CLEVELAND — When it comes to air quality, the Cleveland metro area was named the 31st most polluted in the country for ozone pollution.
That designation comes from the American Lung Association’s 2024 “State of the Air” report, which was released Wednesday morning.
It also says Cleveland has seen a slight improvement in air quality, but still fails in ozone and particle pollution.
Here’s how the American Lung Associations air report breaks down the details…
Ground-level ozone pollution in the Cleveland 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 Cleveland metro area ranked 31st worst in the nation for ozone pollution. The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—5.8 days per year, an F grade, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 30th worst, with 6 days per year, an F grade.
Particle pollution in the Cleveland metro area
The report also tracked short-term spikes in particle pollution, which can be extremely dangerous and even deadly. The Cleveland metro area ranked 73rd 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—1.5 days per year, a C grade, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 66th worst, with 1.7 days per year, a C grade.
For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, received a failing grade for pollution levels above the federal standard that was recently updated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The Cleveland metro area ranked 54th worst in the nation. This was better than the area's ranking in last year's report of 42nd worst in the nation.
The “State of the Air” report found more than 131 million people nationwide live in an area that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution with 43.9 million living in areas with failing grades for all three measures.
“In the three years covered by this report, individuals in the U.S. experienced the highest number of days when particle pollution reached ‘very unhealthy’ and ‘hazardous’ levels in the history of reporting the ‘State of the Air,’” according to a press release. “Communities of color are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air and are also more likely to be living with one or more chronic conditions that make them more vulnerable to air pollution, including asthma, diabetes and heart disease. The report 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.”
The report says both ozone and particle pollution “can cause premature death and other serious health effects” like asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, preterm births, impaired cognitive functioning later in life and lung cancer.