New Report: 170,000 Kids in Massachusetts are Breathing Unhealthy Levels of Air Pollution; Boston Metro Area Daily Particle Pollution Drops from C to F, Ozone Smog Fails Again, While Year-round Partic

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 170,025 kids in Massachusetts. The report also shows that the Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH metro area worsened to a failing grade for daily fine particle pollution, dropping from a C last year to an F this year and ranking 53rd worst in the nation. However, the year-round average of particle pollution improved to its best-ever level, moving from 110th worst to 164th. The area failed again for ozone smog, ranking 57th worst in the nation, driven by Washington County, Rhode Island’s 4.8 unhealthy ozone days a year.

Other parts of the state showed declines, improvements or continued strong performance for certain pollution measures, highlighting air quality contrasts across Massachusetts communities. In particular:

• Bristol and Dukes Counties tied for the worst value for ozone smog in Massachusetts, for which they posted D grades.  
• Essex County was worst in the state for the daily (short-term) measure of particle pollution, earning the Commonwealth’s only F grade, and driving the Boston metro rank from 114th worst to 53rd worst in the nation.
• Plymouth and Worcester Counties both improved for the year-round measure of fine particles (as did all graded counties) and tied at worst statewide, resulting in the state’s best-ever result.
• Three Massachusetts counties improved to be listed among the cleanest in the country for the daily measure of particle pollution—Middlesex, Norfolk and Suffolk.
• None of the 13 Massachusetts counties graded for ozone smog earned an A for this measure.

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 Massachusetts. Children deserve to breathe air that won’t make them sick,” said Daniel Fitzgerald, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association. “Unfortunately, too many people in the Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH metro area are living with unhealthy levels of ozone and 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.” 

Fitzgerald 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 Massachusetts 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 Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH metro area (Boston 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 Boston metro area ranked 57th worst in the nation for ozone pollution.
  • The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—4.8 days per year, an F grade, in Washington County, Rhode Island.
  • This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 61st worst, with 4.5 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 Boston metro area ranked 53rd 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—3.3 days per year, an F grade, in Essex County, Massachusetts.
  • This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 114th worst, with 1.7 days per year, a C grade, when Worcester County was worst.  
• For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst counties, Plymouth and Worcester Counties, Massachusetts, received a passing grade for pollution levels below the federal standard. 
  • The Boston metro area posted its best-ever results for this measure and ranked 164th worst in the nation.
  • This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 110th worst in the nation. 

In addition to the Boston metro area, other notable throughout the region include: 

• The Springfield-Amherst Town-Northampton, MA metro area posted passing grades for all three measures of air quality. The year-round average of fine particle pollution improved to 16th best in the country. The daily measure for particles remained unchanged, earning a D grade and ranking the metro at 76th worst in the nation, with Franklin County again being worst for this measure. The metro area was last worse for daily particles 19 years ago. Ozone smog worsened slightly, based on Hampden County’s result, and continues with a C grade, worsening from 108th worst to 100th worst in the U.S.
• The Pittsfield, MA metro area (consisting of Berkshire County) also posted passing grades for all three measures of air quality. The result for ozone smog remained unchanged, earning a B grade and 169th worst ranking. Both measure of particle pollution improved: The daily measure was slightly better, but still earned a D grade, with the area’s ranking improving from 63rd worst to 69th. The year-round measure improved slightly, but the area’s rank worsened enough to take it off the list of 25 cleanest cities for this measure.
• The New Haven-Hartford-Waterbury, CT metro area worsened for ozone smog, again posting a failing grade (for 9.5 unhealthy days per year in New Haven County), but its rank improved slightly from 27th worst to 29th. In contrast, the area recorded its best-ever and passing mark for the year-round measure of fine particle pollution (with Hartford and New Haven Counties tying), with its rank improving from 155th to 168th worst; and the daily measure improved from an F and 58th worst to a D grade (with Litchfield and New Haven Counties tying with 2.3 unhealthy days per year) and 82nd worst.
• 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 area ranked 169th worst in the nation for ozone pollution with a B grade. This ranking is based on an average of 0.3 unhealthy days per year in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, 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 in Cheshire County, 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.

Get involved and help the mission of American Lung Association. The Autumn Escape Bike Trek in Sandwich, MA is coming up on September 25-27, 2026. Learn more at AutumnEscape.org.