New Report: Over 700,000 Kids in Washington-Baltimore-Arlington Metro Area are Breathing Unhealthy Levels of Air Pollution; Area Shows Improvement Across All Air Quality Measures, But Continues to Fai

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. - including 700,288 kids in the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Metro area, are breathing unhealthy levels of air pollution, putting their developing lungs and long-term health at risk.

The report also shows that while air quality in the Washington (DMV) metro area saw improvement for all three measures of air quality, dangerous levels of pollution persist for adults and children alike. Both particle pollution grades improved from failing marks, with pollution from short-term daily spikes earning a D and year-round particle pollution now receiving a passing grade. Ozone smog continues to be a risk in the metro area, retaining an F and ranking at 49th worst in the nation, though better than last year at 36th worst.

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. Both 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 the DMV area. Children deserve to breathe air that won’t make them sick,” said Aleks Casper, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association. “Unfortunately, too many people in the DMV are living with unhealthy levels of ozone and particle pollution. This air pollution is causing kids to have asthma attacks, contributing to chronic health conditions, and making people who work outdoors sick.” 

Casper 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 DMV policymakers to continue to take action to improve our air quality,  and we 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 Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA 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 Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA metro area ranked 49th worst in the nation for ozone pollution.
  • The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—5.8 days per year, an F grade, in Baltimore County, Maryland.
  • This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 36th worst, with 7.5 days per year, an F 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 Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA metro area ranked 60th worst in the nation for short-term particle pollution.
  • The ranking was based on the area’s worst counties’ average number of unhealthy days—3.2 days per year, a D grade, in Frederick County, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
  • This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 53rd worst, with 3.7 days per year, an F grade.  
• For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Berkeley County, West Virginia, received a passing grade for pollution levels below the federal standard. 
  • The Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA metro area ranked 66th worst in the nation.
  • This was the same as the area's ranking in last year's report of 66th worst in the nation. 

In addition to results for the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington metro area, other notable findings include: 

• The Richmond, VA metro area continues to earn passing grades for all three air quality measures, with ozone smog slightly worse than last year but still receiving a B grade, ranking moving from 165th to 143rd worst nationally; fine particle pollution worsens for daily spikes, but retains C grade, ranking 106th worst in the nation compared to 98th last year; year‑round particle pollution improves, again passing, with rank improving as well, from 114th to 136th worst.
• Virginia Beach-Chesapeake, VA-NC metro area posts slightly worsened ranks for all three air pollution measures, though ozone and daily particle pollution measures remain unchanged, continuing to receive B grades, while measure for year-round particle pollution shows improvement. Ozone ranked 143rd worst in U.S. this year, worse than 149th last year, and daily particle pollution now ranked 148th worst, compared to 152nd. For year‑round particle pollution, the area earned a passing grade but ranked 157th worst nationally, worsening from 161st last year.
• Roanoke, VA metro area listed among cleanest in U.S. for ozone smog, with A grade for 10th straight Year; improves and passes for daily particle pollution moving from 104th worst in the nation to 110th this year. The year-round level for fine particle pollution also improved, as did its rank, from 166th worst to 168th nationally.    

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.