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Friday, Aug. 1, 2025

Is the Phoenix metro area ranked among the worst in the nation for air pollution?

Tallulah Anne, Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
yes

The American Lung Association’s 2025 report ranked the Phoenix-Mesa metro area fourth-worst in the country for ozone (smog) pollution, based on data from 2021 to 2023. Maricopa County earned an “F” for air quality, averaging 54.8 unhealthy ozone days per year during that period. That’s worse than in 2020, when the region ranked seventh.

Exposure to elevated ozone levels can aggravate existing lung conditions and trigger symptoms like inflamed airways and asthma attacks. Warmer weather compounds the effects. Research from climate organization First Street attributes Arizona’s unhealthy ozone levels to more frequent wildfires, the state’s hot and dry climate, and vehicle and industry emissions.

In April 2025, the EPA eased rules on how regions account for pollution from sources like wildfires and foreign countries, allowing Maricopa County to sidestep stricter air quality limits that could have curbed development.

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The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is the state’s only independent, nonpartisan and collaborative nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting. AZCIR's mission is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable by exposing injustice and systemic inequities through investigative journalism.

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