{"id":14316,"date":"2025-07-29T04:53:59","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T10:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/housefresh.com\/?p=14316"},"modified":"2025-07-29T04:55:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T10:55:40","slug":"the-worst-u-s-states-for-air-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housefresh.com\/the-worst-u-s-states-for-air-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"The worst states and cities for air quality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Few factors influence your health and sense of well-being than having clean, fresh air to breathe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humans have worried about the effects of air pollution on health since at least the time of Hippocrates. But industrialization and the spread of cars and cigarettes have made good air hard to find \u2014 and the growing<\/a> reach and regularity of wildfires have become the leading cause<\/a> of worsening air in America in recent times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of special concern today is PM2.5 or fine particulate matter: \u201csmall droplets of liquid, dry solid fragments, and solid cores with liquid coatings<\/a>\u201d with a diameter of no more than 2.5 micrometers, which is less than 1\/30th<\/sup> of a strand of human hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These particles mostly come from burned fuel and firewood. Even one day of exposure to air with high PM2.5 levels can lead to bronchitis, asthma attacks and other heart and lung issues. Long-term exposure has been linked with slower lung function growth<\/a> in children and shorter lifespans<\/a> for all affected. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this report, we used the latest annual PM2.5 data to identify the states and large U.S. cities with the best and worst air quality.<\/p>\n\n\n

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