Study: Knoxville ranked 10th worst U.S. city for people with spring allergies

A bee pollinates a flowering tree along a greenway across from University of Tennessee's Veterinary School on Friday, Feb. 17, 2016.

Are you sneezing and wheezing incessantly? Did you wake up feeling like your throat was slathered with mayonnaise? You're not alone. That's how we know it's spring in Knoxville, baby.

Our city was ranked this year as the 10th "most challenging place to live with spring allergies in the U.S.," according to a study by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

For Knoxvillians who struggle with allergies, that's not exactly surprising.

In fact, this year's ranking marks a marginal improvement from years past. In 2016, the Scruffy City was deemed the ninth most wretched place to hack and snot. The city once topped the foundation's list of "Allergy Capitals" three years in a row: in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

The study ranks 100 American cities based on a composite score that includes three factors that are not weighted equally:

  • An index of the city's population at risk of being affected by airborne pollen
  • The number of prescriptions written for allergy medications. This score "also includes over-the-counter and behind-the-counter allergy medication sales at the pharmacy counter."
  • The number of board-certified allergists per patient

Knoxville's overall score this year is 73.23. The city's scores for pollen and number of allergists are classified as average, while the "medicine utilization per patient" score is "worse than average."

Memphis snagged a spot as the fourth worst city for spring allergies, with a score of 80.30.

The folks in McAllen, Texas, are supposedly the worst-off — the city scored 100.

The South was ranked the most challenging region, while the West was ranked the least challenging.

Click here to see the full list.

Judging by how long Knoxville has hovered around in the top 10, if you live here and are hoping conditions will greatly improve, you may want to reconsider your optimism — or move.

As for the rest of us, if we have an issue, we'll grab a tissue.