Most Polluted Places to Live

Did You Know?

1. Nearly half of the people in the U.S. live where the air they breathe earned an F in “State of the Air” 2025.
2. More than 156 million people live in counties that received an F for either ozone or particle pollution in “State of the Air” 2025.
3. More than 42 million people live in counties that got an F for all three air pollution measures in “State of the Air” 2025.
4. Breathing ozone irritates the lungs, resulting in inflammation—as if your lungs had a bad sunburn.
5. Breathing in particle pollution can increase the risk of lung cancer.
6. Particle pollution can cause early death and heart attacks, strokes, and emergency room visits.
7. Particles in air pollution can be smaller than 1/30th the diameter of a human hair. When you inhale them, they are small enough to get past the body's natural defenses.
8. Ozone and particle pollution are both linked to increased risk of premature birth and lower birth weight in newborns.
9. If you live or work near a busy highway, traffic pollution may put you at greater risk of health harm.
10. People who work or exercise outside face increased risk from the effects of air pollution.
11. Millions of people are especially vulnerable to the effects of air pollution, including children, older adults, and people with lung diseases such as asthma and COPD.
12. People of color and people with lower incomes are disproportionately affected by air pollution that puts them at higher risk for illness.
13. Air pollution is a serious health threat. It can trigger asthma attacks, harm lung development in children, and even be deadly.
14. You can protect yourself by checking the air quality forecast in your community and avoiding exercising or working outdoors when unhealthy air is expected.
15. Climate change enhances conditions for ozone pollution to form and makes it harder to clean up communities where ozone levels are high.
16. Climate change increases the risk for wildfires and resulting smoke that spreads dangerous particle pollution.
17. Policymakers at every level of government must take steps to clean the air their constituents breathe.
18. The nation has the Clean Air Act to thank for decades of improvements in air quality. This landmark law has successfully driven pollution reduction for over 50 years.
19. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is critical for cleaning up air pollution. EPA’s staff ensure that air pollution is monitored, write sound rules to clean it up, and make sure those rules are enforced.
20. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is under threat. Despite EPA’s lifesaving role in protecting people’s health from air pollution, big staffing and funding cuts are endangering their work.