Philadelphia's air quality gets an F

Mike D'Onofrio

Illustration of a test featuring a pair of lungs with an F on it — Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Philadelphia failed every pollution test in the American Lung Association's annual State of the Air report yesterday.

Why it matters: That puts us at elevated risk of health problems linked to air pollution, from shortness of breath to lung cancer.

Air pollution threatens everyone's health, especially children, seniors and people with asthma.

The big picture: Nearly half of Americans (44%) are living with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution, per the report.

Zoom in: The Philly region ranked 17th nationally for worst annual particle pollution out of 211 U.S. metros.

Plus: We ranked 43rd worst for high ozone days out of 226 metros.
The region includes parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.

1 bummer: Philly proper was among only 20 counties in the nation to receive failing grades for all three measures of pollution analyzed in the report.

Yes, but: Pollution in Philly has significantly declined since the 1990s, according to the association's analysis.

The bottom line: Check daily pollution forecasts at Airnow.gov or PurpleAir.

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Philadelphia's air quality gets an F

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