Dirtiest City: New York Wins Hands Down

George Thurston, a professor of environmental medicine at New York University, said "People living in polluted cities are at a higher lung cancer risk, and more people are noticing more cases of lung cancer in people who haven't been smokers, so the effects of environmental exposures are becoming more apparent."

New Yorkers' face a pronounced risk of developing cancer from air toxins and the risk is estimated to be 68 residents per million, with the national average being 41.5 per million. Manhattan residents breathe the worst air, with cancer risk, enhanced at 136 residents per million.