New ‘State of the Air’ Report Finds Richmond Metro Area Posts Passing Air Quality Across All Measures, including B for Ozone and C for Fine Particles; Hampton Roads Similar, Worse in Northern Va., whi

Today, the American Lung Association released its 27th annual “State of the Air” report, which reveals that the Richmond, VA metro area shows minor shifts in air quality this year, with ozone pollution worsening slightly and moving from 165th worst in nation to 143rd worst, still a B grade. Particle pollutant showed modest improvements with a B for short-term and passing for year-round.

In other areas across the Commonwealth: 

• Frederick County posted the worst value for the daily (short-term) measure of particle pollution in the state, earning a D grade, and tying with the District of Columbia for worst in the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington metro area. 
• Arlington County was the worst in Virginia for ozone, also earning a D grade. 
• Fairfax County was worst for the year-round measure of fine particles but still passed. 
• Three Virginia metro areas continued to be listed among the cleanest in the country for ozone smog:
  • Charlottesville, VA (6 years in a row)
  • Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA (3 years in a row) and
  • Roanoke, VA (10 years in a row),

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 for cleanest and most polluted lists for each pollutant.

Nationally, the report finds 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.

Ozone and particle pollution are widespread and can impact anyone’s health, but infants, children, and teens are more susceptible to health impacts. 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, increased risk of respiratory diseases, and impaired cognitive functioning later in life. More broadly, both pollutants can cause premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes, and preterm births. Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer. 

“Clean air is essential to the health and wellbeing of families across Virginia. Children deserve to breathe air that won’t make them sick,” said Aleks Casper, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association. “Thankfully, Richmond has fairly good air quality overall, though ozone pollution has increased slightly compared to last year. Clean air takes work, and communities across the Commonwealth see different results—from places like Roanoke that continue to earn top marks for ozone, to metro areas where pollution is even more concerning. Unfortunately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rollbacks of critical healthy air rules are impacting our residents We urge Virginia’s 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.”

Key Findings Richmond, VA 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 Richmond, VA 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 Henrico County, Virginia.
  • This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 165th worst, with 0.3 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 Richmond, VA metro area ranked 106th worst in the nation for short-term particle pollution.
  • The ranking was based on the area’s worst average number of unhealthy days—1.7 days per year, a C grade, in Richmond City [VA.
  • This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 98th worst, with 2 days per year, a C grade.  
• For the year-round average level of particle pollution, Richmond City, VA, was the area’s worst, but still improved and continued to receive a passing grade for pollution levels below the federal standard. 
  • The Richmond, VA metro area ranked 136th worst in the nation.
  • This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 114th worst in the nation. 

In addition to results for the Richmond metro area, other notable findings across the state include: 

• Roanoke, VA metro area was listed among cleanest in the U.S. for ozone smog, with an A grade for the 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.  
• 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. 
• The Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol, TN-VA metro area again ranked among the nation’s cleanest cities for ozone pollution, based on 0 unhealthy days per year and an A grade in Sullivan County, TN, matching the past two years’ strong performance. For short-term particle pollution, the area ranked 154th worst nationally, with 0.7 unhealthy days per year and a B grade in Sullivan County, TN, and Bristol City, VA, similar to last year. For year-round particle pollution, Bristol City, VA received a passing grade, and the metro area ranked 164th worst nationally, an improvement from last year.  
• Washington–Baltimore–Arlington, DC–MD–VA–WV–PA metro area (with 20 Virginia counties and independent cities) ranked among the more polluted regions in the nation for ozone smog, earning a failing grade despite year-to-year improvement. The region received an F for ozone smog, ranking as the 49th worst metro area in the US, though it did experience fewer unhealthy ozone days than in the previous report. The metro area improved for both measures of particle pollution, improving to a D for daily particle pollution in Frederick County, VA (and in the District) and improving to a passing mark for year-round particle pollution.

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.