New Report: Over One Million Kids in New York are Breathing Unhealthy Levels of Air Pollution; Buffalo Metro Area Earns Passing Grades for All Measures as Year-Round Particle Pollution Improves

Today, the American Lung Association released its 27th annual State of the Air report, which finds that nearly half of children in the United States are breathing unhealthy levels of air pollution, including 1,106,290 kids in New York. The report shows that the Buffalo–Cheektowaga–Olean, NY metro area received passing grades for all three air quality measures, with year-round fine particle pollution improving, while daily ozone smog and short-term particle pollution remained unchanged, earning a B grade for ozone and a C grade for short-term particle pollution. Unfortunately, days with unhealthy particle pollution have been trending upwards in recent years, and this and last year’s values were the worst since the 2011 report.

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 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 Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Olean, NY metro area are living with unhealthy levels of short-term 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 Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Olean, 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 Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Olean, 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 Erie and Niagara 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 Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Olean, NY metro area ranked 137th 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—1 day per year, a C grade, in Erie County, New York.
  • This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 139th worst, although its measure remained unchanged (1 day per year, a C grade).  
• For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Erie County, New York, improved and received a passing grade for pollution levels below the federal standard. 
  • The Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Olean, NY metro area ranked 144th worst in the nation.
  • This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 142nd worst in the nation. 

In addition to the results for the Buffalo–Cheektowaga–Olean, NY metro area, other notable findings across New York include:  

• Air quality in the Rochester–Batavia–Seneca Falls, NY metro area earned passing grades across all three air pollution measures. For ground-level ozone smog, the metro area ranked 125th worst in the nation, based on 1.3 unhealthy days per year and a C grade in Wayne County, New York, an improvement in ranking compared to last year though its measure remained unchanged. For short-term particle pollution, which reflects daily spikes, the area ranked 89th worst nationally, with 2.2 unhealthy days per year and a D grade in Monroe County, a measure unchanged from last year and which was worse only once previously, 21 years ago. For year-round particle pollution, the area continued to receive a passing grade, ranking 164th worst in the nation, a slight decline from last year’s report of 166th worst even though the measured average did slightly improve.
• Elmira–Corning, NY ranked among the nation’s cleanest cities for year-round fine particle pollution, tied for 16th best nationally with a passing grade. However, the area’s measure for short-term particle pollution remained a serious concern, ranking 53rd worst in the U.S. with 3.3 unhealthy days per year and an F grade in Steuben County, an unchanged ranking compared to last year’s report, but an improvement from its previous 3.7 unhealthy air days per year (also an F). The measure of ozone pollution remained unchanged earning a B grade with 0.3 unhealthy days per year, though the area’s ranking improved to 169th from 165th worst.
• 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.
• 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 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.

Get involved and help the mission of American Lung Association. The Fight For Air Climb in Buffalo is coming up on May 9, 2026. Learn more at FightForAirClimb.org/buffalo.