The American Lung Association released the 2025 “State of the Air” report this week, which reveals that all air pollution measures worsened in the Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls metro area as 2023 wildfire smoke contributed to poorer air quality throughout the state and region.
Monroe County experienced a particularly steep increase in short-term particle pollution causing its grade to slip from an “A” in last year’s report to a “D” this year. It was also removed from the “cleanest cities” list for the measure.
Nationally, the report found that 156 million people (46%) are living in areas that had unhealthy levels of air pollution.
The Lung Association’s 26th annual “State of the Air” report grades exposure to unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone air pollution (also known as smog), and year-round and short-term spikes in particle pollution (also known as soot) over a three-year period. The report looks at the latest quality-assured air quality data from 2021-2023.
“The air pollutants covered in this report are widespread and can impact anyone’s health. Both ozone and particle pollution can cause premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes, preterm births and impaired cognitive functioning later in life. Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer,” said Michael Seilback for the American Lung Association. “Unfortunately, too many people in Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls metro area are living with unhealthy levels of both ozone and particle pollution. This air pollution is causing kids to have asthma attacks, making people who work outdoors sick and unable to work, and leading to low birth weight in babies. We urge New York State policymakers to take action to improve our air quality, including passing the Hazardous Air Quality Emergency Preparedness Bill and NYHEAT bills, ensuring that New York move forward with implementing Clean Cars and Clean Trucks regulations, and electrifying New York’s school bus fleet; additionally we are calling on everyone to support the incredibly important work of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).”
Ground-level Ozone Pollution in the Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls metro area: The “State of the Air” report looked at levels of ozone “smog,” the air pollutant affecting the largest number of people in the United States. The Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls metro area ranked 115th worst in the nation for ozone pollution. The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—1.3 days per year, a C grade, in Wayne County. Last year’s report recorded 0.7 unhealthy days per year, earning the county a B grade.
The report also tracked short-term spikes in particle pollution, which can be extremely dangerous and even deadly. The Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls, NY metro area ranked 88th worst in the nation for short-term particle pollution. The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—2.2 days per year, a D grade, in Monroe County, New York. This was worse than the area’s ranking in last year’s report among the nation’s cleanest cities, with 0 days per year, an A grade. For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Monroe County, New York, received a passing grade for pollution levels below the federal standard. The Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls metro area ranked 166th worst in the nation. This was worse than the area’s ranking in last year’s report of 178th worst in the nation (tied for 25th best among the nation’s cleanest cities).
The “State of the Air” report found that 156 million people in the U.S. (46%) live in an area that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution, and 42.5 million people live in areas with failing grades for all three measures. The report also found that a person of color in the U.S. is more than twice as likely as a white individual to live in a community with a failing grade on all three pollution measures. Notably, Hispanic individuals are nearly three times as likely as white individuals to live in a community with three failing grades.
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