State of the Air 2025
- The Earth & I Editorial Team
- Jun 17
- 2 min read
California Overrepresented in Ozone and Particulate Matter Pollution
Whether a resident or visitor to the US, air pollution—including particulate matter, carbon dioxide, and the like—is a concern given its potential health and environmental impacts. The American Lung Association released its annual "State of the Air" report that highlights particulate matter and ozone pollution data in the US, by county and city from 2021 to 2023. Below are key findings from the report.
About 46% of Americans—156 .1 million people—were living in places with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution in 2021-2023. This is a 19% increase from 131.2 million in the previous year’s 2020-2022 report.
In 2021 to 2023, 125.2 million people (about 37% of the population) were exposed to levels of ozone that “put their health at risk.” States from the Midwest down to Texas were most affected, and Canadian wildfires in 2023 and high temperatures with emissions were major contributing factors.
California had the most counties in the top 10 for ozone and particulate matter pollution. San Bernardino had the highest ozone pollution at 153.7 weighted average days, while Kern had the highest particulate matter and annual particulate matter pollution at 44.3 weighted average days and 16.2 micrograms per cubic meter, respectively.
The location with the highest ozone pollution was Los Angeles-Long Beach in California. Other areas with highly polluted air included Houston-Pasadena, Texas; Las Vegas-Henderson, Nevada; the New York-Newark metropolitan area; and Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The top 25 locations with the highest daily particulate matter pollution included Bakersfield-Delano, California; Los Angeles-Long Beach, California; Seattle-Tacoma, Washington; San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California; and Salt Lake City-Provo-Orem in Utah.
The top three cleanest locations for ozone pollution were Augusta-Richmond County on the border of Georgia and South Carolina; Bangor, Maine; and Bellingham, Washington. For daily particulate matter pollution, the top three cleanest areas were Asheville-Waynesville-Brevard in North Carolina; Bangor, Maine; and Burlington-Fort Madison on the border of Iowa and Illinois.
Sources:
Comments