New Report: Cincinnati’s Air Quality Gets Worse, Residents Exposed to More Unhealthy Air Pollution

The 2022 “State of the Air” report, released today by the American Lung Association, finds that Cincinnati’s rankings were worse for particle pollution and stayed the same for ozone pollution. The metro area suffered the same number of unhealthy ozone pollution days in 2018-2020

The “State of the Air” report is the Lung Association’s annual air quality “report card” that tracks and grades Americans’ exposure to unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone air pollution (also known as smog), annual particle pollution (also known as soot), and short-term spikes in particle pollution, over a three-year period. This year’s report covers 2018-2020. See the full report at Lung.org/SOTA.

“The levels of ozone and particle pollution seen in Cincinnati can harm the health of all of our residents, but particularly at risk are children, older adults, pregnant people and those living with chronic disease. Both ozone and particle pollution can cause premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, cardiovascular damage, and developmental and reproductive harm. Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer,” said Ken Fletcher, Director of Advocacy for the Lung Association. 

Ground-level Ozone Pollution in Cincinnati
Compared to the 2021 report, Cincinnati experienced the same number of unhealthy days of high ozone in this year’s report. “State of the Air” ranked Cincinnati as the 32nd most polluted city for ozone pollution. The area received an “F” grade for ozone pollution.

Particle Pollution in Cincinnati
The report also tracked short-term spikes in particle pollution, which can be extremely dangerous and even lethal. Cincinnati’s short-term particle pollution got worse in this year’s report, which means there were more unhealthy days. The area is ranked 81st worst for short-term particle pollution. The metro area slightly improved for its year-round levels of particle pollution in 2018-2020, with the ranking also slightly improving to the 12th most polluted city in the nation. 

The report found that nationwide, nearly 9 million more people were impacted by deadly particle pollution than reported last year. It also shows more days with “very unhealthy” and “hazardous” air quality than ever before in the two-decade history of this report. Overall, more than 137 million Americans live in counties that had unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution. Communities of color are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air. The report found that people of color were 61% more likely than white people to live in a county with a failing grade for at least one pollutant, and 3.6 times as likely to live in a county with a failing grade for all three pollutants.

The addition of 2020 data to the 2022 “State of the Air” report gives a first look at air quality trends during the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless of the shutdowns in early 2020, there was no obvious improvement. 

The American Lung Association is calling on the Biden administration to strengthen the national limits on both short-term and year-round particulate matter air pollution. Stronger standards will educate the public about air pollution levels that threaten their health and drive the cleanup of polluting sources in communities across the country. See the full report results and sign the petition at Lung.org/SOTA.