| 44 | Maryland MD | 25.5M |
| 45 | Puerto Rico PR | 25.4M |
| 46 | Massachusetts MA | 18.3M |
| 47 | Hawaii HI | 12.9M |
| 48 | Connecticut CT | 8.9M |
| 49 | Rhode Island RI | 2.5M |
| 50 | Vermont VT | 2.1M |
| 51 | New Hampshire NH | 2.1M |
Source: EPA Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).
Top-ranked state profiles
Explore the environmental records behind the top positions in this ranking.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as a toxic release?
TRI tracks releases to air (stack and fugitive emissions), water (direct discharges to streams, rivers, and lakes), land (landfills, surface impoundments, and land treatment), and underground injection. Both routine operational releases and accidental spills are included in annual totals.
Are all toxic releases equally dangerous?
No. TRI tracks over 770 chemicals with vastly different toxicity levels. A pound of mercury is far more dangerous than a pound of ammonia. The total pounds metric treats all chemicals equally, which can be misleading. The EPA provides toxicity-weighted release data for more nuanced comparisons.
How has toxic release volume changed over time?
TRI release totals change over time, but the direction and magnitude vary by chemical, industry, place, and release pathway. Use the facility trend pages for the years in this dataset and the EPA TRI National Analysis for the longer national series.
Explore More Rankings
What to do with this ranking
Use the leaders here as a starting point, then check your own state's full record.
- Alaska tops this list at 3.9B total lbs - see its full environmental profile, not just this one metric. View Alaska
- 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
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.