US Counties With the Highest Fine Particulate Matter
3,059 US counties ranked by fine particulate matter, from highest to lowest. First are Mono County, CA (39.1), Clackamas County, OR (30.4) and Marion County, OR (24.9). The middle one of the 3,059 has 7.6.
What this measures
The average amount of fine particle pollution in the air, in micrograms per cubic metre. These are bits of soot small enough to get into the blood. It is an estimate from a statistical model, since most counties have no air monitor. Source: County Health Rankings.
For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.
The 100 highest counties
Every state, highest first
Each state’s own published figure, not an average of its counties.
| Rank | State | micrograms per cubic metre |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 12.6 |
| 2 | Oregon | 12.1 |
| 3 | Washington | 10.3 |
| 4 | Oklahoma | 8.9 |
| 5 | Georgia | 8.8 |
| 6 | Mississippi | 8.7 |
| 7 | Illinois | 8.65 |
| 8 | Alabama | 8.6 |
| 9 | Indiana | 8.55 |
| 10 | Louisiana | 8.3 |
| 11 | Arkansas | 8.3 |
| 12 | Nevada | 8.15 |
| 13 | New Jersey | 8.1 |
| 14 | Texas | 8.1 |
| 15 | Kentucky | 8 |
| 16 | Florida | 7.9 |
| 17 | Ohio | 7.85 |
| 18 | District of Columbia | 7.8 |
| 19 | Pennsylvania | 7.8 |
| 20 | South Carolina | 7.8 |
| 21 | Connecticut | 7.8 |
| 22 | Wisconsin | 7.65 |
| 23 | Missouri | 7.5 |
| 24 | Iowa | 7.4 |
| 25 | Delaware | 7.3 |
| 26 | Kansas | 7.3 |
| 27 | Idaho | 7.2 |
| 28 | Tennessee | 7 |
| 29 | New York | 6.9 |
| 30 | Massachusetts | 6.75 |
| 31 | Michigan | 6.7 |
| 32 | North Carolina | 6.7 |
| 33 | Virginia | 6.7 |
| 34 | West Virginia | 6.7 |
| 35 | Maryland | 6.3 |
| 36 | Minnesota | 6 |
| 37 | Nebraska | 6 |
| 38 | Rhode Island | 6 |
| 39 | Arizona | 6 |
| 40 | Utah | 5.9 |
| 41 | Vermont | 5.8 |
| 42 | Colorado | 5.65 |
| 43 | Montana | 5.6 |
| 44 | North Dakota | 5.5 |
| 45 | New Hampshire | 5.45 |
| 46 | New Mexico | 5.4 |
| 47 | South Dakota | 5.4 |
| 48 | Alaska | 5.3 |
| 49 | Maine | 5.25 |
| 50 | Wyoming | 4.75 |
| 51 | Hawaii | 3.7 |
More on fine particulate matter
- US Counties With the Lowest Fine Particulate Matter
- Fine particulate matter by US county: map by year and what it goes with
A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.