Cities with the Worst Air, El Paso, Texas Leads (2026)

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

El Paso, Texas has the worst air of the 103 US cities we rank, with a Bad Air Score of 99.4 out of 100 and 8% of days rated Unhealthy or worse (EPA, 2025). Los Angeles, California is next, with a Bad Air Score of 99.3.

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

99.4El Paso, Texas leads on The Honest Local Bad Air Score, 103 cities, the 100 largest metro areas and every city we coverHow many days a year the air is unhealthy to breathe, blended with fine particle pollution.

National Parks Near El Paso — **El Paso, Texas**, No. 1 of 103.

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

No. 1El Paso, Texas99.48 days Unhealthy or worse
No. 2Los Angeles, California99.39 days Unhealthy or worse
No. 3Houston, Texas97.13 days Unhealthy or worse
No. 4Minneapolis, Minnesota94.92 days Unhealthy or worse
No. 5San Diego, California94.12 days Unhealthy or worse

Cities with the Worst Air on the map

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

Loading the numbers…

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

Cities with the Worst Air, all 103

The full ranking worst score, 0 to 100

	Place	Bad Air Scoreout of 100	Unhealthy days pct	PM2.5µg/m³
1	El Paso, Texasbig city	99.4	8.299	13100
2	Los Angeles, Californiabig city	99.3	8.899	1199
3	Houston, Texasbig city	97.1	2.797	9.897
4	Minneapolis, Minnesotabig city	94.9	1.696	9.594
5	San Diego, Californiabig city	94.1	1.997	9.291
6	Riverside, Californiabig city	92.7	9.3100	8.985
7	Bakersfield, Californiabig city	91.6	1.191	9.392
8	Indianapolis, Indianabig city	90.3	0.585	9.896
9	Fresno, Californiabig city	89.3	0.889	9.189
10	Detroit, Michiganbig city	88.9	0.889	989
11	Grand Rapids, Michigan	88.6	0.585	9.393
12	St. Louis, Missouribig city	87.3	0.585	9.290
13	Toledo, Ohiobig city	85.6	0.376	9.595
14	Chicago, Illinoisbig city	84.8	1.493	8.676
15	Wichita, Kansasbig city	84.6	0.376	9.493
16	Phoenix, Arizonabig city	84	1.696	8.372
17	Columbus, Ohiobig city	81.9	0.376	988
18	Cincinnati, Ohiobig city	78.9	0.376	8.882
19	Milwaukee, Wisconsinbig city	77.4	0.585	8.270
20	San Antonio, Texasbig city	75.3	0.376	8.575
21	Tulsa, Oklahomabig city	74.3	0.376	8.373
22	Kansas City, Missouribig city	72.7	0.585	7.961
23	Louisville, Kentuckybig city	72	0.376	8.268
24	Oklahoma City, Oklahomabig city	71	0.376	8.166
25	Knoxville, Tennessee	65	0.376	7.754
26	Little Rock, Arkansas	64.3	030	1099
27	Augusta, Georgia	64	030	1098
28	McAllen, Texas	63.7	030	9.997
29	Madison, Wisconsinbig city	63.4	0.376	7.651
30	Dallas, Texasbig city	62.7	0.376	7.550
31	Cleveland, Ohiobig city	60.3	030	9.291
32	Washington, DCbig city	59.8	0.585	6.835
33	Jackson, Mississippi	58.4	030	987
34	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	58	030	986
35	Atlanta, Georgiabig city	57.4	030	8.985
36	Charlotte, North Carolinabig city	57	030	8.984
37	Fayetteville, Arkansas	56.7	030	8.883
38	Albuquerque, New Mexicobig city	56.2	0.889	6.423
39	Akron, Ohio	54.7	030	8.780
40	Dayton, Ohio	54	030	8.778
41	Philadelphia, Pennsylvaniabig city	53.7	030	8.678
42	Tucson, Arizonabig city	53.3	1.493	5.813
43	Salt Lake City, Utah	52.8	0.376	6.730
44	Savannah, Georgia	52.7	030	8.576
45	Birmingham, Alabama	52.1	030	8.574
46	Austin, Texasbig city	51.7	030	8.474
47	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvaniabig city	49.7	030	8.270
48	Greenville, South Carolina	49.4	030	8.269
49	Providence, Rhode Island	48.8	0.376	6.322
50	Stockton, Californiabig city	48.7	030	8.168
51	Memphis, Tennesseebig city	47.1	030	864
52	Harrisburg, Pennsylvania	46.4	030	863
53	Nashville, Tennesseebig city	45.8	030	7.962
54	Lakeland, Florida	44.8	030	7.860
55	Columbia, South Carolina	44.1	030	7.858
56	Miami, Floridabig city	43.8	030	7.758
57	Chattanooga, Tennessee	43.5	030	7.757
58	Charleston, South Carolina	43.1	030	7.756
59	New York, New Yorkbig city	42.8	030	7.756
60	Winston-Salem, North Carolinabig city	42.5	030	7.755
61	Tampa, Floridabig city	39.5	030	7.549
62	Jacksonville, Floridabig city	38.5	030	7.447
63	Buffalo, New Yorkbig city	38.2	030	7.446
64	New Orleans, Louisianabig city	37.8	030	7.446
65	Raleigh, North Carolinabig city	37.5	030	7.345
66	Portland, Maine	37.2	030	7.344
67	Huntsville, Alabama	36.8	030	7.244
68	Des Moines, Iowa	36.5	030	7.243
69	San Jose, Californiabig city	35.8	030	7.142
70	Baltimore, Marylandbig city	35.2	030	7.140
71	Daytona Beach, Florida	34.8	030	740
72	Spokane, Washington	34.5	030	6.939
73	Virginia Beach, Virginiabig city	34.2	030	6.938
74	Allentown, Pennsylvania	33.8	030	6.938
75	Richmond, Virginia	33.2	030	6.936
76	Albany, New York	32.8	030	6.836
77	Greensboro, North Carolinabig city	31.9	030	6.834
78	Durham, North Carolinabig city	31.2	030	6.733
79	Asheville, North Carolina	30.9	030	6.732
80	Poughkeepsie, New York	29.9	030	no reading
80	San Francisco, Californiabig city	30.2	030	6.731
82	Sacramento, Californiabig city	29.5	030	6.729
83	Omaha, Nebraskabig city	28.9	030	6.728
84	Rochester, New York	28.2	030	6.527
85	Orlando, Floridabig city	27.9	030	6.526
86	Oxnard, California	27.6	030	6.525
87	Cape Coral, Florida	27.2	030	6.425
88	Denver, Coloradobig city	26.9	030	6.424
89	Provo, Utah	26.2	030	6.323
90	Sarasota, Florida	25.5	030	6.321
91	Boston, Massachusettsbig city	25.2	030	6.321
92	Portland, Oregonbig city	24.9	030	6.220
93	Syracuse, New York	24.5	030	6.119
94	Las Vegas, Nevadabig city	22.3	030	5.915
95	Reno, Nevadabig city	21.3	030	5.813
96	Vancouver, Washington	20.6	030	5.711
97	Worcester, Massachusetts	19.4	030	5.69
98	Seattle, Washingtonbig city	18.6	030	5.57
99	Boise, Idaho	17.6	030	5.35
100	Ogden, Utah	17	030	5.24
101	Melbourne, Florida	16.6	030	53
102	Colorado Springs, Coloradobig city	16	030	4.62
103	Honolulu, Hawaiibig city	15.6	030	4.11

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 Bad 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. The same two EPA sources and the same state method as our clean air list, read from the other end. The share of monitored days in the year rated Unhealthy or worse, leaving out the milder Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups tier, blended with the average fine particle concentration the EPA's monitors measured. Each source ranks every place on its own and the average of the two ranks is the score that decides the list. The plain share of unhealthy 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 uses a plain average of its covered counties, for the reason given on the clean air list. It refreshes once a year, when the EPA publishes the prior year. For El Paso, Texas, that means EPA county AQI, 2025 file, 365 monitored days (county FIPS 48141).

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 More Than Just Parks · Shutterstock/Marek Masik · Shutterstock.