Elkhart-Goshen, IN Air Quality

EPA monitor data through 2025 · Updated September 02, 2026 · Methods

In 2025, Elkhart-Goshen, IN recorded 6 days above an Air Quality Index of 100, the level at which EPA begins warning sensitive groups, out of 365 days with monitoring data. The rest of the year was 223 Good days and 136 Moderate days. Most of the bad days were driven by fine particles. Under the AQI rules that applied before 2013, the same air would have scored 3 days. Since 2007, unhealthy days are 73% lower on a consistent definition.

Unhealthy days, 2025
6
AQI above 100
Same air, pre-2013 rules
3
for comparison with older reports
Good-air days
223
AQI 50 or below
Days monitored
365
full year

Unhealthy days by year, scored two ways

EPA changed what an AQI of 100 means in 2013 and again in 2015, so a count published before those changes is not comparable to one published after. Each panel below applies a single fixed rulebook to every year, so each is internally consistent. Why this matters.

Scored by today's rules

Elkhart-Goshen, IN: days above AQI 100 by year, current rules 0 9 18 27 36 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2000: 6 days (incomplete monitoring) 2001: 4 days (incomplete monitoring) 2002: 35 days (incomplete monitoring) 2003: 16 days (incomplete monitoring) 2004: 6 days (incomplete monitoring) 2005: 26 days (incomplete monitoring) 2006: 2 days (incomplete monitoring) 2007: 19 days 2008: 4 days (incomplete monitoring) 2009: 1 days (incomplete monitoring) 2010: 2 days (incomplete monitoring) 2011: 6 days 2012: 12 days 2013: 3 days 2014: 10 days 2015: 3 days 2016: 8 days 2017: 1 days 2018: 3 days 2019: 0 days 2020: 2 days 2021: 0 days 2022: 3 days 2023: 7 days 2024: 1 days 2025: 6 days

Scored by the pre-2013 rules

Elkhart-Goshen, IN: days above AQI 100 by year, pre-2013 rules 0 9 18 27 36 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2000: 2 days (incomplete monitoring) 2001: 1 days (incomplete monitoring) 2002: 28 days (incomplete monitoring) 2003: 9 days (incomplete monitoring) 2004: 6 days (incomplete monitoring) 2005: 14 days (incomplete monitoring) 2006: 2 days (incomplete monitoring) 2007: 11 days 2008: 1 days (incomplete monitoring) 2009: 0 days (incomplete monitoring) 2010: 0 days (incomplete monitoring) 2011: 3 days 2012: 3 days 2013: 2 days 2014: 5 days 2015: 1 days 2016: 1 days 2017: 0 days 2018: 0 days 2019: 0 days 2020: 2 days 2021: 0 days 2022: 1 days 2023: 4 days 2024: 1 days 2025: 3 days
Faded columns mark years with fewer than 300 monitored days, where the count is not comparable.

What 2025 looked like

Air quality categoryDaysShare of days with an AQI
Good22361%
Moderate13637%
Unhealthy for sensitive groups52%
Unhealthy or worse10%

Median AQI 43 · 90th-percentile AQI 66 · worst day 171. Scored under current rules, out of 365 days with an AQI.

What drove the unhealthy days

Of the 6 days above 100 in 2025, 0 were driven by ozone and 6 by fine particles. The two behave differently. Ozone peaks on hot sunny afternoons; fine particles now spike mainly with wildfire smoke.

The unhealthy days in 2025

Every day the index passed 100, what it reached, and which pollutant drove it. 3 of these 6 would not have counted as unhealthy under the pre-2013 rules.

DatePeak AQIDriven byPre-2013 score
Jul 14103Fine particles 92 (not unhealthy)
Jul 31132Fine particles 116
Aug 1110Fine particles 98 (not unhealthy)
Aug 5102Fine particles 91 (not unhealthy)
Nov 14171Fine particles 162
Nov 23120Fine particles 107

Statewide context

Elkhart-Goshen, IN sits in Indiana.

Days in each air quality category, by year

How many days fell in each AQI category, for every year with an AQI on record. Categories are scored under EPA's current breakpoints. A year with fewer than 300 days is marked, because a short year lowers every count for reasons that have nothing to do with the air.

YearGoodModerate Unhealthy for sensitive groupsUnhealthy or worse Days with an AQI
2000 (partial) 141886 0235
2001 (partial) 139874 0230
2002 (partial) 10110618 17242
2003 (partial) 10711811 5241
2004 (partial) 139966 0241
2005 (partial) 9212521 5243
2006 (partial) 145952 0242
2007 9419917 2312
2008 (partial) 1281084 0240
2009 (partial) 164761 0241
2010 (partial) 1591092 0270
2011 1222256 0353
2012 13821211 1362
2013 1312153 0349
2014 8226810 0360
2015 1751793 0357
2016 1971538 0358
2017 2481161 0365
2018 2281323 0363
2019 2511140 0365
2020 2541100 2366
2021 2141510 0365
2022 2441173 0364
2023 2281305 2365
2024 2271381 0366
2025 2231365 1365

Good is AQI 0–50, Moderate 51–100, Unhealthy for sensitive groups 101–150. “Unhealthy or worse” combines the Unhealthy, Very Unhealthy and Hazardous categories, which are shown together because most areas record too few of each to report separately. The four columns sum to the last one by construction. These counts exclude sulphur dioxide, following EPA, which drops SO₂ from county and metro summaries because it is too localized to describe a whole area.

The full series

The same years scored two ways, with the pollutant that drove the days above 100. EPA's files record which pollutant set each day's AQI; they do not attribute days to wildfire smoke, so no column here claims to.

YearUnhealthy days, current rulesOf which ozone Of which fine particlesPre-2013 rulesDays monitored
20006 3 3 2235
20014 0 4 1230
200235 35 0 28242
200316 13 3 9241
20046 5 1 6241
200526 23 3 14243
20062 2 0 2242
200719 13 6 11312
20084 2 2 1240
20091 0 1 0241
20102 0 2 0270
20116 5 1 3353
201212 9 3 3362
20133 0 3 2349
201410 0 10 5360
20153 0 3 1357
20168 6 2 1358
20171 1 0 0365
20183 3 0 0363
20190 0 0 0365
20202 0 2 2366
20210 0 0 0365
20223 0 3 1364
20237 3 4 4365
20241 0 1 1366
20256 0 6 3365

Sources