Blog Post

Leaving No U.S. City Behind: The 2018 U.S. Cities SDGs Index

  • By Cheyenne Maddox
  • •
  • 08 Jun, 2018
  • •
Second Annual ‘U.S. Cities SDG Index’ Ranks American Cities Based on Sustainability Performance
  • Top 100 most populous U.S. cities evaluated using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) global framework
  • 62 of the 100 MSAs are less than half way towards achieving the SDGs
  • The best performing U.S. city is only 68% of the way towards fully achieving the SDGs
  • San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro region (CA) occupies top-spot for second year
  • Report highlights widespread social and economic inequality in U.S. urban areas
BOSTON – Today, at the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ 86 th Annual Meeting, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) released the 2 nd Annual U.S. Cities Sustainable Development Goals Index. The report, titled “Leaving No U.S. City Behind,” shows that all U.S. cities, even those at the top of the Index, have far to go to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a global framework promoting social, economic and environmental sustainability. The U.S. was among 193 countries that adopted the SDGs in 2015.
The U.S. Cities SDG Index ranks the 100 most populous city regions – or Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) – within the U.S., covering 66% of the domestic population. It is a composite index comprising 44 indicators and providing a comprehensive assessment of sustainable development challenges facing U.S. cities. It is intended as a technical resource as well as an advocacy tool to spur progress on sustainable development across the U.S.
“America faces many daunting problems, and this year’s U.S. Cities SDG Index uses measurements on 15 of the 17 global SDGs to shine a spotlight on many of the challenges that U.S. cities face, such as access to healthcare, obesity, income inequality and violent crime,” said SDSN Director Jeffrey Sachs. “Federal politics are typically paralyzed these days, in the grips of vested interests and lobbyists that block effective actions, yet real solutions and progress can still be won at the local and state level.”
In the 2018 Index, the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro region occupies the top-spot for the second year in a row, with an overall index score of 68.57. This means that the San Jose MSA is 68.57% of the way toward fully achieving the SDGs, according to the measures used in this Index. To highlight examples of approaches working in lower-ranked cities, the report also profiles sustainability initiatives in Orlando, Los Angeles, and Baltimore.
The top ten MSAs in the 2018 U.S. Cities SDG Index are the following:
  1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
  2. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
  3. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
  4. San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA
  5. Madison, WI
  6. Manchester-Nashua, NH
  7. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY
  8. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT
  9. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA
  10. Provo-Orem, UT
A series of maps in the report illustrate how different regions are performing on specific goals, such as poverty, health and well-being.  The 2018 Index also examines in more detail the social inequalities highlighted in the 2017 Index – e.g. higher incidences of child poverty in 99 of the 100 city regions, higher female poverty in every city region, and documented racial inequalities across cities – to better understand how social inequalities might be deepening deprivations.
Why U.S. Cities?
In the United States, the engagement of local government leaders is crucial for sustainable development, as 85% of the domestic population live in cities and surrounding metropolitan areas. These cities are centers of economic enterprise and innovation, with the ten largest metropolitan areas accounting for 34% of the country’s total GDP. But they are also responsible for much of the country’s waste and environmental destruction, including more than 80% of the country’s CO2 emissions. It is cities in the U.S. that will make or break sustainable development success for the country as a whole.
The Creation of the U.S. Cities SDG Index
The U.S. Cities SDG Index was inspired by The Global SDG Index, which SDSN co-produces annually to rank 157 countries on their SDG performance. In 2016, the Global Index ranked the U.S. 25th among all countries pursuing the SDGs. In 2017, the U.S. was 42nd as a result of the inclusion of additional indicators that assessed international spillover effects such as CO2 emissions and tax evasion. The creation of this U.S. Cities SDG Index, then, is intended to better understand America’s specific challenges and variations across the country.
About the Sustainable Development Solutions Network
The Sustainable Development Solutions Network has been operating since 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General. SDSN mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical solutions for sustainable development, including the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. SDSN aims to accelerate joint learning and promote integrated approaches that address the interconnected economic, social, and environmental challenges confronting the world. SDSN works closely with United Nations agencies, multilateral financing institutions, the private sector, and civil society.
Author Contact Information:
Jessica Espey

SDSN Newsletter - July 2021

By SDSN Secretariat • 03 Aug, 2021 •
This month, SDSN celebrated its growing network, talked about the incredible amount of media coverage on the 2021 SDR, and reflected on this year's High Level Political Forum

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By Sam Van Hoof • 30 Jul, 2021 •
The ‘Fit for 55' package includes a ban on combustion engines from 2035, a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and a Social Climate Fund among other provisions.

SDSN Canada 2021 Members Meeting Recap

By Giovanni Bruna • 29 Jul, 2021 •

SDSN Canada reconvened the network membership on June 16th, 2021 for the annual Members Meeting.

This year's meeting featured conversations on the current state of the SDGs in Canada, emerging opportunities for post-secondary institutions, networking breakout sessions, and a featured joint presentation by the Brookings Institution and Rockefeller Foundation on mobilizing campuses and communities for the SDGs using the 17 Rooms initiative. A lightning round of member initiatives was also included to highlight a portion of the SDG work happening across the network.

Recap the discussion by reading the meeting notes   or listening to the audio recordings for each session.

Meeting Highlights:

  • The SDSN Global annual Sustainable Development Report 2021  was released June 2021, tracking progress on the SDGs by country (Canada ranked 21st in the world). The report outlines the short-term impacts of COVID-19 on the SDGs and describes how the SDGs can frame the recovery.
  • The Government of Canada has released Canada’s National Strategy for the SDGs, Moving Forward Together. The strategy outlines a set of 30 actions towards the SDGs, including localizing the SDGs, supporting partnerships with Indigenous initiatives, and advancing research into the gaps in Canada's efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda.
  • The 17 Rooms initiative  is a tool for advancing SDG collaboration, community-centric conversations, and bottom-up action. There are three key principles of consideration:
    • Every SDG gets a seat at the table (a dedicated room).
    • Identify what the next step is, and not the perfect step. What are things you can do together over the next 12 to 18 months that you can implement action on the SDGs?
    • It is about conversations, not presentations. The goal is to learn from each other and create a community of practice.
    • Join the 17 Rooms-X Community of Practice to access the beta toolkit.
  • A ‘lightning round’ of presentations by members spotlighting SDG work from Colleges and Institutes Canada, the Interdisciplinary Research Center in the Operationalization of Sustainable Development (CIRODD), Vancouver Island University, the University of Saskatchewan, and the University of Waterloo.

The meeting was also a chance to invite the membership into initiatives designed to be more intentional about the network’s collective presence and impact. In this vein, the network thinks that the 17 Rooms process can be a critical resource for campus conversations on the SDGs. It also relaunched the Member Challenge , is starting the ‘SDG Teaching Community’ for faculty across the network, and is convening a small working group of interested members to talk about an enhanced governance structure for the network.

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The Sustainable Development Report 2021 has been covered by the BBC, the Guardian, Washington Post, and more than 100 other media outlets.

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SDSN together with the United Nations Resident Coordinators in SIDS and the Permanent Mission of Antigua and Barbuda hosted on 12 July 2021 a High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) side event to discuss the issue of measuring multidimensional vulnerability, and its relevance for international financing mechanisms.

SDGs Today Launches My School Today!

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SDSN at the 2021 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF)

By SDSN Secretariat • 20 Jul, 2021 •
SDSN and our networks are hosting a number of events alongside the UN's High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). We are thrilled to invite you to join us at the following events, which SDSN is hosting or are organized by our partners.
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