San Antonio air pollution ranks among worst in U.S., report finds
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The San Antonio area is among the top 25 metros in the U.S. with the worst ozone pollution, according to the American Lung Association's 2025 State of the Air report.
Why it matters: Air pollution threatens everyone's health — especially children, older adults, and people with asthma, heart disease or other lung conditions.
By the numbers: San Antonio, New Braunfels and Kerrville jointly ranked 20th among the nation's most ozone-polluted cities, with nearly 2.8 million residents — including 1.8 million people of color — at elevated risk from unhealthy air.
- Hispanic people are almost three times more likely than white people to live somewhere with poor air quality, according to the report.
The big picture: Nearly half of Americans — about 156 million people — live in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution, according to the American Lung Association's 2025 State of the Air report.
Zoom in: Bexar County received an F grade for ozone pollution, with 32 days of high ozone levels (designated orange) during 2021-2023.
- The area also had two days of elevated short-term particle pollution, earning a B grade for that category.
Context: San Antonio's air quality challenges are driven in part by high temperatures that create "ideal conditions for ozone formation," according to the American Lung Association.
The latest: In March, the EPA approved Texas' plan to reduce vehicle emissions in Bexar County through a mandatory inspection and maintenance program.
- The program aims to help the region reach compliance with federal ozone limits by November 2026.
- It would require annual emissions testing for gas-powered vehicles two to 24 years old, per the San Antonio Report.
What they're saying: "Clearly, we need to do more to control the pollutants that are impacting our changing climate and worsening the factors that go into the wildfires and the extreme heat events that are threatening our health, instead of thinking about how to roll them back," says Katherine Pruitt, senior director of nationwide clean air policy at the American Lung Association and report author.