The American Lung Association’s released its State of the Air – an annual report on air quality which lists both the cleanest and most polluted areas in the country.
The report looks at levels of ozone and particle pollution found in official monitoring sites across the U.S. using the current quality-assured nationwide data available for these analyses. It examines particle pollution in two different ways: averaged year-round (annual average) and over short-term levels (24-hour).
This year’s report ranked the following cities – listed alphabetically – as the cleanest:
- Bismarck, N.D.
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers- Naples, Fla.
- Elmira-Corning, N.Y.
- Fargo-Wahpeton, N.D.-Minn.
- Rapid City-Spearfish, S.D.
Among the most polluted cities – listed alphabetically – were all in California:
Bakersfield.
- Fresno-Madera.
- Los Angeles-Long Beach.
- Modesto-Merced.
- Visalia-Porterville-Hanford.
The complete State of the Air 2015 report can be found here.