{"id":280759,"date":"2026-04-22T20:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/280759\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T20:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:02:08","slug":"44-of-americans-breathe-dangerously-polluted-air-in-california-its-82","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/280759\/","title":{"rendered":"44% of Americans breathe dangerously polluted air. In California, it’s 82%"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Greater Los Angeles remained the most ozone-polluted metro area in the nation, according to the American Lung Assn.\u2019s 2026 State of the Air report<\/a>, which found that Southern California continues to face some of the country\u2019s dirtiest air.<\/p>\n

The report, released on Wednesday, ranked Los Angeles-Long Beach as the worst U.S. metro area for ozone pollution, with an average of 159.2 unhealthy ozone days a year. The region also ranked seventh worst nationally for annual particle pollution and seventh worst for short-term particle pollution.<\/p>\n

The American Lung Assn., or ALA, assigns grades based on the number of unhealthy air days and the severity of pollution levels, using federal air quality standards. Los Angeles County received failing grades across all three categories measured in the report: ozone, short-term particle pollution and annual particle pollution.<\/p>\n

Riverside and San Bernardino counties also failed all three measures.<\/p>\n

Orange County received an F for ozone, a failing grade for annual particle pollution and a C for short-term particle pollution.<\/p>\n

Ground-level ozone, often called \u201csmog<\/a>,\u201d is a corrosive gas that forms when pollution from vehicles and other sources reacts in heat and sunlight. It can irritate the lungs and trigger serious breathing problems.<\/p>\n

Short-term and annual particle pollution refer to fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5<\/a>. These microscopic particles come from sources such as vehicle exhaust<\/a>, industrial emissions and wildfires<\/a>. Because they are small enough to enter the bloodstream, they are linked to asthma attacks, heart disease, strokes and lung cancer, according to Will Barrett, assistant vice president for Nationwide Clean Air Policy at the ALA.<\/p>\n

The report did find some signs of progress. Los Angeles posted its lowest annual particle pollution level in the history of the report, even though the region still ranked among the nation\u2019s worst overall.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, ozone pollution in Los Angeles worsened from last year\u2019s report, keeping the metro area in the top spot nationally for smog. The report says Los Angeles has ranked worst for ozone in 26 of the 27 years the ALA has issued the study.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the press Tuesday, Barrett said the region\u2019s pollution comes largely from transportation sources \u201cprimarily burning gasoline and diesel,\u201d along with refineries and other local emissions sources. He said those pressures are compounded by climate and coastal conditions that push pollution inland, especially into the Inland Empire, where unhealthy ozone days are even more severe.<\/p>\n

Nationally, the report found that in the U.S., 152.3 million people, or 44% of the population, live in places that received a failing grade for at least one measure of ozone or particle pollution. That includes 33.5 million children, or 46% of people under 18. In California, the ALA said 82% of residents live in counties affected by unhealthy air.<\/p>\n

Of the 15 U.S. counties with the most bad smog days last year, eight were in California.<\/p>\n

When it came to bad PM2.5 pollution days, California had seven of the 15 worst counties. <\/p>\n

And of the 15 counties with the worst year-round PM2.5 pollution, nine were in California.<\/p>\n

In the report, the ALA said recent federal actions<\/a> could undermine California\u2019s efforts to improve air quality. Those include missed deadlines for stronger particle pollution standards, rollbacks of clean-vehicle and fuel-economy rules<\/a>, exemptions from toxic air pollution regulations<\/a>, and a Congressional Review Act challenge targeting three of California\u2019s clean-vehicle standards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis [Environmental Protection Agency] is making significant rollbacks to life-saving clean air rules,\u201d Diana Van Vleet, the report\u2019s lead author and the ALA\u2019s director of nationwide clean air advocacy, said during Tuesday\u2019s press call. \u201cFederal actions have weakened, delayed and repealed many pollution limits.\u201d <\/p>\n

She referenced the EPA\u2019s February revocation<\/a> of a longstanding scientific conclusion that man-made climate change threatens the health of Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe recent actions by the federal government to interfere with California\u2019s state rights to protect residents\u2019 health are a major challenge to the ongoing success of our local air districts and state Air Board,\u201d said Barrett. He added that state estimates show federal actions weakening California\u2019s clean-air authority could lead to more than 14,000 deaths, thousands of emergency room visits and hospitalizations, and $145 billion in cumulative health impacts through 2050.<\/p>\n

Children are especially vulnerable to polluted air because their lungs are still developing, they breathe more air relative to their body size, and they often spend more time outdoors, the report said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn my daily work life, I treat children with asthma that is often made worse because of the heavy doses of pollution they breathe,\u201d said Afif El-Hasan, physician-in-charge at Kaiser Permanente San Juan Capistrano Medical Offices. <\/p>\n

El-Hasan added that air pollution \u201calso inhibits lung development in children, which can lead to reduced lung capacity as adults. This is not reversible. Once it happens, it\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Southern California\u2019s air pollution burden has long been shaped by a mix of traffic, freight movement, industry, geography and climate.<\/p>\n

The county rankings show the concentration of that burden. San Bernardino County ranked as the most ozone-polluted county in the nation, with 159.2 weighted average unhealthy ozone days, followed by Riverside County at 126.7 and Los Angeles County at 119.0.<\/p>\n

The report also highlighted cleaner-air successes elsewhere in California. Sacramento recorded its lowest annual particle pollution levels and fewest unhealthy ozone days in the report\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Four California cities also ranked among the nation\u2019s cleanest in at least one category: Salinas and Chico for having zero high-ozone days, and Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo for recording zero days of unhealthy particle pollution.<\/p>\n

The ALA urged state lawmakers to keep funding programs aimed at cutting emissions from the biggest sources. \u201cThe Lung Association is calling for the California Legislature to invest in zero-emission truck programs,\u201d Barrett said, as well as for funding for cleaner agricultural equipment and consumer cars.<\/p>\n

The health and environmental arguments for these political positions have been argued to death, but Barrett says that the economic consequences of dirty air are often overlooked. \u201cWhat is often missing is this impact of the cost of air pollution on family budgets, on kids missing school, their parents staying home from work, on and on and on,\u201d he said. \u201cAir pollution is a costly societal problem that needs to be addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Greater Los Angeles remained the most ozone-polluted metro area in the nation, according to the American Lung Assn.\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1842,120819,71838,11432,120821,120825,7,9,8,3409,63,1524,120820,120824,120822,120826,120823],"class_list":{"0":"post-280759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-air-pollution","9":"tag-air-report","10":"tag-ala","11":"tag-americans","12":"tag-annual-particle-pollution","13":"tag-assign-grade","14":"tag-california","15":"tag-california-headlines","16":"tag-california-news","17":"tag-child","18":"tag-los-angeles-times","19":"tag-nation","20":"tag-ozone-pollution","21":"tag-recent-federal-action","22":"tag-short-term-particle-pollution","23":"tag-unhealthy-ozone-day","24":"tag-will-barrett"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}