Cleanest Places to Live

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Many cities in the U.S. enjoy air that is considered clean for one or more of the pollution measures tracked in “State of the Air.” In this year’s report, 35 of the cities for which there is monitoring data had zero high ozone days and 21 cities had zero days with high levels of short-term particle pollution. These figures are very nearly unchanged from last year’s unprecedented report, which showed marked declines from the 2024 report’s 55 cities with no days of high ozone and 75 with no spikes in particle pollution. Because year-round particle pollution is scored differently, the cleanest cities for this measure can be ranked, and the best 25 are considered cleanest.

In another grim indication of the deterioration of air quality nationwide, this year’s report showed only one city—Bangor, Maine—remaining ranked on all three cleanest cities lists by earning an “A” for ozone and short-term particle pollution and being listed among the 25 cities with the lowest year-round particle levels. Last year, there were two (the other metro area being San Juan-Bayamón, Puerto Rico). Past reports have been graced by as many as half a dozen metro areas meeting these criteria.

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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