Three PNW metros make list of worst cities for grass allergies
(The Center Square) – Three Pacific Northwest metropolitan areas made Lawn Love’s “2022’s Worst Cities for Grass Allergies This Summer.”
Lawn Love – an online platform for finding, booking, and paying for a landscaping or lawncare provider – compared 125 metro areas by looking at average grass pollen forecasts, grass allergen intensity, and lawn mowing frequency. Access to allergens and allergy tests were also factored in.
The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro area at the Oregon-Washington border centered on Portland, Oregon ranked No. 11. Spokane-Spokane Valley in Eastern Washington ranked No. 30. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue in the greater Puget Sound region came in at No. 59.
“High grass pollen counts are on the horizon for metros like…Portland-Vancouver…but those allergens are not likely to lead to severe symptoms – if any at all,” the report notes.
In other words, residents of the Pacific Northwest are likely to get off easy this spring and summer compared to their counterparts in the Northeast, in that eight of the top 10 metro areas on the list are in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states.
At the other end of the grass allergy spectrum is beachy Florida, which accounts for half of the bottom 20 metro areas on the list.
According to a May 2021 survey of 1,200 consumers by research and analysis organization ValuePenguin, seasonal allergies on average cost consumers $266 a year, which translates into more than $16,000 over a lifetime. The survey provided a breakdown by generational demographics in noting members of Generation Z spend $390 on average, while millennials spend $353, and baby boomers spend $143.
Another key finding of the survey: 36% of seasonal allergy sufferers said their insurance hadn’t always covered allergy-related expenses, while 44% of consumers indicated they didn’t know allergy medication could be paid for by health savings accounts.
“In general, insurers are required to cover prescription drugs and would be required to cover prescriptions that are considered medically necessary by a medical provider,” Stephanie Marquis, media relations manager with the state Office of the Insurance Commissioner, told The Center Square in an email. “They also can have cost tiers for different class of drugs.”
Lawn Love’s 10 worst metro areas in terms of grass allergens:
1. Lancaster, Pennsylvania
2. Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown, Connecticut
3. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, New York
4. Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pennsylvania-New Jersey
5. Buffalo-Cheektowaga, New York
6. Santa Rosa-Petaluma, California
7. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware-Maryland
8. Syracuse, New York
9. New Haven-Milford, Connecticut
10. Wichita, Kansas
Lawn Love’s 10 best metro areas in terms of grass allergens:
125. North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida
124. Huntington-Ashland, West Virginia-Kentucky-Ohio
123. Naples-Marco Island, Florida
122. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida
121. Port St. Lucie, Florida
120. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida
119. Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina
118. Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colorado
117. Lakeland-Winter Haven, Florida
116. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida
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