Allergy Season Is Back, and Here's Where It's Terrible

By Chloe Pantazi

Published on 4/6/2015 at 1:36 PM

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Shutterstock

All winter, you wrestle with horrible colds and crap weather. Then, better weather arrives and reminds you how spring hopes eternal or whatever. Until your allergies come back. Then there's no hope.

Especially if you live in Jackson, MS.

According to a ranking of the nation’s most allergic cities released by the Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), Jackson’s the worst place to be if you’re an allergy sufferer this year, with toasty temperatures and a higher than average pollen count that spells good news for bees, but bad news for humans prone to congestion problems.

To determine its findings, the AAFA sniffed out data for the metro-area pollen count, availability of board-certified allergy specialists, and amount of medicine used by sufferers for 100 cities nationwide, and gave each city a score out of 100.

After Jackson, which got an allergy score of 100 (that's terrible, FWIW), Louisville, KY, is the second-worst for itchy eyes and snotty nostrils, with a 98.34 score. And next up, Oklahoma City, OK, which had the third-worst pollen rate in the country, and a 95.64 score.

But it wasn't just the South and Plains States that had it worst -- really, the top 10 spanned the whole nation. So if one thing unites this Union, it's allergies.

And as for the best place to be, that’d be San Diego, CA, with a score of just 42.60. Everyone in San Diego nods in unison, bathed in sunlight and warm temperatures.

Here are the 10 cities where you’ll be sneezing the most this spring (along with the allergy score for each):

10. Richmond, VA - 85.79
9. Providence, RI - 86.06
8. Dayton, OH - 86.15
7. Wichita, KS - 86.43
6. McAllen, TX - 89.56
5. Knoxville, TN - 94.51
4. Memphis, TN - 94.64
3. Oklahoma City, OK - 95.64
2. Louisville, KY - 98.34
1. Jackson, MS - 100

Head here for the complete ranking.


Chloe Pantazi is an editorial assistant on Thrillist's travel team. Yes, that's a British accent. No, she doesn't watch Doctor Who. Follow her on Twitter at @ChloePantazi.