A new study analyzed the air quality around Arizona, and found that breathing the air here is equivalent to smoking 99 cigarettes per year.

Researchers at HouseFresh measured the average PM2.5 concentration (fine particle pollution that can be inhaled into the lungs) across America and converted the results into their cigarette equivalent.

You can view the full study here: https://housefresh.com/the-worst-u-s-states-for-air-quality/

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They found that Arizona has an average daily PM2.5 concentration of 6 µg/m³. One cigarette has approximately 22 µg/m³ PM2.5 concentration.

The study goes on to find the best and worst places in Arizona:

  • Nogales has the worst air quality in Arizona, at 10.4 µg/m³ (Equal to smoking 173 cigarettes per year)
  • New River has the best air quality at just 3.9 µg/m³ (65 cigarettes/yr).

Few factors influence your health and sense of well-being than having clean, fresh air to breathe.

Humans have worried about the effects of air pollution on health since at least the time of Hippocrates. But industrialization and the spread of cars and cigarettes have made good air hard to find — and the growing reach and regularity of wildfires have become the leading cause of worsening air in America in recent times.

Of special concern today is PM2.5 or fine particulate matter: “small droplets of liquid, dry solid fragments, and solid cores with liquid coatings” with a diameter of no more than 2.5 micrometers, which is less than 1/30th of a strand of human hair.

These particles mostly come from burned fuel and firewood. Even one day of exposure to air with high PM2.5 levels can lead to bronchitis, asthma attacks and other heart and lung issues. Long-term exposure has been linked with slower lung function growth in children and shorter lifespans for all affected.

For this report, HouseFresh used the latest annual PM2.5 data to identify the states and large U.S. cities with the best and worst air quality.

Key Findings

  • Georgia is the state with the worst air quality, at an average concentration of 8.9 µg/m³ (micrograms per cubic meter of air).
  • Hawaii (3.4 µg/m³), Alaska (3.6 µg/m³, and Rhode Island (3.6 µg/m³) have the best air quality
  • Nine of the ten large cities with the worst air are in California, led by Ontario (14.3 µg/m³).
  • The large U.S. city with the best air quality is Anchorage, Alaska (3.1 µg/m³).