A recently released report from the American Lung Association shows that the state of California – and the Bay Area – has some of the worst air quality in the entire country.
The organization’s 25th annual State of the Air report found Wednesday that more than 9 in 10 Californians live in a community that earns a failing grade for unhealthy ozone pollution days, unhealthy particulate pollution days and/or unhealthy annual particulate pollution levels, despite decades of strong progress in cleaning the air and reducing pollution.
More than 8 in 10 Californians live in an area with poor grades in every category.
“With a quarter century of air pollution data behind us, ‘State of the Air’ 2024 clearly shows that progress is being made, but much more work lies ahead when it comes to healthy California air as our climate crisis intensifies is,” Senior Manager for Clean Air Advocacy Mariela Ruacho was quoted in the press release accompanying the report. “California must aggressively tackle air and climate pollution by enforcing strong policies and budget priorities. This is not the time to delay or cut state investments to support those living in communities that bear the greatest burden of unhealthy air.”
While the areas with the worst air quality readings were Bakersfield – which ranked third for unhealthy days of ozone pollution and topped the list for both unhealthy days of particulate pollution and unhealthy annual particle pollution levels – and the area around Fresno, Madera and Hanford in the Central Valley – #4 for unhealthy days of ozone pollution, #3 for unhealthy days of particle pollution and #2 for unhealthy annual particle pollution levels – the Bay Area is still in or near the top ten in all three categories.
The combined readings for San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland ranked 12th worst for high ozone days, 7th worst for 24-hour particulate pollution and fifth for worst annual particulate pollution of more than 200 United States metropolitan areas measured in the report.
In total, twelve California cities are on at least one of the lists of the nation’s 25 most polluted cities. Los Angeles-Long Beach, Bakersfield, Fresno-Madera-Hanford, Sacramento-Roseville, San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland and Visalia appear on the list of most polluted cities for all three categories.
The State of the Air report list of the most polluted cities in the US can be found on the American Lung Association website.
