Which cities have the worst air pollution in America?
LOS ANGELES - The American Lung Association has released its annual State of the Air report for 2023 and ranked cities with the worst air pollution as well as the cities with the cleanest air across the U.S.
Analysts collected daily and annual air pollution data from 2019-2021 for what the association called the most widespread and dangerous air pollutants – fine particles and ozone. They ranked each metropolitan area from the most polluted to the cleanest for annual particle pollution, annual ozone pollution and short-term particle pollution.
98% of California has unhealthy air quality, report says
The American Lung Association's annual air quality survey shows 98% of Californians live in communities with unhealthy levels of smog or fine particles. And the greater Los Angeles area, maintains its title as smoggiest metro area in the nation. Dr. Michael Daignault and Rick Dickert explain ways protect yourself from smog and unhealthy air.
Top 25 cities with the worst air pollution
Los Angeles takes the top spot for the worst ozone pollution this year, as it has for 23 of the 24 years this report has been calculated.
Several places in California's Central Valley take top spots for particle pollution. Bakersfield and Fresno top the list for failing short-term particle pollution grades. Visalia and Bakersfield share the crown for worst annual particle pollution.
"Although cities most affected by western drought and wildfires, including eight in California, three in Oregon, and three others in Alaska, Arizona, and Washington, still represented the largest share, cities with high power plant emissions as well as local industrial and mobile sources of year-round particle pollution continued to show up on this list," stated the report about annual particle pollution.
Only Pittsburgh and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, made the short-term particle pollution fail list east of the Mississippi River.
1 Bakersfield, California
2 Visalia, California
3 Fresno-Madera-Hanford, California
4 Los Angeles-Long Beach, California
5 Fairbanks, Alaska
6 Sacramento-Roseville, California
7 San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California
8 Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona
9 Medford-Grants Pass, Oregon
10 Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie Indiana
11 Yakima, Washington
12 Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, Michigan
13 Chico, California
14 Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia
15 Eugene-Springfield, Oregon
16 Augusta-Richmond County Georgia, South Carolina
17 Houston-The Woodlands, Texas
18 El Centro, California
19 Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana
20 Birmingham-Hoover-Talladega, Alabama
21 McAllen-Edinburg, Texas
22 Louisville-Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Bardstown Kentucky, Indiana
23 Bend-Pineville, Oregon
24 Laredo, Texas
25 Chicago-Naperville Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin
These cities have the cleanest air in the US
Seven cities are on the cleanest-air list for all three measures: annual particle pollution, ozone pollution and short-term particle pollution. All had zero days in high particle and ozone pollution.
- Asheville-Marion-Brevard, North Carolina.
- Bangor, Maine.
- Greenville-Kingston-Washington, North Carolina.
- Lincoln-Beatrice, Nebraska.
- Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls, New York.
- Urban Honolulu, Hawaii.
- Wilmington, North Carolina.
Elmira, New York; Burlington, Vermont; Charlotte-Harrisonburg-Roanoke, Virginia, and Virginia Beach, Virginia, dropped off the cleanest list.