SpareFoot, an online marketplace for self-storage, has ranked the 10 Tidiest Towns in America among the 100 most-populated metro areas in the United States. The company used a formula examining consumer spending on cleaning supplies, hired housekeepers and available self-storage to determine rankings. Albuquerque, N.M., ranked first, followed by Little Rock, Ark., and an area consisting of Palm Bay, Melbourne and Titusville, Fla.

For each market, SpareFoot used a mixture of data sources to determine consumers percentage of income spent on cleaning supplies, how many maids and housekeepers work in the area, and the amount of self-storage square footage available per capita. The company made statistical adjustments for tourist markets with particularly heavy concentrations of maids and housekeepers, such as Las Vegas and Honolulu.

According to the rankings, Albuquerque has nearly 11 square feet of storage space per person, with residents spending an average of $662 a year for housekeeping supplies on a per-capita income of $35,000. Little Rock (13 square feet per person) and the third-place Florida communities (13.6 square feet) had more available self-storage space per capita than Albuquerque, but both those markets spend less on cleaning supplies and housekeeping services, according to SpareFoot.

According to professional organizer and author Liz Davenport, owner of Order from Chaos, Albuquerques lack of residential attics and basements also likely played a role in the citys top ranking, including the popularity of self-storage to remove clutter from homes. "One of the other side effects of not having attics and basements is your clutter is right in front of you," she said. "There's no place to hide it, and because it's right there, it bugs you."

Chattanooga, Tenn., and the combined Florida communities of Cape Coral and Fort Meyers rounded out the Top 5. The full Top 10 ranking and statistics can be viewed on SpareFoots website.

Based in Austin, Texas, and founded in 2008, SpareFoot.com helps consumers find and reserve self-storage units, with comparison shopping tools that show real-time availability and exclusive deals. With a network of more than 6,500 storage facilities ranging from mom-and-pop operations to real estate investment trusts, the company reaches prospective storage renters though partnerships with brands including SelfStorage.com, Apartments.com and Penske Truck Rental.

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