Nearly half of all Americans now live in places with unhealthy air, and the Bay Area metro is among the top 20 in poor air quality, according to a report from the American Lung Association.
The 26th annual State of the Air report released overnight shows 46% of U.S. residents are impacted by poor air quality.
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WATCH HEREOn the list of metro areas most polluted by ozone, San Jose/San Francisco/Oakland ranks 14th in the nation. The Los Angeles area is No. 1.
The Bay Area's tri-city metro also ranks 11th on the list with the most daily particle pollution and ranks No. 6 in yearly particle pollution.
On the flip side, Santa Rosa and Petaluma are among the cleanest cities in California, appearing on lists of places with zero unhealthy ozone days and low annual particles.
While the Bay Area metro is experiencing too much bad air, it’s better than it used to be, the report shows.
"In the California context and in the Bay Area especially, we see good progress," said Will Barrett, senior director of Clean Air Advocacy with the American Lung Association. "The Bay Area saw its cleanest report ever in terms of unhealthy soot days. So when we have cleaner years without catastrophic wildfires, for example. We really do see the trend chart showing a path towards cleaner air is possible and is being made."
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Still, nearly 9 in 10 Californians live in a community with at least one failing grade in air quality. The bad air can lead to a range of problems, from difficulty breathing to asthma to premature deaths.
The American Lung Association commended the Bay Area Air District and California Air Resources Board for their work, but it is worried that federal rollbacks proposed by the Trump administration could have tragic consequences for all Americans.
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