New Report: Over One Million Kids in New York are Breathing Unhealthy Levels of Air Pollution; Albany Metro Area Quality a Study in Contrasts, Again Showing Best-Ever Year-Round Particle Pollution Res

Today, the American Lung Association released its 27th annual “State of the Air” report, which finds that nearly half of the children in the U.S. are breathing unhealthy levels of air pollution, including 1,106,290 kids in New York. The report also finds that air quality in the Albany–Schenectady, NY metro area continues to be a study in contrasts, matching last year’s best-ever passing performance for year-round particle pollution, while again posting its worst-ever result for short-term particle pollution and remaining unchanged for ozone smog. The metro area ranked 69th worst in the nation for short-term particle pollution with a D grade, 143rd worst for ozone smog with a B grade, and 171st worst for year-round particle pollution with a passing grade.

The Lung Association’s “State of the Air” report grades counties’ air quality in terms of 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 (2022-2024). The report also ranks counties and metropolitan areas in the cleanest and most polluted lists for each pollutant. Ozone and particle pollution 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.

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. Air pollution exposure in childhood can cause long-term harm, including reduced lung growth, new asthma cases and increased risk of respiratory diseases.

“Clean air is essential to the health and wellbeing of families across New York. Children deserve to breathe air that won’t make them sick,” said Michael Seilback, assistant vice president of nationwide advocacy and state public policy for the American Lung Association. “Unfortunately, too many people in the Albany-Schenectady, NY metro area are living with unhealthy levels of particle pollution. This air pollution is causing kids to have asthma attacks, contributing to chronic health conditions, and making people who work outdoors sick.” 

Seilback added: “To compound the issue further, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rollbacks of critical healthy air rules are impacting our residents We urge New York policymakers to take action to improve our air quality, including ensuring the original benchmarks of New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) are achieved and we also are calling on everyone to tell EPA that our kids’ health counts.”

Nationally, the report found that 33.5 million children in the U.S., or 46% of people under 18 years old, live in an area that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution. In total, 44% of people of all ages in the U.S. (152 million people in total) live in a county that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution. 32.9 million people live in counties with failing grades for all three measures.

Key Findings for Albany-Schenectady, NY metro area:
Ground-level Ozone Pollution: 
Ozone “smog” affects the largest number of people in the U.S. Smog forms when gases from tailpipes, smokestacks, factories and other pollution sources react with sunlight. It is a powerful respiratory irritant with effects that have been likened to a sunburn of the lungs.  

• The Albany-Schenectady, NY metro area ranked 143rd worst in the nation for ozone pollution.
  • The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—0.7 days per year, a B grade, in Albany County, New York.
  • This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 149th worst, although its measure remained unchanged (0.7 days per year, a B grade).  

Particle Pollution: 
Fine particle pollution can be extremely dangerous and even deadly. These particles come from wildfires, wood-burning stoves, coal-fired power plants, diesel engines and other sources. The report has two grades for particle pollution: one for “short-term” particle pollution, or daily spikes, and one for the annual average “year-round” level that represents the concentration of particles in each location.

• The Albany-Schenectady, NY metro area ranked 69th worst in the nation for short-term particle pollution.
  • The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—2.8 days per year, a D grade, in Albany County, New York.
  • This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 73rd worst, although its measure remained unchanged (2.8 days per year, a D grade).  
• For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Albany County, New York, received a passing grade for pollution levels below the federal standard. 
  • The Albany-Schenectady, NY metro area ranked 171st worst in the nation.
  • This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 180th worst in the nation, although its measure for this too remained unchanged. 

In addition to the results for the Albany–Schenectady, NY metro area, other notable findings across New York include: 

• In the New York–Newark, NY‑NJ‑CT‑PA metro area, ozone smog worsened as Fairfield County, CT recorded a weighted average of over 21 unhealthy days of ozone per year, earning an F grade and ranking the area at 12th worst in the nation, down from 16th worst last year (also an F). Daily fine particle pollution improved from an F to a D, ranking 69th worst nationally, better than 58th worst last year. Queens County was worst in the metro area for this measure. Year‑round fine particle pollution posted its best‑ever result, changing to a passing grade and ranking the area 78th worst, an improvement from 48th worst last year.
• The Syracuse–Auburn, NY metro area showed mixed results across all three air pollution measures, with Onondaga County driving the results for each. For year-round particle pollution, the metro area ranked 20th best among the nation’s cleanest cities, with Onondaga County slightly improving and receiving a passing grade for an average level below the federal standard—though the area had been 18th best in last year’s report. For short-term particle pollution, the metro area ranked 76th worst, based on the area’s worst county’s average of 2.5 unhealthy days per year, earning a D grade in Onondaga County, better than last year’s 73rd worst ranking with 2.8 days and the same grade. For ozone smog, the area ranked 143rd worst, based on an average of 0.7 unhealthy days per year, a B grade, also in Onondaga County, worse than last year’s 149th worst ranking, despite the same number of unhealthy days and grade. 
• The Ithaca-Cortland, NY metro area ranked among the nation’s cleanest cities for ozone pollution, based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—0 days per year, an A grade, in Tompkins County, New York. This was better than last year’s ranking of 165th worst, with 0.3 days per year and a B grade. No data were collected for either short-term or year-round particle pollution in this year’s report, and the metro area was therefore unranked for both particle pollution measures, unchanged from last year.
• The Watertown–Fort Drum, NY metro area ranked 169th worst in the nation for ozone smog, based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—0.3 days per year, a B grade, in Jefferson County, New York—better than last year’s 165th worst ranking with the same number of unhealthy days and grade. The metro area had no data collected for short-term particle pollution this year, unchanged from last year, and had no data collected for year-round particle pollution, leaving the metro area unranked for this measure again this year.
• The Burlington-South Burlington-Barre, VT metro area ranked as the fifth cleanest metro area in the nation for the year-round average level of particle pollution, earning a passing grade and placing 207th worst in the nation for this measure, better than 188th worst last year, when it ranked 21st cleanest.  The metro area’s grades were based on results from Chittenden County, Vermont (its only county with grades). It remained unchanged for its measure of ozone smog, ranking 169th worst for ozone pollution with a B grade (better than 165th worst last year, also a B grade). But for short-term particle pollution, the metro area improved, ranking 110th worst and earning a C grade, improving from 88th worst and a D grade in last year’s report.
• The Keene-Brattleboro, NH-VT metro area showed improved rankings across all three pollution measures, improving from a C to a B grade for daily fine particle pollution and retaining a B for ozone smog, while year-round particle pollution also improved and continued to earn a passing grade. The metro area’s grades were based on results from Cheshire County, New Hampshire (its only county with grades). The area ranked 169th worst in the nation for ozone pollution with a B grade. This ranking is based on its average of 0.3 unhealthy days per year, and unchanged from last year’s number of days but slightly worse ranking of 165th. The metro area also ranked 154th worst for short-term particle pollution, earning a B grade, improving from a C grade and a ranking of 139th last year; and ranked 181st worst for year-round particle pollution, which earned a passing grade, improving from 176th worst last year.

The Lung Association is calling on everyone to urge EPA to value the health of America’s kids. Historically, EPA has played an essential role in protecting people’s health from air pollution. The current EPA has retreated from its public health foundation by rolling back clean air protections. This EPA has also taken the recent step of eliminating health-related information from its economic analyses, meaning that the costs of pollution to kids, families and communities will not be counted as policies are undone. EPA must not devalue kids’ health.

See the full report results and take action at Lung.org/sota.