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/

How many days a year the air is unhealthy to breathe, blended with fine particle pollution.

By The Honest Local · 104 cities · every value links to its public source

99.4El Paso, Texas leads on The Honest Local Bad Air Score, 104 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 lowest of 104.

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, Minnesota95.12 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 104

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	899	13100
2	Los Angeles, Californiabig city	99.3	999	1199
3	Houston, Texasbig city	97.1	397	1097
4	Minneapolis, Minnesotabig city	95.1	296	994
5	San Diego, Californiabig city	94.1	297	991
6	Riverside, Californiabig city	92.7	9100	985
7	Bakersfield, Californiabig city	91.8	191	992
8	Indianapolis, Indianabig city	91.1	186	1096
9	Grand Rapids, Michigan	89.8	187	993
10	Detroit, Michiganbig city	89.1	190	989
11	Fresno, Californiabig city	89.1	189	989
12	St. Louis, Missouribig city	87.2	184	990
13	Chicago, Illinoisbig city	85.2	194	976
14	Toledo, Ohiobig city	84.6	074	1095
15	Columbus, Ohiobig city	83.9	080	988
16	Phoenix, Arizonabig city	83.8	295	872
17	Wichita, Kansasbig city	82.9	072	993
18	Cincinnati, Ohiobig city	81.2	080	982
19	Augusta, Georgia	77.6	057	1098
20	Milwaukee, Wisconsinbig city	77.6	185	870
21	San Antonio, Texasbig city	74.6	074	975
22	Kansas City, Missouribig city	73.2	186	861
23	Louisville, Kentuckybig city	72.9	078	868
24	Tulsa, Oklahomabig city	72.9	073	873
25	Atlanta, Georgiabig city	71.4	058	985
26	Oklahoma City, Oklahomabig city	71.3	076	866
27	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	70.7	055	986
28	Akron, Ohio	70	061	980
29	Cleveland, Ohiobig city	70	049	991
30	Little Rock, Arkansas	67.8	037	1099
31	Charlotte, NCbig city	67.4	051	984
32	McAllen, Texas	66.8	036	1097
33	Knoxville, Tennessee	66.3	078	854
34	Austin, Texasbig city	65.1	057	874
35	Birmingham, Alabama	64.4	055	874
36	Dallas, Texasbig city	64.3	079	750
37	Madison, Wisconsinbig city	64	077	851
38	Fayetteville, Arkansas	63.8	044	983
39	Jackson, Mississippi	63.5	040	987
40	Dayton, Ohio	62.8	047	978
41	Washington DC, Washington, DCbig city	59	184	734
42	Albuquerque, New Mexicobig city	56.3	190	623
43	Greenville, SC	55.9	043	869
44	Charleston, South Carolina	53.8	051	856
45	Chattanooga, Tennessee	53.5	050	857
46	Tucson, Arizonabig city	53.3	193	613
47	Philadelphia, Pennsylvaniabig city	53.2	029	978
48	Columbia, South Carolina	53.2	048	858
49	Harrisburg, Pennsylvania	52.5	042	863
50	Salt Lake City, Utah	52.1	075	729
51	Memphis, Tennesseebig city	49.6	035	864
52	Buffalo, New Yorkbig city	49.2	053	746
53	Lakeland, Florida	48.9	038	860
54	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvaniabig city	48.9	028	870
55	Providence, Rhode Island	48.5	076	621
56	Allentown, Pennsylvania	48.2	059	737
57	Baltimore, Marylandbig city	47.8	056	740
58	Nashville, Tennesseebig city	47.6	034	862
59	Savannah, Georgia	47.6	020	976
60	Albany, New York	47.5	060	735
61	Miami, Floridabig city	45.9	034	858
62	Asheville, North Carolina	44.9	059	731
63	New York, New Yorkbig city	43.9	032	856
64	Des Moines, Iowa	43.9	045	742
65	Jacksonville, Floridabig city	43.3	040	747
66	Daytona Beach, Florida	42.9	047	739
67	Stockton, Californiabig city	42.7	018	868
68	Jacksonville, Floridabig city	42.6	039	746
69	Huntsville, AL	41.9	041	743
70	New Orleans, Louisianabig city	39	033	745
71	Durham, North Carolinabig city	38.3	045	732
72	Greensboro, North Carolinabig city	38.3	043	733
73	Cape Coral, Florida	37.9	052	624
74	Boston, Massachusettsbig city	36.6	053	620
75	Portland, Maine	35.4	027	744
76	Winston-Salem, North Carolinabig city	34.8	015	855
77	Raleigh, North Carolinabig city	34.7	025	744
78	Denver, Coloradobig city	34.7	046	623
79	Tampa, Floridabig city	32.7	016	749
80	San Jose, Californiabig city	31.1	021	741
81	Richmond, Virginia	29.8	024	736
82	Boise, Idaho	29.6	054	55
83	Omaha, Nebraskabig city	29.1	031	727
84	Spokane, Washington	28.4	018	738
85	Orlando, Floridabig city	27.8	030	725
86	Oxnard, California	27.1	030	625
87	Virginia Beach, Virginiabig city	26.4	015	738
88	Poughkeepsie, New York	26.3	026	no reading
89	Las Vegas, Nevadabig city	26.1	038	615
90	San Francisco, Californiabig city	25.8	022	730
91	Sacramento, Californiabig city	25.5	022	729
92	Colorado Springs, Coloradobig city	25.4	049	52
93	Rochester, New York	24.4	023	726
94	Provo, Utah	23.8	026	622
95	Portland, Oregonbig city	23.4	028	619
96	Honolulu, Hawaiibig city	21.3	041	41
97	Sarasota, Florida	20.5	020	621
98	Melbourne, Florida	19.4	036	53
99	Reno, Nevadabig city	18.5	024	613
100	Ogden, Utah	17.8	032	54
101	Syracuse, New York	17.8	017	619
102	Vancouver, Washington	13.6	016	611
103	Seattle, Washingtonbig city	13.2	019	67
104	Worcester, Massachusetts	11.6	014	69

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.