Cities with the Cleanest Air, Honolulu, Hawaii Leads (2026)

Name: Best air quality by city and state, The Honest Local
Creator: The Honest Local
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Honolulu, Hawaii has the cleanest air of the 103 US cities we rank, with a Clean Air Score of 99.4 out of 100 and 97.3% of days rated Good (EPA, 2025). Poughkeepsie, New York is next, with a Clean Air Score of 98.

By The Honest Local · 103 cities · every value links to its public source

99.4Honolulu, Hawaii leads on The Honest Local Clean Air Score, 103 cities, the 100 largest metro areas and every city we coverHow many days a year the air is rated good, blended with how much fine particle pollution hangs in it.

Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach seen from under the red umbrellas of a beachfront bar in Honolulu — **Honolulu, Hawaii**, No. 1 of 103. Waikiki from a beach bar, Diamond Head at the end of the sand.

The top five cities Clean Air Score out of 100, and the readings behind it

No. 1Honolulu, Hawaii99.497.3 % of days Good
No. 2Poughkeepsie, New York9894 % of days Good
No. 3Melbourne, Florida97.191.2 % of days Good
No. 4Vancouver, Washington90.882.7 % of days Good
No. 5Worcester, Massachusetts90.681.6 % of days Good

Cities with the Cleanest Air on the map

Clean Air Score, cities hover for the numbers, click for every one

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The share of monitored days the EPA rated Good, blended with the average fine particle pollution in the air over the year.

Cities with the Cleanest Air, all 103

The full ranking best score, 0 to 100

	Place	Clean Air Scoreout of 100	Good days pct	PM2.5µg/m³
1	Honolulu, Hawaiibig city	99.4	97100	4.199
2	Poughkeepsie, New York	98	9498	no reading
3	Melbourne, Florida	97.1	9197	597
4	Vancouver, Washington	90.8	8393	5.789
5	Worcester, Massachusetts	90.6	8290	5.691
6	Syracuse, New York	87.1	8393	6.181
7	Boise, Idaho	84.9	7475	5.395
8	Portland, Oregonbig city	81.2	7882	6.280
9	Boston, Massachusettsbig city	79.7	7680	6.380
10	Colorado Springs, Coloradobig city	79.6	6861	4.698
11	Cape Coral, Florida	77.7	7680	6.476
12	Providence, Rhode Island	76.1	7374	6.378
13	Ogden, Utah	75.7	6655	5.296
14	Seattle, Washingtonbig city	75.3	6758	5.593
15	Richmond, Virginia	74.9	7986	6.964
15	Virginia Beach, Virginiabig city	74.9	8188	6.962
17	Rochester, New York	74.8	7476	6.574
18	Daytona Beach, Florida	74.7	8189	760
19	San Francisco, Californiabig city	74.2	7679	6.770
20	Orlando, Floridabig city	73.6	7373	6.574
21	Greensboro, North Carolinabig city	71.9	7578	6.866
22	Asheville, North Carolina	71.1	7374	6.768
23	Omaha, Nebraskabig city	70.5	7169	6.772
24	Lakeland, Florida	69.6	9699	7.840
25	Durham, North Carolinabig city	68.6	7270	6.768
26	Allentown, Pennsylvania	66.5	7271	6.962
27	Sarasota, Florida	66.1	6553	6.379
28	Portland, Maine	65.8	7476	7.356
29	Huntsville, Alabama	64	7272	7.256
30	Albany, New York	63.2	6962	6.864
31	New Orleans, Louisianabig city	61.6	7169	7.454
32	Washington, DCbig city	60.4	6656	6.865
33	Raleigh, North Carolinabig city	58.6	6962	7.355
34	Spokane, Washington	57.1	6553	6.961
35	Provo, Utah	57	5637	6.378
36	Baltimore, Marylandbig city	56.5	6553	7.160
37	Reno, Nevadabig city	56.4	5025	5.887
38	Fayetteville, Arkansas	55.4	8394	8.817
39	Madison, Wisconsinbig city	54	6759	7.649
40	Buffalo, New Yorkbig city	52.3	6451	7.454
41	Oxnard, California	52.2	5230	6.575
42	Sacramento, Californiabig city	51.9	5433	6.771
43	Des Moines, Iowa	51.6	6146	7.257
44	Denver, Coloradobig city	51.4	5027	6.476
45	Chattanooga, Tennessee	48.8	6555	7.743
46	Tucson, Arizonabig city	47.7	349	5.887
47	Winston-Salem, North Carolinabig city	47.4	6450	7.745
48	Knoxville, Tennessee	47.2	6349	7.746
49	San Jose, Californiabig city	46.6	5535	7.158
50	Las Vegas, Nevadabig city	46	317	5.985
51	Charleston, South Carolina	44.6	6145	7.744
52	Harrisburg, Pennsylvania	42.4	6348	837
53	Albuquerque, New Mexicobig city	41.1	275	6.477
54	Tampa, Floridabig city	41	5331	7.551
55	Columbia, South Carolina	40.9	5840	7.842
56	Memphis, Tennesseebig city	40.1	6044	836
57	Miami, Floridabig city	39.5	5637	7.742
58	Salt Lake City, Utah	39.1	338	6.770
59	Milwaukee, Wisconsinbig city	38.8	6348	8.230
60	Kansas City, Missouribig city	38.7	5738	7.939
61	Stockton, Californiabig city	37.8	6043	8.133
62	Jacksonville, Floridabig city	37.7	4822	7.453
63	Akron, Ohio	35.1	6450	8.721
64	New York, New Yorkbig city	34.9	5025	7.744
65	Nashville, Tennesseebig city	34.4	5330	7.938
66	Greenville, South Carolina	33.3	5636	8.231
67	Dayton, Ohio	33.2	6044	8.722
68	Savannah, Georgia	33	5941	8.525
69	Dallas, Texasbig city	32.1	4114	7.550
70	Louisville, Kentuckybig city	30.1	5228	8.232
71	Oklahoma City, Oklahomabig city	29.1	5024	8.134
72	Tulsa, Oklahomabig city	27.4	5128	8.327
73	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvaniabig city	25.5	4620	8.231
74	Philadelphia, Pennsylvaniabig city	24.6	5027	8.623
75	Atlanta, Georgiabig city	24	5433	8.915
76	Minneapolis, Minnesotabig city	22.8	5840	9.56
77	Wichita, Kansasbig city	22.7	5839	9.47
78	Austin, Texasbig city	22.3	4418	8.427
79	Birmingham, Alabama	22	4418	8.526
80	San Antonio, Texasbig city	21	4317	8.525
81	Charlotte, North Carolinabig city	19.5	4823	8.916
82	Chicago, Illinoisbig city	19.2	4115	8.624
83	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	18.8	5024	914
84	Jackson, Mississippi	16.5	4620	913
85	Phoenix, Arizonabig city	13.9	8.80	8.328
86	Cincinnati, Ohiobig city	13.7	3410	8.818
87	Toledo, Ohiobig city	13.2	4722	9.55
88	Cleveland, Ohiobig city	13.1	4317	9.29
89	Columbus, Ohiobig city	12.6	4013	912
90	Augusta, Georgia	11.6	4721	102
91	Detroit, Michiganbig city	11.3	3611	911
92	Grand Rapids, Michigan	11.2	4215	9.37
93	McAllen, Texas	10.9	4419	9.93
94	St. Louis, Missouribig city	9.7	3410	9.210
95	Fresno, Californiabig city	8.3	296	9.111
95	Indianapolis, Indianabig city	8.3	4013	9.84
97	Riverside, Californiabig city	7.8	111	8.915
98	San Diego, Californiabig city	5.8	183	9.29
99	Bakersfield, Californiabig city	5.5	183	9.38
100	Little Rock, Arkansas	4.3	317	101
101	Houston, Texasbig city	2.7	112	9.83
102	El Paso, Texasbig city	2	184	130
103	Los Angeles, Californiabig city	0.9	111	111

Sources and method

EPA annual air quality by county, 2025 · 2025, with 2024 where 2025 is not yet filed
EPA annual air quality by county, 2024
EPA annual fine particle readings by monitor, 2025

How we got this. The Clean Air Score is The Honest Local’s own recipe. Each source ranks every place on its own from 0 to 100 and the score is the average, so a place has to do well on all of them to lead. We don't grade air on one count alone, so we blend two EPA readings. The share of monitored days in the year the EPA rated Good, and the average fine particle concentration the EPA's own monitors measured that year, a longer look at what hangs in the air than any one day's category. Each source ranks every place against every other place that has it and the average of the two ranks is the score that decides the list. The plain share of Good days is still what we show you. A city uses its own county. For a state we never hand you one county's reading and call it the state's. We weight every county in the state by population, for each source on its own. Connecticut is a real gap. The federal tables no longer agree on what a Connecticut county is, so there's no population to weight by and we use a plain average of the counties the EPA covers, noted in that row. It refreshes once a year, when the EPA publishes the prior year. For Honolulu, Hawaii, that means EPA county AQI, 2025 file, 365 monitored days (county FIPS 15003).

Rankings by The Honest Local from public data, one page per list, refreshed on each source’s own cycle. Places with no reading are left out rather than estimated. Every value on this page carries its source in the page’s structured data.

Photos Juliancolton, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons · Pokemonprime, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · More Than Just Parks.