Overview
- The American Lung Association’s 2026 State of the Air report finds 33.5 million children, or 46% of kids, live in areas that failed at least one pollution measure, with more than 7 million failing all three and 44% of all people living in a failing county.
- The grades cover short-term and long-term fine particle pollution (PM2.5) and ground-level ozone, pollutants that can trigger asthma attacks, impair lungs, strain the heart, and pose greater danger to children because their lungs are still developing and they breathe more air per body weight.
- Exposure is unequal, as people of color are more than twice as likely as white residents to live in communities that fail all three measures, and Hispanic families are more than three times as likely, with advocates noting higher asthma emergency visits in Latino communities.
- Recent events worsened scores, as 2023 Canadian wildfires raised PM2.5 across the U.S. and 2024 extreme heat boosted ozone in many regions, particularly the Midwest, underscoring how hotter, drier conditions now make clean-air progress harder to maintain.
- Advocates warn EPA rollbacks since 2025 could erode past gains, and they flag fossil-fueled data centers as a rising local source of pollution, with fresh polling showing strong parental concern about air quality.