Lung Association "State of the Air" 2026 Report: Dallas joined by Houston, Brownsville and McAllen on Most Polluted Cities Lists

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 5,474,038 kids in Texas. The report also finds that air quality in the Dallas-Fort Worth, metro area worsened and residents are being exposed to more unhealthy ozone pollution. The metro area was named 9th worst ozone pollution and received an F 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 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 Texas. Children deserve to breathe air that won’t make them sick,” said Charlie Gagen, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association. “Unfortunately, too many people in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area are living with unhealthy levels of ozone. This air pollution is causing kids to have asthma attacks, contributing to chronic health conditions, and making people who work outdoors sick.” 

Gagen 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 Texas policymakers to take action to improve our air quality, including ensuring every county has air quality monitors, 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 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 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 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX metro area ranked 9th worst in the nation for ozone pollution.
  • The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—27.8 days per year, an F grade, in Denton County, Texas.
  • This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 10th worst, with 25.5 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 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 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 Dallas and Tarrant County, Texas.
  • This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 139th worst, with 1 day per year, a C grade.  
• For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Dallas County, Texas, received a failing grade for pollution levels above the federal standard. 
  • The Dallas-Fort Worth, TX metro area ranked 22nd worst in the nation.
  • This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 30th worst in the nation.

Other notable findings from the state include:

• The Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX metro area ranked 46th worst in the nation for ozone pollution. The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—6 days per year, an F grade, in Travis County, Texas. This was the same ranking as in last year's report but slightly worse, with 5.7 days per year, an F grade. 
  • The Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX metro area ranked 82nd 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—2.3 days per year, a D grade, in Travis County Texas. This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 156th worst, with 0.7 days per year, a B grade.
  • For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Travis County Texas, received a failing grade for pollution levels above the federal standard. The Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX metro area ranked 23rd worst in the nation. This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 39th worst in the nation.
• The Brownsville-Harlingen-Raymondville, TX metro area ranked 169th worst in the nation for ozone pollution. The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days - 0.3 days per year, a B grade, in Cameron County, Texas. This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 165th worst, with 0.3 days per year, a B grade. 
  • The Brownsville-Harlingen-Raymondville, TX metro area ranked 4th 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 - 23.7 days per year, an F grade, in Cameron County Texas. This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 82nd worst, with 2.3 days per year, a D grade. 
  • For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Cameron County, Texas, received a failing grade for pollution levels above the federal standard. The Brownsville-Harlingen-Raymondville, TX metro area ranked 2nd worst in the nation. This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 16th worst in the nation. 
• The Houston-Pasadena, TX metro area ranked 6th worst in the nation for ozone pollution. The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—43.3 days per year, an F grade, in Harris County, Texas. This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 7th worst, with 34.8 days per year, an F grade. 
  • The Houston-Pasadena, TX 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 Harris County, Texas. This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 125th worst, with 1.3 days per year, a C grade. 
  • For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Harris County, Texas, received a failing grade for pollution levels above the federal standard. The Houston-Pasadena, TX metro area ranked 8th worst in the nation. This was the same as the area's ranking in last year's report of 8th worst in the nation. 

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.