El Paso, Los Angeles among the most polluted cities in the U.S. in 2025, new report says
CBSN
El Paso and Los Angeles were among the most polluted areas in the United States last year, according to a new air quality report that evaluated pollution levels around the world in 2025. In:
El Paso and Los Angeles were among the most polluted areas in the United States last year, according to a new air quality report that evaluated pollution levels around the world in 2025.
The report is the latest iteration of a global analysis that the Swiss technology company IQAir publishes annually. This one centered on some of the causes of declining air quality worldwide, including wildfires, which the report's authors cited as a leading driver of the downward trend.
Fires played a sizable role in U.S. pollution levels, according to the report. It found that air quality worsened overall for the country, with average pollutant levels increasing by 3% between 2024 and 2025. Air pollution in a particular location was measured as the concentration of pollutant per cubic meter of air in that location, where the pollutant is calculated in micrograms, on average for the year.
That's based on an air quality standard set by the World Health Organization that recommends limiting exposure to air that exceeds 5 micrograms of pollutant per cubic meter. By the end of 2025, the average concentration of U.S. air pollutants had reached 7.3 on that scale.
Air pollution levels varied by region and even by state, sometimes significantly, the report showed. In Texas, concentrations of pollutants dropped by 9% on average in some major cities, like Austin, Fort Worth and Houston, while skyrocketing in others, like El Paso. Historic dust storms that blanketed the area last spring sent pollution levels soaring, according to the report, which said those storms triggered a 46% increase.
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