California dominates pollution ratings with eight cities in top 25

While California braces for new clean-air policies and an EV mandate that has been challenged, a new report reveals the state is as polluted as ever, with eight cities in the top 25 most-polluted in the nation.

The American Lung Association released their 2026 State of the Air report, revealing both the cleanest and dirtiest cities, in terms of air quality.

Bakersfield, California and the surrounding Delano area has remained the most-polluted, in terms of “year-round particle pollution,” out of 211 American metropolitan areas.

Four other California metro areas were found in the top 10 for year-round particle pollution – Fresno-Hanford-Corcoran (#4), San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad (#5 – tie), Visalia (#5 – tie) and Los Angeles-Long Beach (#7).

Other California cities on the year-round particle pollution list include the Bay Area cities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose (#13 – tie) and El Centro (#21).

In terms of short-term particle pollution, Bakersfield-Delano improved slightly from first on the list last year to third (via Secret Los Angeles), with Fairbanks, Alaska taking the #1 spot.

Visalia (#5), Fresno-Hanford-Corcoran (#6), Los Angeles-Long Beach (#7), El Centro (#14) and San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose (#20) are also on this list.

The final metric — highest ozone days — finds Los Angeles atop the list, ranking as the worst ozone city now for 26 of the 27 years this report has been released.

The top 5 is also California-heavy with Visalia (#2), Bakersfield-Delano (#3) and Frenso-Hanford-Corcoran (#5), with San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad (#7), El Centro (#10), San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose (#14), Sacramento-Roseville (#16) in the top 25.

Los Angeles County was graded an F for both High Ozone Days and Particle Pollution, and they are far from the only county to earn a failing grade.

Out of California’s 58 counties, 45 report particle pollution data, and 18 of them received failing grades for Particle Pollution, including Fresno, Riverside, Sacramento and San Bernadino.

For High Ozone Days, 40 of California’s 58 counties report data, with 22 receiving an F, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, Riverside and Fresno.

The report also concluded that more than 44% of Americans (152.3 million people) are living in areas that have failing grades for ozone or particle pollution.

The findings also reveal that nearly half of American children (46% or 33.5 million people under 18) are living in places where at least one of the three metrics have a failing grade.

Additionally, 10% of those children (7.3 million) are living in places where all three metrics have failing grades.

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