Boston Metro's Backyard: New Hampshire Counties Grapple with Air Quality Concerns in 25th Annual ‘State of the Air’ Report

Several New Hampshire counties, including Belknap, Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham, and Strafford, featured prominently in the Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT metro area, are under scrutiny for their air quality as revealed in the American Lung Association’s 2024 “State of the Air” report, released today. The report identified the metro area as the 48th most polluted in the nation for ozone pollution and third worst in the northeast region.  The report also found that the year-round measure of particle pollution worsened slightly making it the second worst metro area in the region.

The Lung Association’s 25th annual “State of the Air” report grades exposure to unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone air pollution, annual particle pollution and short-term spikes in particle pollution over a three-year period. This year’s report includes air quality data from 2020-2022 and is updated to reflect the new annual particle pollution standard that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized in February.

Lance Boucher, Division Assistant Vice President for the American Lung Association, emphasized, “While significant progress has been made in improving the nation's air quality over the past 25 years, New Hampshire, particularly within the Boston-Worcester-Providence metro area, still faces challenges. Climate change exacerbates air pollution, making it imperative that we take immediate action to safeguard public health.”

Ground-level Ozone Pollution in the Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT metro area: 
The “State of the Air” report looked at levels of ozone “smog,” the air pollutant affecting the largest number of people in the United States. The Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT metro area ranked 48th worst in the nation for ozone pollution. The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—3 days per year, a D grade, in Washington County, Rhode Island. This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 52nd worst, with 2.2 days per year, a D grade.  

Particle Pollution in the Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT metro area: 
The report also tracked short-term spikes in particle pollution, which can be extremely dangerous and even deadly. The Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT metro area ranked 101st 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—0.8 days per year, a B grade, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 95th worst, with 0.8 days per year, a B grade.  

For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Worcester County, Massachusetts, received a passing grade for pollution levels below the federal standard that was recently updated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT metro area ranked 90th worst in the nation. This was worse than the area's ranking in last year's report of 96th worst in the nation. 

In addition to the Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT metro area metro area, other notable findings across New Hampshire include: 

• For ozone pollution: Rockingham County earned a C grade; Merrimack and Coos Counties earned B grades; and Belknap, Cheshire, Grafton and Hillsborough earned A grades
• All counties measured for short term particle pollution, including Rockingham, Belknap, Cheshire, Grafton and Hillsborough earned B grades. 
• All New Hampshire Counties received passing grades for pollution levels below the federal standard that was recently updated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

The “State of the Air” report found that nationally, more than 131 million people live in an area that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution, and 43.9 million people live in areas with failing grades for all three measures. In the three years covered by this report, individuals in the U.S. experienced the highest number of days when particle pollution reached “very unhealthy” and “hazardous” levels in the history of reporting the “State of the Air.” Communities of color are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air and are also more likely to be living with one or more chronic conditions that make them more vulnerable to air pollution, including asthma, diabetes and heart disease. The report found that a person of color in the U.S. is more than twice as likely as a white individual to live in a community with a failing grade on all three pollution measures.

Both ozone and particle pollution can cause premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, preterm births and impaired cognitive functioning later in life. Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer. 

EPA recently finalized new air pollution rules that will help clean up particle pollution and address climate change. Now, the Lung Association is urging EPA to set long overdue stronger national limits on ozone pollution. Stronger limits would help people protect themselves and drive cleanup of polluting sources across the country. See the full report results and sign the petition at Lung.org/SOTA.

Get involved and help the mission of American Lung Association. The LUNG FORCE Walk in Boston is coming up on October 19th. Register today at Lungforce.org/Boston