New Report: Over 176,000 Kids in Kentucky are Breathing Unhealthy Levels of Air Pollution; Louisville Metro Area Worsens for Ozone Smog, Now Among Dirtiest Cities in U.S.

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 176,359 kids in Kentucky. The Louisville/Jefferson County--Elizabethtown, KY-IN metro area (Louisville Metro and points north to Clarksville, IN and south to Elizabethtown, KY), now ranks among the nation’s 25 dirtiest cities for ozone smog at 22nd worst with an F grade (worse than 29th last year, also an F grade). The metro area’s measure for short‑term particle pollution remained unchanged and again earned a D grade, although the area’s rank improved from 88th to 89th worst. Year‑round particle pollution reached its best‑ever level yet though still earning an F grade and a nationwide rank of 45th worst (improving from 32nd worst last year).

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 Kentucky. Children deserve to breathe air that won’t make them sick,” said Shannon Baker, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association. “Unfortunately, too many people in the Louisville metro area 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.” 

Baker 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 Kentucky policymakers 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 Louisville/Jefferson County--Elizabethtown, KY-IN 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 Louisville metro area ranked 22nd worst in the nation for ozone pollution.
  • The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—10.7 days per year, an F grade, in Jefferson County, Kentucky.
  • This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 29th worst, with 8.2 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 Louisville metro area ranked 89th 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—2.2 days per year, a D grade, in Clark County, Indiana.
  • This was slightly better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 88th worst, also with 2.2 days per year, a D grade.  
• For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Clark County, Indiana, received a failing grade for pollution levels above the federal standard. 
  • The Louisville metro area ranked 45th worst in the nation.
  • This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 32nd worst in the nation. 

Kentucky counties showed declines, improvements or continued strong performance for certain pollution measures, highlighting air quality contrasts across Kentucky communities. In particular:

• Jefferson County posted the worst value for ozone smog in Kentucky, earning the Commonwealth’s only F grade, and driving the Louisville metro rank from 29th worst to 22nd worst in the nation.  
• Perry County was worst in the state for the daily (short-term) measure of particle pollution, earning a D grade. 
• Jefferson County was also worst for the year-round measure of fine particles, but improved enough so that now all Kentucky counties graded for this measure earned passing marks. 
• Eight Kentucky counties continued to be listed among the cleanest in the country for ozone smog—Bell, Boyd, Carter, Greenup, Morgan, Perry, Pike and Pulaski.
• None of the 13 Kentucky counties graded for the daily measure of particle pollution earned an A for this measure.

In addition to the results for the Louisville/Jefferson County--Elizabethtown, KY-IN metro area, other notable findings across the state include: 

• The Lexington-Fayette--Richmond--Frankfort, KY metro area ranked 143rd worst in the nation for ozone pollution, earning a B grade, an improvement from 130th worst last year (a C grade). Short-term particle pollution in the area’s worst county (Fayette) remained unchanged (with a C grade), ranking the metro area 128th worst , slightly worse than last year’s rank of 131st worst. Year‑round particle pollution data were incomplete and unranked this year; last year, the metro ranked 134th worst with a passing grade. 
• The Bowling Green-Glasgow-Franklin, KY metro area rank slightly worsened for ozone pollution, moving from 92nd worst in nation to 91st, although the measure in the area’s worst county (Simpson) remained unchanged, earning a D grade. The measure improved for daily particle pollution, ranking the metro area 148th worst and earning a B grade, better than last year’s results of 119th worst and a C grade. The year-round average level of particle pollution improved from 168th worst in the nation to 155th.
• The Charleston-Huntington-Ashland, WV-OH-KY metro area ranked among the best in the U.S. for ozone smog as six counties graded (including Boyd, Carter and Greenup in Kentucky) all earned A's for a third straight year. Daily spikes for fine particle pollution and the area’s rank at 82nd worst remain unchanged (and at a D Grade), but the year-round measure for fine particles improved and continued to pass, though the area’s rank for that measure remained unchanged at 114th worst.
• The Cincinnati-Wilmington, OH-KY-IN metro area, including seven Kentucky counties, posted its best-ever but still failing result for year-round fine particle pollution, ranking the area 17th worst in the U.S.; The daily measures for ozone smog and fine particles were the area’s worst in 10 and 17 years, respectively, both continuing to fail

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.