A new study ranks California as one of the best states in the nation for lung health, citing lower smoking rates, cleaner air, and more favorable environmental conditions compared to much of the country.

The research, conducted by Opera Beds, analyzed a wide range of health and environmental data across all 50 states to determine where Americans are least likely to develop chronic respiratory issues, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The study looked at smoking prevalence, levels of air pollution, toxic chemical emissions, humidity levels, and historical data on COPD rates in both men and women.

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To conduct the study, researchers gathered information from several national sources, including the American Lung Association, the Environmental Protection Agency, America’s Health Rankings, and Forbes.

States were evaluated using a combination of adult smoking rates, air quality, pounds of toxins released per square mile, average humidity levels, and changes in COPD rates from 2018 to 2023. Kentucky and Pennsylvania were excluded from the COPD rate comparison due to missing recent data.

COPD, which includes conditions like emphysema and chronic bronchitis, impacts more than 14 million U.S. adults. Common symptoms include persistent coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and frequent respiratory infections.

While smoking is a major risk factor, environmental elements like air pollution, toxic fumes, and even high humidity can aggravate or contribute to the development of the disease.

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The findings suggest that living on the West Coast may offer protective benefits for respiratory health. Six of the ten best states for lung health are located in the western U.S., including California, which ranked sixth overall. While Colorado, Hawaii, and New Mexico took the top three spots on the list.

Top 10 states for lung health:

Colorado Hawaii New Mexico Maryland Nebraska California South Dakota Connecticut Rhode Island New Jersey

On the other end of the spectrum, many of the states with the poorest rankings for lung health are located in the Midwest and South. Factors such as fewer clean air laws, higher humidity levels, and colder or more extreme temperatures are believed to contribute to higher risks of respiratory issues in those areas. Indiana, Ohio, and Alaska ranked as the three worst states for lung health.

Bottom 10 states for lung health:

Indiana Ohio Alaska Pennsylvania Michigan Nevada Tennessee Louisiana Mississippi Kentucky

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When looking specifically at COPD rates, California again scored well. It ranked second for the lowest prevalence of COPD, just behind Utah. Other states with low COPD rates included Hawaii, New Jersey, and Washington.

States with the lowest COPD rates:

Utah California Hawaii New Jersey Washington Minnesota Colorado Connecticut New Mexico Texas

In contrast, the states with the highest COPD rates include West Virginia, Tennessee, and Alabama, reflecting long-standing health and environmental challenges in parts of the South and Midwest.

States with the highest COPD rates:

West Virginia Tennessee Alabama Arkansas Louisiana Michigan Maine Missouri Indiana (tie) Ohio and Oklahoma

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For Californians, the results of this study offer a positive snapshot of how the state’s climate, public health policies, and environmental standards may be contributing to better respiratory health outcomes.

For more information or to view the full methodology, visit the official study page.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Nearly half of Americans – 156 million people – live in areas that received a failing grade in air quality in the newest American Lung Association report .

The East Coast has seen a notable rise in air pollution following wildfires and heatwaves, breaking through West Coast city domination of the most annual exposure to fine particulate matter. The additions, according to the association’s “State of the State” report based on the 2021 to 2023 data, are largely due to the 2023 Canadian wildfires and extreme heatwaves.

Air quality was measured using three indicators: ozone air pollution, short-term particle pollution and long-term particle pollution.

Exposure to unhealthy air is detrimental to an individual’s health, leading to increased risk of stroke, ischemic heart disease, increased severity in asthma attacks, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and pneumonia. It is also linked to increased fetal and infant mortality and pregnancy complications.

Some communities are more at risk than others, the report found, with communities of color experiencing a disproportionate amount of unhealthy air.

While the eastern United States saw a sharp increase in pollution, the West Coast made improvements in overall annual particle pollution levels. However, California cities retained six of the top 10 spots, with the Bakersfield area in California holding its top spot for the sixth year in a row.

Here are the top 10 cities with the worst year-round particle pollution.

10. Fairbanks-College, Alaska

Fairbanks continues to score poorly on particulate matter pollution, ranking second in short-term pollution. The cold-weather area has fought against wildfire smoke, the use of wood-burning stoves, aggressive heating methods and large vehicles.

9. Cleveland-Akron-Canton, Ohio

The Cleveland area experienced the most dramatic fall in the country, falling from 54th to ninth place in highest exposure to annual particulate matter and overtaking neighboring Oklahoma City.

8. Houston-Pasadena, Texas

The Houston-Pasadena area joined the list, ranking seventh-worst for ozone pollution. The region boasts a total population of 7.7 million – 5.1 million of whom are people of color.

7. San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California

The Bay Area is one of six California regions that appear on the top 10 most annual exposure to particle pollution. This stretch of the state experiences frequent wildfires from dry conditions, contributing to bad scores on all three measures of the report. The Bay Area ranks 11th in short-term particle exposure and 14th in ozone pollution. The pollution affects a total population of 9 million people, including almost 6 million people of color.

6. Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, Michigan

The Detroit metro area is a new addition to the Top 10 list in long-term particle pollution, marking the first appearance of a non-West Coast region. The area ranks 22nd for short-term particle pollution and was impacted by the Canadian wildfires.

5. Los Angeles-Long Beach, California

The Los Angeles-Long Beach area ranked worst for ozone pollution once again – the 25th time in the 26-year history of the “State of the Air” report. It also ranked seventh for short-term particulate matter. Despite their ranking as fifth worst for long-term particulate matter, the 2025 report contained their lowest levels on record.

4. Eugene-Springfield, Oregon

The Eugene-Springfield area ranked third for short-term air quality. Air pollution affects a total population of 381,000 people, including 78,000 people of color.

3. Fresno-Hanford-Corcoran, California

The Fresno area in California’s Central Valley also scored fifth for both short-term air pollution and ozone pollution, slightly improving from previous years. The area is home to over 1.3 million total people, including 972,000 people of color.

2. Visalia, California

Viasalia, another resident of the Central Valley, returned as a top ranker in all three categories: second in ozone pollution and third in short-term particle pollution. The city experienced their highest-ever spike in particle pollution since the start of the report, and the fewest number of unhealthy ozone days. The air pollution affects the total population of 479,000 people, including 355,000 people of color.

1. Bakersfield-Delano, California

Bakersfield topped the list for both long and short-term particulate matter pollution, and ranked third in ozone pollution. It is the sixth consecutive year to top the annual list, affecting a population of 914,00 people, including 640,000 people of color.

The area, located in the Central Valley and surrounded by mountains, struggles with a “bowl” shape that traps air pollution. The pollution is fueled by a mix of the dry climate, vehicle emissions, oil, gas and wildfires.

10 Most Polluted Cities by Annual Particle Matter

Almost half of the U.S. population lives with “unhealthy” levels of harmful air pollution, and two Texas cities ranked among the 10 worst for ozone pollution in the nation, a new report from the American Lung Association reveals.

What You Need To Know Houston and Dallas ranked among the top 10 worst U.S. cities for ozone pollution

Eighteen Texas counties received an F rating for high ozone days, including Travis, Bexar, Dallas and Tarrant counties

According to the report, people of color and those with lower incomes are disproportionately affected by air pollution and at higher risk for illness

The Lung Association’s 26th annual “State of the Air” report, released last week, rates the quality of the air throughout the country from 2021 to 2023 based on three measures of air pollution: ozone pollution, short-term particle pollution and annual particle pollution.

Forty-six percent of the U.S. population — 156 million people — lives in an area that got a failing grade in all three measures. That’s nearly 25 million more people than last year’s report, and the most of any report in the last decade.

Extreme heat, wildfires and drought are among the causes of worsening air pollution, the Lung Association says. A deadly heat wave in Texas and smoke from wildfires in Canada in 2023 brought nationwide ozone and particle pollution levels “higher than they have been in many years,” the report found.

Several Texas cities ranked in the top 10 for ground-level ozone pollution, also known as smog, and year-round particle pollution, or soot.

According to the Lung Association, both ozone and particle pollution can have a number of negative impacts on people’s health, including causing asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, premature births and impaired cognitive functioning later in life. Particle pollution can also increase the risk of lung cancer.

Houston ranked No. 7 worst in the U.S. for high ozone days compared to 228 metropolitan areas and No. 8 for annual particle pollution out of 208 metropolitan areas. Dallas sits at No. 10 for ozone pollution.

The report also graded each U.S. county with available ozone data from A-F based on the number of high ozone days in the area. Eighteen Texas counties received an F rating, including Travis, Bexar, Dallas and Tarrant counties.

“Families across the U.S. are dealing with the health impacts of air pollution every day, and extreme heat and wildfires are making it worse. Air pollution is causing kids to have asthma attacks, making people who work outdoors sick, and leading to low birth weight in babies. This year’s report shows the dramatic impact that air pollution has on a growing number of people,” said Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association.

Income and race also plays a role in air quality. According to the report, people of color and those with lower incomes are disproportionately affected by air pollution and are at higher risk for illness. Additionally, Hispanic people are three times as likely as white people to live in a community with failing grades in all three categories.

Wimmer said efforts to cut U.S. Environmental Protection Agency staff, funding and programs will leave people more vulnerable to harmful air pollution.

“Even as more people are breathing unhealthy air, the federal staff, programs and policies that are supposed to be cleaning up pollution are facing rollbacks, restructuring and funding challenges,” Wimmer said. “For decades, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has worked to ensure people have clean air to breathe, from providing trustworthy air quality forecasts to making sure polluters who violate the law clean up…We need to protect EPA.”

In the first 100 days of the Trump administration, nearly 121,000 federal employees were laid off or targeted for layoffs as part of sweeping cuts to the federal workforce, according to CNN. At the EPA, over 1,000 workers have already been terminated, and employees received emails on Monday urging them to voluntarily leave the agency, USA Today reports.

In the United States, how long a person lives can vary substantially depending on where in the country they reside.

Comparing the life expectancy of people born from 1900 to 2000, a study published Monday found that in many southern states, life expectancy changed very little, especially for women. But in several states in the Northeast and West, as well as in Washington, D.C., it improved significantly.

Ranked among the worst states for longevity improvements over the last century, West Virginia’s life expectancy for women born in 2000 rose to just 75.3 years, one year longer than its life expectancy for women born in 1900, according to the study. The state’s life expectancy for men born in 2000 increased by about 9 years compared to those born in 1900.

By comparison, the study showed the life expectancy for women born in New York in 2000 is about 92 years, roughly two decades longer than for those born in 1900. And men born in New York in 2000 have a life expectancy of about 88 years, almost 28 years longer than those born in 1900.

Life expectancy nationwide increased far more for men from 1900 to 2000 than it did for women, a pattern that held true in a number of individual states. Overall, women’s life expectancy by birth cohort grew from 73.8 to 84.1 years, while men’s rose from 62.8 to 80.3 years.

The study also found that longevity for men typically plateaued around 1950. Researchers said life expectancy increased by less than 2 years for men in many states since 1950.

Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health conducted the study, and their findings were published in the journal JAMA Network Open. The results analyzed 179 million deaths around the U.S., including the deaths of 77 million women and 102 million men.

The study differs from previous ones by looking at life expectancy by birth cohort, rather than by just calendar years, the authors say.

“Prior studies have considered mortality and disease from the perspective of calendar year or period but have not provided summaries for individuals by birth cohorts,” they wrote. “The cohort trends can assess the outcomes of policy changes that have more impact on individuals of a particular age and impact health thereafter.”

Best and worst states for life expectancy

For women, the study found that life expectancy changed very little for those born in 1900 and those born in 2000 in five states: West Virginia, up from 74.3 to 75.3; Oklahoma, which saw a decrease from 76.7 to 76; Kentucky, up from 74.9 to 76.5; Mississippi, up from 73.2 to 76.6; and Arkansas, where it rose from 75.7 to 76.6.

Ted Holford, a research scientist in biostatistics who co-authored the study, told CBS News the minimal changes in women’s longevity found in certain regions were unexpected.

“For some of those states in the Northeast and the West, there’s been quite a lot of change, which one would expect, given all of the changes in medical practices and health care over the 20th century,” Holford said. “But what was surprising to me is how little it changed, especially for women, in some of those southern states. Some of them basically didn’t change at all.”

For men, Mississippi, West Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee saw the lowest changes in life expectancy compared with the rest of the country. In each, men born in 1900 had a life expectancy of between 61.5 and 63.7 years, while those born in 2000 have a life expectancy between 71.8 and 73.4 years. Much of the longevity increases for men in those states happened before 1950, with little improvement from then onward, Holford said.

Like the lowest-ranking states, those with the highest life expectancy, and the most significant jumps in longevity over the last century, overlapped between women and men.

For women, the study found life expectancy rates were highest and most improved for those born in Washington, D.C., New York, California, Massachusetts and Hawaii. New York, California, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts and Washington state topped the list for men.

Why do people live longer in some states and not others?

Authors of the study attributed the country’s overall decrease in mortality rates to national improvements in sanitation, tobacco policies and health care, specifically calling out the progress made in terms of preventing cardiovascular disease, cancer and other illnesses since 1900. They cited variations in state public health policies between individual states to potentially explain the regional discrepancies indicated in the study, which also mentioned widening longevity gaps from the 1980s onward.

“These are undoubtedly shaped by state-level policies: states with progressive public health policies were more likely to experience increases in life expectancy than states without such policies,” the authors wrote, adding that “differences in mortality rates are also observed even at more granular levels by county.”

Holford acknowledged that “a complex array of things” has contributed to the ways in which life expectancy has changed in some states and not others, with variations in statewide tobacco regulations, vaccine policies and wealth to support better health care being a few of them. As this study grew out of a larger project that Holford worked on, developing population models for lung cancer, he used the evolving laws in some states to clamp down on cigarette smoking in some states versus others as one example of discrepancies that could feed into state-by-state differences in life expectancy.

“Some of the states have been more aggressive about trying to control tobacco use, introducing things like taxes on cigarettes and having clean air laws,” Holford told CBS News. “But some of these southern states, they’ve done very little. Some of them haven’t instituted any efforts [to curb tobacco use].”

Socioeconomic factors play a significant role in the differences between health environments by state, Holford and his co-authors noted, echoing findings of other reports on longevity in the U.S. Last year, a study that examined death records from 2000 to 2021 pinpointed large disparities in life expectancy based on location, as well as race and ethnicity.

Accounting for the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors of that study found that historically marginalized populations, including Black and Indigenous Americans, experienced disproportionately high mortality rates and “horrific losses in life expectancy” compared with other groups.

Chicago area ranks among worst in U.S. for ozone pollution, new report finds

Nearly half of Americans breathe unhealthy levels of air pollution, according to the report.

Nearly half of Americans breathe unhealthy levels of air pollution, according to the report.

Nearly half of Americans breathe unhealthy levels of air pollution, according to the report.

Nearly half of Americans breathe unhealthy levels of air pollution, according to the report.

Air pollution levels keep getting worse for more people in the US, according to a new report, and experts say the Trump administration’s proposed deregulation plans will make it even harder for people to get clean air.

Almost half of everyone who lives in the United States breathes unhealthy levels of air pollution, according to the American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air report, released Wednesday.

According to air quality data from 2021 to 2023, about 156 million people – 25 million more than last year’s report – live in an area that the association gives a failing grade for ozone and two measures of fine particulate matter pollution.

The US Environmental Protection Agency defines particulate matter, also called particle pollution or soot, as a mix of solid and liquid droplets that float in the air. It can come in the form of dirt, dust or smoke. Coal- and natural gas-fired power plants create it, as do cars, agriculture, unpaved roads, construction sites and wildfires.

Particle pollution threatens human health because it is so tiny – a fraction of the width of a human hair – and can travel past the body’s usual defenses. When a person breathes these particles in, they can get stuck in the lungs and move into the bloodstream, causing irritation and inflammation.

Exposure to particle pollution is considered a significant factor in premature death around the world, according to the World Health Organization. Exposure can also raise the risk of conditions including certain cancers, stroke, asthma, preterm births, dementia, depression and anxiety.

The new report says that 85 million people in the US live in an area with a failing grade for year-round particle pollution, the second-highest number of people with such exposure since the report was first published in 2000.

The Chicago area was ranked 15th worst in the nation for ozone pollution.

The top 10 areas most polluted by year-round particle pollution are:

1. Bakersfield-Delano, CA

2. Visalia, CA

3. Fresno-Hanford-Cocoran, CA

4. Eugene-Springfield, OR

5. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA

6. Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI (tied for 6th)

6. San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA (tied for 6th)

8. Houston-Pasadena, TX

9. Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH

10. Fairbanks-College, AK

Even in the short term, exposure to particle pollution can cause breathing problems or trigger a heart attack.

During the research period, the report says, short-term particle pollution in the US was the highest level it has been in 16 years, with 77.2 million people living in counties with these unhealthy spikes.

The 10 areas most polluted by short-term particle pollution are:

1. Bakersfield-Delano, CA

2.Fairbanks-College, AK

3. Eugene-Springfield, OR (tied for 3rd)

3. Visalia, CA (tied for 3rd)

5. Fresno-Hanford-Corcoran, CA

6. Reno-Carson City-Gardnerville Ranchos, NV-CA

7. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA

8. Yakima, WA

9. Seattle-Tacoma, WA

10. Sacramento-Roseville, CA

Ozone pollution, also called smog, is the presence of ground-level ozone that forms when chemicals like nitrogen oxides and volatile organics from electric utilities, car exhaust, gasoline vapors, industrial facilities and chemical solvents react to sunlight.

Exposure to ozone pollution can cause asthma attacks and chest pain in the short term. Long-term exposure can also cause decreased lung function and premature death.

The top 10 areas most polluted by ozone are:

1. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA

2. Visalia, CA

3. Bakersfield-Delano, CA

4. Phoenix-Mesa, AZ

5. Fresno-Hanford-Corcoran, CA

6. Denver-Aurora-Greeley, CO

7. Houston-Pasadena, TX

8. San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA

9. Salt Lake City-Provo-Orem, UT

10. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX

The American Lung Association report notes that people of color are the group most likely to live in neighborhoods with unhealthy air and are more than twice as likely as White people to live a community with a failing grade for two types of particle pollution or ozone pollution.

People who identify as Hispanic are three times more likely as White people to live in an area with three failing grades for air pollution.

Dr. Juanita Mora, a pulmonologist who works in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, said she sees the toll of high air pollution levels nearly every day.

The demolition of a power plant in the area in 2020 spread soot “for miles and miles,” she said. When that combined with normal pollution levels, street vendors, other outdoor workers and a 7-year-old boy all came in wheezing and coughing.

“He was just outside playing in his yard,” said Mora, who is also a volunteer spokesperson for the American Lung Association. “His parents had to rush him to the ER because he said he was having chest tightness and couldn’t stop coughing.

“As a doctor, I feel like we’re failing millions and millions of kids and adults,” she added.

It doesn’t always take a demolished building for air pollution to cause widespread breathing problems.

Katherine Pruitt, national senior director for policy at the American Lung Association and a co-author of the new report, said that a record number of warm days and wildfires during the research period caused “horrible ozone years.”

People didn’t even have to live close to a wildfire to be affected, Pruitt said. Smoke plumes travel, and when they combine with typical pollution in urban areas, “they bump up the ability to produce ozone-forming compounds,” Pruitt said.

In 2023, Canadian wildfires caused problems for Mora’s patients hundreds of miles away in Chicago. “I saw so many kids and adults with asthma exacerbations around that time,” she said.

Dr. Panagis Gallatsatos, a pulmonary and critical care medicine specialist at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said doctors do what they can to help patients breathe better, “but we can only do so much against the air that they breathe.”

Gallatsatos, who is also a volunteer spokesperson for the Lung Association, said it’s been “rather defeating” to read about how many more Americans have been exposed to pollution.

“As a lung doctor, I don’t have any medication that can really offset that,” he said. “For pollution, we rely on good policies and legislation to protect lung health.”

And protective legislation may become harder to find. As part of the “biggest deregulatory action in US history,” the EPA said last month that it will revisit the Biden-era National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter, which govern how much soot can be released into the air.

The Trump administration is also considering looser regulations on power plants, the oil and gas industry, coal plants and other industries and machines that generate air pollution.

“Obviously, we’re worried about what the future portends for all the hard work that we’ve done to put rules and practices into place to control emissions, both for particle pollution and ozone and for greenhouse gases that are affecting the climate,” Pruitt said. “It’s very worrisome.”

If EPA deregulation efforts are successful, Mora said, it will directly hurt her patients who are already breathing polluted air.

“I believe I’m going to be seeing a lot more kids, more families affected by the lack of limits on particle pollution as well as ozone pollution, especially here in the city of Chicago,” she said. “If you can’t breathe, nothing else matters.”

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