According to findings published in the American Lung Association’s State of the Air 2025 report, 25 million more Americans are breathing unhealthy air this year than last, as recent data shows air quality worsening after decades of improvement.
The American Lung Association is a non-profit organization focused on improving lung health and preventing lung cancer and other lung diseases. Part of that mission includes completing the State of the Air report, which has analyzed data from official air quality monitors for the past 26 years. This year’s report includes data from 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The new report indicates that climate change and its contributing factors, extreme heat, drought and wildfires have exposed more communities to unhealthy air. Furthermore, data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) indicates 2023 had the highest global temperatures ever recorded.
While much of the air pollution has been concentrated in the West, the distribution of air pollution is shifting to central and eastern areas. Texas had high temperatures and high levels of ozone, and the Northeast experienced high levels of air pollution from Canadian wildfires.
The report also notes communities made up of people of color are disproportionately exposed to air pollution. While people of color make up 41% of the U.S. population, half of people living in counties with failing grades in air pollution are people of color.
