This year’s “State of the Air” report – our 26th annual air quality report that looks at air pollution levels across the country – uncovered some startling truths. We wanted to emphasize eight key takeaways. Understanding these points is essential to understanding the actions needed to protect your health and your community.
“State of the Air” uses letter grades to measure unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone air pollution (also known as smog), and year-round and short-term spikes in particle pollution (also known as soot) over a three-year period. The 2025 report looks at the latest quality-assured air quality data, which was collected from 2021 to 2023.
This year’s report arrives at a time when clean air protections are under threat at federal level. Read on to learn more about how you can join the American Lung Association in advocating to protect EPA’s expert staff and lifesaving programs.
The Most Important Findings from This Year's Report
1. Nearly half of the people living in the U.S. breathe unhealthy levels of air pollution.
The report found that in the U.S., 46% of people live in an area that received a failing grade for at least one of the air pollutants included – ozone pollution, short-term particle pollution and year-round particle pollution. That’s about 156 million people in total who are breathing unhealthy air. Additionally, 42.5 million people live in areas with failing grades for all three measures of air pollution in the report, putting their health at greater risk.
Ozone pollution and particle pollution are dangerous for everyone to breathe. Both can cause premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes, preterm births and impaired cognitive functioning later in life. Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer. Certain groups, such as children, older adults and individuals who have lung disease or are pregnant, are even more susceptible to health harms from these pollutants.
2. Particle pollution continues to get worse, impacting communities in many parts of the country.
Individuals in the U.S. experienced the highest number of days when particle pollution reached “unhealthy” (red days) and “very unhealthy” (purple days) levels in report history. The number of unhealthy spikes in particle pollution improved slightly in the western states but worsened in the Midwest and Northeast.
In total, 77.2 million people lived in counties that experienced unhealthy spikes in particle pollution. And 85 million people lived in counties that received a failing grade for year-round levels of particle pollution. Research has shown that both these forms of particle pollution can shorten lives.
3. Some communities are seeing the worst ozone levels in years.
More than 125 million people (37% of the nation’s population) lived in an area with unhealthy ozone pollution, which is 24.6 million more than last year’s report. This reversal comes after years of progress on cleaning up ozone.
4. Extreme heat and wildfires contributed to worse air quality for millions of people.
This year’s report includes data from the summer of 2023, when smoke from wildfires in Canada significantly impacted Midwest and Eastern states, resulting in worse particle pollution and more emissions that drive ozone pollution. Wildfire smoke events and extreme heat have become more frequent across the country, most notably in Central states from Minnesota to Texas. This has contributed to the worsening pollution levels and impacted the health of more individuals.
5. Only two cities—Bangor, Maine and San Juan, Puerto Rico—made the cleanest cities list for all three pollution measures.
Unfortunately, this is fewer places than in recent years, when there have been at least a handful of cities on the cleanest list. But given the increase in both particle pollution and ozone pollution in many areas across the country, most of these cities didn’t make the cut in this year’s report. Only about half as many people lived in places that got “A” grades for ozone this year compared to last, and less than a third as many lived in places that got an “A” for particle pollution.
6. Communities of color are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air.
Health disparities are a long-standing issue, and the report finds that a person of color in the U.S. is more than twice as likely as a white individual to live in a community with a failing grade on all three pollution measures. Additionally, Hispanic individuals are nearly three times as likely as white individuals to live in a community with three failing grades.
7. Data is incomplete because out of 3,221 counties, only 922 have official monitors.
The “State of the Air” report relies on data from air quality monitors managed by state, local and Tribal air pollution control authorities across the U.S. As bad as the State of the Air results are this year, the number of people living with unhealthy air may be even higher than recognized. About 72.8 million people live in counties where neither ozone nor particle pollution levels are being monitored. (Check out our “Something in the Air” report series, which looks at using air quality information from satellites to help bridge some of the data gap.)
8. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) needs our support.
Without the staff, programs and funding at EPA, we’d have dirtier air and less information on how to protect ourselves. EPA staff are the reason the nation has access to air quality data in the first place – scientists and other experts make sure people can get air quality forecasts through airnow.gov and know what to do when air pollution is unhealthy. EPA staff also write and enforce strong safeguards that have worked to clean up vehicles, power plants, industry and other sources of air pollution. And they fund state and local governments, community organizations, businesses and more to help them monitor and reduce air pollution.
Right now, harmful changes are underway at EPA that put its very mission at risk. The staff and programs at EPA are essential to protecting people’s health from ozone and particle pollution. Without them, families won’t know what’s in the air they are breathing, and efforts to clean up air pollution will be undone. Join the American Lung Association in advocating to protect EPA’s expert staff and lifesaving programs.
See how your county or city stacked up, read the full report results and take action at Lung.org/sota.
Blog last updated: April 23, 2025
