{"id":269154,"date":"2026-04-28T02:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T02:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/269154\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T02:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T02:44:13","slug":"houston-area-rises-1-spot-now-no-6-most-polluted-city-by-ozone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/269154\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston area rises 1 spot, now No. 6 most-polluted city by ozone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Houston-Pasadena region rose one spot and is now ranked No. 6 out of 226 metropolitan areas for its number of high ozone days, according to the 2026 State of the Air<\/a> report released<\/a> by the American Lung Association on April 21.<\/p>\n

The region was ranked No. 7 in 2025, Community Impact previously reported<\/a>. Between 2022-24, the Houston region\u2019s annual weighted average of high ozone days was 43.3, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Ozone air pollution, aka smog, is a lung irritant and can cause health problems, such as chest tightness, coughing and shortness of breath, according to the ALA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More details<\/p>\n

Released every year, the ALA uses the State of the Air report to grade counties and rank cities and counties based on their scores for ozone, year-round particle pollution and short-term particle pollution levels, according to its website.<\/a><\/p>\n

With regard to annual particle pollution, the Houston-Pasadena area ranked No. 8 out of 211 metropolitan areas. The region also ranked No. 89 out of 224 metropolitan areas for 24-hour particle pollution, according to the report.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"tableZooming in<\/p>\n

According to the report, Brazoria, Galveston, Harris and Montgomery counties all received an \u201cF\u201d rating for their annual weighted average number of high ozone days.<\/p>\n

\"chartThe report also examined populations at risk when it comes to air pollution, such as the number of children with asthma and those with cardiovascular disease.\"chartThe impact<\/p>\n

According to the ALA, air pollution can cause adverse symptoms<\/a>, including but not limited to:<\/p>\n

Wheezing and coughingShortness of breathAsthma attacksWorsening chronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseLung cancerFactors that can increase someone\u2019s risk of symptoms include the level of exposure to air pollution, susceptibility based on other conditions one may have, access to healthcare, and psychosocial stress, according to the report. <\/a><\/p>\n

Before you go<\/p>\n

On a local level, the ALA recommends local investments in sustainable transportation methods, clean energy programs and smart surfaces, such as solar panels or porous pavement. Individually, recommendations include checking air pollution forecasts and reducing home or vehicle emissions.<\/p>\n

Read the 2026 State of the Air report here: www.lung.org\/research\/sota<\/a>.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Houston-Pasadena region rose one spot and is now ranked No. 6 out of 226 metropolitan areas for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[23776,2327,2244,56,58,57],"class_list":["post-269154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-air-pollution","tag-environment","tag-healthcare","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}