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Afina 2026 Winter Skin Index

RV Ramon Van Meer · Oct 26, 2026 · 10 min read

The Afina 2026 Winter Skin Index ranks 56 of the largest US cities on how tough winter conditions are for skin in the shower and beyond. Each city is scored out of 100 using five factors: tap water hardness, winter humidity, winter temperature, winter search interest in dry and itchy skin, and whether the local water is treated with chloramine or chlorine. Higher scores mean tougher winter conditions for skin.

The 10 toughest cities for winter skin

  1. 1. Indianapolis, IN – score 64.8; 317 mg/L hardness, 75.3% winter humidity, 31.4°F, chloramine
  2. 2. Las Vegas, NV – score 62.3; 280 mg/L hardness, 40.2% winter humidity, 50.4°F, chlorine
  3. 3. Los Angeles, CA – score 61.4; 198 mg/L hardness, 51.7% winter humidity, 58.4°F, chloramine
  4. 4. Phoenix, AZ – score 57.0; 237 mg/L hardness, 45.0% winter humidity, 57.5°F, chlorine
  5. 5. San Diego, CA – score 55.3; 240.7 mg/L hardness, 63.8% winter humidity, 58.4°F, chloramine
  6. 6. Philadelphia, PA – score 54.7; 140.3 mg/L hardness, 64.8% winter humidity, 36.1°F, chloramine
  7. =7. Omaha, NE – score 53.0; 170 mg/L hardness, 72.7% winter humidity, 27.3°F, chloramine
  8. =7. Denver, CO – score 53.0; 105 mg/L hardness, 53.0% winter humidity, 32.4°F, chloramine
  9. 9. Wichita, KS – score 51.7; 170 mg/L hardness, 70.0% winter humidity, 35.5°F, chloramine
  10. =10. Tucson, AZ – score 49.5; 180 mg/L hardness, 42.7% winter humidity, 54.3°F, chlorine
  11. =10. Oklahoma City, OK – score 49.5; 157 mg/L hardness, 68.0% winter humidity, 40.2°F, chloramine

Omaha and Denver share seventh place (both 53.0), and Tucson and Oklahoma City share tenth place (both 49.5), so 11 cities make up the top ten.

Full ranking: all 56 cities

Afina 2026 Winter Skin Index, 56 US cities ranked from toughest (1) to kindest (56) for winter skin
Rank City Index score (0–100) Water hardness (mg/L) Disinfectant Avg. winter humidity Avg. winter temp Dry-skin search score*
1 Indianapolis, IN 64.8 317 Chloramine 75.3% 31.4°F 97.0
2 Las Vegas, NV 62.3 280 Chlorine 40.2% 50.4°F 84.5
3 Los Angeles, CA 61.4 198 Chloramine 51.7% 58.4°F 101.8
4 Phoenix, AZ 57.0 237 Chlorine 45.0% 57.5°F 94.5
5 San Diego, CA 55.3 240.7 Chloramine 63.8% 58.4°F 95.0
6 Philadelphia, PA 54.7 140.3 Chloramine 64.8% 36.1°F 106.5
=7 Omaha, NE 53.0 170 Chloramine 72.7% 27.3°F 101.6
=7 Denver, CO 53.0 105 Chloramine 53.0% 32.4°F 93.0
9 Wichita, KS 51.7 170 Chloramine 70.0% 35.5°F 99.8
=10 Tucson, AZ 49.5 180 Chlorine 42.7% 54.3°F 87.1
=10 Oklahoma City, OK 49.5 157 Chloramine 68.0% 40.2°F 98.1
12 San Antonio, TX 47.1 299.3 Chlorine 68.0% 54.0°F 87.9
13 Washington 47.0 95 Chloramine 62.7% 39.7°F 100.2
14 Tulsa, OK 46.3 114.5 Chloramine 68.2% 40.8°F 102.3
15 Minneapolis, MN 46.1 94 Chloramine 72.8% 19.6°F 101.0
16 Milwaukee, WI 45.3 138 Chloramine 72.7% 26.9°F 92.7
17 Albuquerque, NM 45.0 137 Chlorine 49.7% 38.7°F 88.5
18 Louisville, KY 44.9 115 Chloramine 70.3% 38.3°F 100.6
19 El Paso, TX 44.7 139 Chlorine 44.0% 48.0°F 85.0
20 Boston, MA 43.8 16 Chloramine 63.2% 32.5°F 109.1
21 Dallas, TX 43.6 112 Chloramine 66.8% 49.8°F 100.4
22 Tampa, FL 42.5 220 Chloramine 71.8% 63.9°F 87.0
23 Chicago, IL 42.4 138.9 Chlorine 73.2% 28.2°F 109.1
24 St. Louis, MO 42.2 138 Chloramine 71.8% 35.1°F 89.6
25 Kansas City, MO 41.6 100 Chloramine 71.0% 31.9°F 94.5
26 Cincinnati, OH 41.2 133 Chloramine 73.3% 33.9°F 90.0
27 Virginia Beach, VA 38.2 54.9 Chloramine 66.2% 44.2°F 98.7
28 New Orleans, LA 38.1 153 Chloramine 74.3% 56.3°F 92.8
=29 Richmond, VA 37.8 68.8 n/a 66.2% 40.4°F 105.6
=29 Salt Lake City, UT 37.8 174.3 Chlorine 71.8% 33.4°F 91.6
31 Cleveland, OH 37.5 120 Chlorine 74.0% 31.5°F 106.2
32 Colorado Springs, CO 37.3 35.8 Chlorine 50.0% 32.3°F 93.5
33 Buffalo, NY 37.1 86.5 n/a 75.0% 27.8°F 104.7
34 Raleigh, NC 36.7 25 Chloramine 66.0% 43.8°F 102.2
35 Providence, RI 36.6 42.4 n/a 64.2% 32.6°F 102.4
36 Austin, TX 36.5 93 Chloramine 69.0% 54.0°F 95.4
37 Columbus, OH 36.4 120 Chlorine 72.7% 32.2°F 102.5
38 Detroit, MI 35.8 94.8 Chlorine 73.8% 28.4°F 106.6
39 New York, NY 34.1 32 Chlorine 61.2% n/a 116.6
40 Pittsburgh, PA 33.7 99.7 Chlorine 70.8% 31.3°F 98.4
41 Anchorage, AK 32.9 56 Chlorine 74.7% 19.2°F 105.8
42 Honolulu, HI 32.6 162.5 Chlorine 69.2% 74.3°F 103.6
43 Houston, TX 32.4 99.7 Chloramine 73.8% 55.6°F 92.5
44 Birmingham, AL 32.3 98 n/a 69.8% 47.0°F 96.7
45 Nashville, TN 31.4 77.3 Chlorine 71.2% 41.9°F 105.6
46 Hartford, CT 31.2 15.9 n/a 65.5% 29.8°F 98.5
47 Jacksonville, FL 30.7 189 Chlorine 72.2% 56.1°F 86.6
48 Charlotte, NC 30.3 32 Chlorine 65.3% 44.2°F 107.4
49 Atlanta, GA 27.0 27.7 Chlorine 68.0% 46.9°F 106.8
50 Memphis, TN 26.4 46 Chlorine 68.8% 44.3°F 100.6
51 Portland, OR 26.1 9 Chloramine 78.8% 42.5°F 100.4
52 Sacramento, CA 25.1 83 Chlorine 75.7% 48.8°F 101.0
53 San Francisco, CA 23.2 24.5 Chloramine 78.5% 53.0°F 96.1
54 Orlando, FL 23.0 129 Chlorine 71.2% 62.5°F 87.2
55 Fresno, CA 22.6 89.3 Chlorine 75.0% 49.3°F 93.4
56 Seattle, WA 17.4 30.9 Chlorine 78.5% 42.9°F 97.6

*Dry-skin search score: average winter Google Trends interest in “dry skin,” “itchy skin,” “eczema” and “dry scalp” in the city’s TV market (DMA), where 100 equals the typical US metro. “n/a” means the value was not available; those cities were scored on their remaining factors. Cities with the same index score share a rank (shown with “=”). Hardness figures marked with decimals are derived from utility-reported ranges or plant averages (see methodology).

The kindest cities for winter skin

Seattle is the kindest city in the study, with soft water (30.9 mg/L), humid winters (78.5% average relative humidity) and chlorine rather than chloramine. The five kindest cities:

  1. Seattle, WA (rank 56, score 17.4) – 30.9 mg/L hardness, 78.5% winter humidity, chlorine
  2. Fresno, CA (rank 55, score 22.6) – 89.3 mg/L hardness, 75.0% winter humidity, chlorine
  3. Orlando, FL (rank 54, score 23.0) – 129 mg/L hardness, 71.2% winter humidity, chlorine
  4. San Francisco, CA (rank 53, score 23.2) – 24.5 mg/L hardness, 78.5% winter humidity, chloramine
  5. Sacramento, CA (rank 52, score 25.1) – 83 mg/L hardness, 75.7% winter humidity, chlorine

Methodology

We began with 62 of the largest US cities and ranked the 56 with enough data. Missing values were not estimated. Fort Worth and San Jose were excluded because neither has a NOAA station in the climate dataset; Baltimore and Miami were excluded for lacking a utility-reported hardness figure; and Boise and Des Moines were excluded for lacking both hardness and disinfectant data. Cities missing a single non-hardness factor were scored on their remaining factors, with weights re-scaled to 100%.

Factors and weights

  • Water hardness (35%) – mg/L as calcium carbonate; higher is tougher. For context, the US Geological Survey classifies water above 120 mg/L as “hard” and above 180 mg/L as “very hard.”
  • Winter relative humidity (25%) – average of morning and afternoon relative humidity, December to February; lower is tougher.
  • Winter average temperature (15%) – mean of December, January and February from NOAA’s 1991–2020 Climate Normals; lower is tougher.
  • Search interest (15%) – Google Trends interest in “dry skin + itchy skin + eczema + dry scalp” by TV market (DMA) for winters 2023–24, 2024–25 and 2025–26. Each winter was divided by the national DMA median and the three winters were averaged (100 = typical metro); higher is tougher.
  • Residual disinfectant (10%) – chloramine scores 100, chlorine scores 0.

Scaling

Each factor was min-max normalized to a 0–100 scale across the 56 cities, where 100 means the toughest conditions for skin. The weighted factor scores were summed to give each city an index score from 0 to 100.

Water data

For the highest-ranked cities, hardness and disinfectant were checked against each utility’s latest annual water quality report (Consumer Confidence Report) or official water quality page. Where a utility reports a range or several treatment plants rather than one figure, we used the midpoint of the range or the mean of the plant averages; this applies to Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Washington, DC, Tulsa and Salt Lake City. Lower-ranked cities use secondary, utility-reported values compiled by TapWaterData and waterprofilelocal.com, and disinfectant data from Aquatell’s list of the 100 largest US cities.

Data sources

Utility sources for the verified cities

Caveats

  • Tucson: Tucson Water does not publish a single citywide hardness value, so Tucson’s figure (180 mg/L) comes from TapWaterData’s utility-reported dataset, a secondary source. Oklahoma City’s hardness (157 mg/L) is also a secondary TapWaterData value, as it is not published in the city’s report.
  • Wichita: the city lists its disinfectant as “chlorine/chloramines.” Chloramine was used based on the city’s treated-water data. If Wichita were scored as chlorine, it would rank 24th.
  • Local variation: hardness varies by neighborhood, water source and season, so your tap may differ from the city figure. Your utility’s annual water quality report has local details.
  • Search data: Google Trends measures relative interest by TV market, not absolute search volume.
  • Scope: the index measures comfort factors only. It does not assess water safety, and no city’s ranking says anything about whether its water is safe to drink or use.

Winter shower tips

A few simple, general habits can make winter showers more comfortable:

  • Keep showers short, about five to 10 minutes, and use lukewarm rather than hot water.
  • Pat skin dry with a towel instead of rubbing.
  • Apply moisturizer while skin is still slightly damp.
  • Run a humidifier at home when the heat is on.
  • Check your utility’s annual water quality report for your local hardness and disinfectant.
  • Clean showerheads regularly to prevent mineral buildup.

If you’d like to reduce chlorine in your shower water, take a look at Afina’s filtered shower heads.

Corrections

Updated October 27, 2026: an earlier version of this page understated every city’s average winter temperature because of a data-processing error (the January value was misread from NOAA’s normals table). Temperatures now match NOAA’s 1991–2020 Climate Normals (mean of December, January and February), and index scores were recalculated. San Diego now ranks fifth and Philadelphia sixth (previously tied for fifth); Omaha and Denver now share seventh; Tucson and Oklahoma City now share tenth. Indianapolis remains first and Seattle remains the kindest city.

Media contact

For interviews, the full dataset or other inquiries, contact Ramon van Meer at ramon@afina.com.

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