{"id":178086,"date":"2026-04-28T10:01:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/178086\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T10:01:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:01:06","slug":"philadelphia-air-quality-ranking-worsens-in-annual-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/178086\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia air quality ranking worsens in annual report"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk<\/a>, bringing you news and solutions for our changing region.\n<\/p>\n

From the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, what do you want to know about climate change? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Philadelphians breathe some of the most polluted air in the country, according to a recent report from the American Lung Association.\n<\/p>\n

The nonprofit\u2019s annual State of the Air report ranked the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden statistical area<\/a> \u2014 which covers parts of southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, northern Delaware and northeast Maryland \u2014 the country\u2019s 17th worst for average levels of particulate pollution between 2022 and 2024. That is down from 26th worst in last year\u2019s report. Particulate pollution, sometimes called soot, comes from dust, fires, traffic and industry and can cause lung and heart issues.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cThe more days that people are exposed to bad air, the more likely they are to experience asthma attacks, to need medication, to go to the hospital, end up in emergency rooms,\u201d said Kevin Stewart, director of environmental health for the American Lung Association. \u201cSometimes, people even die from air pollution.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The grim ranking was driven by pollution levels in Philadelphia, which had the dirtiest air out of the counties in the area.\n<\/p>\n

During the three-year span covered by the report, average annual levels of particulate matter in Philadelphia exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s health-based standard. Philadelphia\u2019s levels increased compared to last year\u2019s report, putting the city \u201cagainst the tide,\u201d Stewart said.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally, most of the places in the country did improve,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

Smoke from wildfires in New Jersey<\/a> and the western U.S.<\/a> drove Philadelphia\u2019s higher particulate levels in 2024, said Jim Garrow, spokesperson for the city\u2019s Department of Public Health, but in general, Philadelphia\u2019s air quality has improved over the last couple decades<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

The American Lung Association also tracked daily spikes in particulate pollution and days in which ozone levels jumped above the EPA\u2019s health-based threshold, and gave Philadelphia failing grades for both measures. Ground-level ozone forms when common pollutants from traffic and industry react, and can irritate airways and exacerbate asthma<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Some cities in South Jersey received better grades. Camden County earned \u201cD\u201ds for its high ozone days and daily spikes in particulate matter, but passed the EPA\u2019s annual standard for particulate pollution. Gloucester County also passed on particulate pollution, but received a failing grade for ozone pollution, reflecting an average of over six unhealthy days per year.\n<\/p>\n

The American Lung Association does not track why changes in air quality occur, but Stewart said worsening levels can reflect new sources of pollution, atmospheric conditions and weather.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk, bringing you news and solutions for our changing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5051,30257,69,71,70,5206],"class_list":{"0":"post-178086","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-air-pollution","9":"tag-air-quality","10":"tag-philadelphia","11":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","12":"tag-philadelphia-news","13":"tag-whyy-news-climate-desk"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}