Key Findings

Learn the key findings and overall trends about air quality in states and cities in the American Lung Association's State of the Air report.
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The “State of the Air” 2026 report finds that even after decades of successful efforts to reduce sources of air pollution, 44% of Americans—152.3 million people—are living in places that get failing grades for unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution. We found that nearly half of the children in America (46%, or 33.5 million people under the age of 18) live in counties that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution. Ten percent of children (7.3 million people under age 18) live in counties with failing grades for all three measures. Infants, children and teens are especially vulnerable to the health harms of breathing air pollution. Their lungs are still developing, they breathe more air for their body size than adults, and they frequently spend more time outdoors.

more than four in 10 people in the US live with unhealthy levels of air pollution

More than 4 in 10 Americans live in places with unhealthy levels of air pollution

Although particle pollution showed some improvement relative to its decade-long worsening trend, populations exposed to high levels remained much higher than historic lows. Meanwhile, unhealthy levels of ozone pollution impacted more people than in the previous five reports. This year’s report shows that air pollution results were mixed across the country and across pollutants, highlighting the complex nature of air pollution and the need for regional, state and local attention on pollution sources.

The “State of the Air” report looks at two of the most widespread and dangerous air pollutants: fine particles and ozone. The air quality data used in the report are collected at official monitoring sites across the United States by federal, state, local and Tribal governments. The Lung Association calculates values reflecting the air pollution problem and assigns grades for daily and long-term measures of particle pollution and daily measures of ozone. Those values are also used to rank cities (metropolitan areas) and counties. This year’s report presents data from 2022, 2023 and 2024, the most recent three years of publicly available, quality-assured nationwide air pollution data. See About This Reportfor more detail about the methodology for data collection and analysis.

“State of the Air” 2026 is the 27th edition of this annual report, which was first published in 2000. From the beginning, the findings in “State of the Air” have reflected the successes of the Clean Air Act, as emissions from transportation, power plants and manufacturing have been reduced over time. Over the last decade, however, the findings of the report have added to the extensive evidence that a changing climate is making it harder to protect this hard-fought progress on air quality and human health. Increases in high ozone days and spikes in particle pollution related to extreme heat, drought and wildfires are putting millions of people at risk and adding challenges to the work that states and cities are doing across the nation to clean up air pollution.

Circle graphic with 3.6X overlayed.

Nearly half of American children live in places with unhealthy levels of air pollution

Last year’s report introduced the significant factors in 2023 that worsened air quality. These included extreme heat pushing ozone levels higher in many central states as well as an unprecedented blanket of smoke from wildfires in Canada that drove levels of ozone and particle pollution higher in dozens of central and eastern states. This year’s report shows that some of these trends continued. Data from the year 2024, included in this year’s report for the first time, saw ozone continuing to worsen in much of the country, with the strongest effects mainly in several southwestern states. In contrast, although fine particle pollution levels improved across most of the country, they did worsen in some areas - mainly in several southern states.

Again this year, “State of the Air” finds that the burden of living with unhealthy air is not shared equally. Research has shown that communities of color are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air and are also more likely to be living with one or more chronic health conditions that makes them more vulnerable to air pollution, including asthma, diabetes and heart disease. Although people of color make up 42.1% of the overall population of the U.S., they represent 54.2% of the people living in a county with at least one failing grade. A person of color is more than twice (2.42 times) as likely as a white individual to live in a community with a failing grade for all three pollution measures. Hispanic individuals are more than three times (3.2 times) as likely.

In “State of the Air” 2026, the metropolitan areas that ranked worst in the country for two of the three pollutant measures are unchanged from last year’s report. Bakersfield, California continues to be the metropolitan area with the worst level of year-round particle pollution for the 7th year in a row. But Bakersfield improved enough for short-term particle pollution to step down from the worst spot, which is now occupied by Fairbanks, Alaska.

Ozone pollution in Los Angeles worsened from last year’s report, and it is yet again the city with the worst ozone pollution in the nation, as it has been in 26 of the 27 years of reporting in “State of the Air.”

More Findings

Ozone Trends

Nearly 25 million more people are breathing unhealthy levels of ozone than in last year's report.
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Short-Term Particle Pollution Trends

Many cities reached their highest number of days with unhealthy levels of particle pollution ever reported.
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Year-Round Particle Pollution Trends

More than 88 million people live where year-round particle pollution levels are worse than the national air quality limit.
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Populations at Risk

Some groups of people are especially vulnerable to illness and death from exposure to unhealthy levels of air pollution.
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Most Polluted Places

See the 25 most polluted counties for ozone and particle pollution ranked.
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Cleanest Places to Live

Two cities rank on all three cleanest cities lists for ozone, year-round and short-term particle pollution.
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Recommendations for Action

We need action at every level to clean up air pollution and address climate change.
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Did You Know?

  1. 33.5 million children (46% of all kids) in the U.S. live in an area that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution.
  2. More than 7 million children in the United States (10% of all kids) live in a community with failing grades for all three measures.
  3. More than four in 10 (44%) people of all ages in the U.S. live where the air they breathe earned an F in “State of the Air” 2025.
  4. Nearly 33 million people live in counties that got an F for all three air pollution measures in “State of the Air” 2025.
  5. Infants, children and teens as a group are more susceptible to the health impacts of air pollution. Their lungs are still developing, they breathe more air for their body size than adults, and they are frequently exposed to outdoor air.
  6. Breathing ozone irritates the lungs, resulting in inflammation—as if your lungs had a bad sunburn.
  7. Breathing in particle pollution can increase the risk of lung cancer.
  8. Particle pollution can cause early death and heart attacks, strokes and emergency room visits.
  9. Particles in air pollution can be smaller than 1/30th the diameter of a human hair. When you inhale them, they are small enough to get past the body's natural defenses.
  10. Ozone and particle pollution are both linked to increased risk of premature birth and lower birth weight in newborns.
  11. If you live or work near a busy highway, traffic pollution may put you at greater risk of health harm.
  12. People who work or exercise outside face increased risk from the effects of air pollution.
  13. Millions of people are especially vulnerable to the effects of air pollution, including children, older adults and people with lung diseases such as asthma and COPD.
  14. Research shows that people of color and people with lower incomes are disproportionately affected by air pollution that puts them at higher risk for illness.
  15. Air pollution is a serious health threat. It can trigger asthma attacks, harm lung development in children, and even be deadly.
  16. You can protect yourself by checking the air quality forecast in your community and avoiding exercising or working outdoors, if possible, when unhealthy air is expected.
  17. Climate change enhances conditions for ozone pollution to form and makes it harder to clean up communities where ozone levels are high.
  18. Climate change increases the risk of wildfires whose smoke spreads dangerous particle pollution.
  19. Policymakers at every level of government must take steps to clean the air their constituents breathe.
  20. The nation has the Clean Air Act to thank for decades of improvements in air quality. This landmark law has successfully driven pollution reduction for over 55 years.
  21. This U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is rolling back clean air protections and has eliminated health costs from its economic analyses. Both actions threaten clean air progress.
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