137 million Americans live in areas with poor air quality

LOS ANGELES - More than 137 million Americans are exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution, and communities of color are more likely to live in areas with unhealthy air, according to a new report released on Thursday.

The 23rd annual State of the Air report, released by the American Lung Association, also found that Americans impacted by particle pollution, which can be deadly, were nearly 9 million more than those in last year's report.

Since 2000, the association has analyzed data from official air quality monitors to compile the State of the Air report, which tracks and grades Americans' exposure to unhealthy levels of short-term spikes in particle pollution, annual particle pollution and ground-level ozone air pollution over a three-year period. The report this year covers 2018-2020.

The association said that long-term improvement in the nation's air quality has been offset in part by the negative impacts of hotter, drier conditions caused by climate change, and wildfires in the western United States also led to a sharp rise in particle pollution in several states.

"'State of the Air 2022' shows that an unacceptable number of Americans are still living in areas with poor air quality that could impact their health," said Harold Wimmer, national president and CEO of the association, in a news release.

"The report found that people of color were 61 percent more likely than white people to live in a county with a failing grade for at least one pollutant, and 3.6 times as likely to live in a county with a failing grade for all three pollutants," he noted.

The latest report also showed that California cities dominated the list of most polluted areas in the country, as the state contains four of the top five most Ozone-polluted cities, four of the top five cities most polluted by short-term particle pollution and all top five cities most polluted by year-round particle pollution.