Best, worst cities for air quality: California ranks among worst, East Coast is cleaner

Written by Jordan Mendoza at USA TODAY

A report released by the American Lung Association revealed millions of Americans are breathing unhealthy levels of air pollution across the country.

State of the Air 2022, based on data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2018 to 2020 also revealed which cities had the best and worst air quality.

The rankings are based on three categories: ozone pollution, year-round particle pollution and short-term exposure particle pollution over 24 hours.

The report, released Thursday, listed climate-change-driven wildfires as one of the biggest contributors for the rise in air particle pollution, a factor reflected in the rankings. Western cities have been plagued by historic wildfires in recent years.

Most of the cities with the cleanest air quality were on the East Coast.

Here are are the best and worst cities for air quality, according to the American Lung Association:

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Worst air in the United States

It isn’t West Coast best coast when it comes to air.

California dominated the worst-air rankings, with three of the state’s cities topping each of the categories for worst air. The Los Angeles-Long Beach area had the worst air by ozone, Bakersfield had the worst year-round particle pollution, and the Fresno-Madera-Hanford area had the worst air by short-term particle pollution.

The top 10 cities in each of the three categories were in Western states; the most eastern city was Houston. Here are the worst air cities:

Worst air by ozone:

1. Los Angeles-Long Beach, California
2. Bakersfield, California
3. Visalia, California
4. Fresno-Madera-Hanford, California
5. Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona
6. San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, California
7. Denver-Aurora, Colorado
8. Houston-The Woodlands, Texas
9. Sacramento-Roseville, California
10. Salt Lake City-Provo-Orem, Utah

Worst year-round particle pollution:Story continues