Missoula, MT Air Quality

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

In 2025, Missoula, MT recorded 0 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 298 Good days and 67 Moderate days. Under the AQI rules that applied before 2013, the same air would have scored 0 days. Since 2000, unhealthy days are 100% lower on a consistent definition.

Unhealthy days, 2025
0
AQI above 100
Same air, pre-2013 rules
0
for comparison with older reports
Good-air days
298
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

Missoula, MT: days above AQI 100 by year, current rules 0 20 40 60 80 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2000: 11 days 2001: 5 days 2002: 0 days 2003: 10 days 2004: 5 days (incomplete monitoring) 2005: 5 days 2006: 5 days 2007: 6 days 2008: 1 days 2009: 19 days 2010: 47 days 2011: 57 days 2012: 47 days 2013: 24 days 2014: 18 days 2015: 23 days 2016: 25 days 2017: 73 days 2018: 4 days 2019: 4 days 2020: 19 days 2021: 30 days 2022: 15 days 2023: 8 days 2024: 4 days 2025: 0 days

Scored by the pre-2013 rules

Missoula, MT: days above AQI 100 by year, pre-2013 rules 0 20 40 60 80 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2000: 7 days 2001: 4 days 2002: 0 days 2003: 9 days 2004: 3 days (incomplete monitoring) 2005: 5 days 2006: 3 days 2007: 4 days 2008: 0 days 2009: 9 days 2010: 34 days 2011: 38 days 2012: 39 days 2013: 19 days 2014: 9 days 2015: 14 days 2016: 14 days 2017: 65 days 2018: 2 days 2019: 4 days 2020: 10 days 2021: 18 days 2022: 11 days 2023: 5 days 2024: 2 days 2025: 0 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
Good29882%
Moderate6718%
Unhealthy for sensitive groups00%
Unhealthy or worse00%

Median AQI 38 · 90th-percentile AQI 56 · worst day 98. Scored under current rules, out of 365 days with an AQI.

Statewide context

Missoula, MT sits in Montana.

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 299569 2366
2001 290705 0365
2002 305600 0365
2003 291636 4364
2004 (partial) 196503 2251
2005 276612 3342
2006 282723 2359
2007 282775 1365
2008 269821 0352
2009 21113417 2364
2010 8423440 7365
2011 7123749 8365
2012 5426532 15366
2013 9424718 6365
2014 17317416 2365
2015 12621614 9365
2016 7226925 0366
2017 5224024 49365
2018 1462153 1365
2019 1731883 1365
2020 15519213 6366
2021 12221324 6365
2022 14920111 4365
2023 1572008 0365
2024 2371253 1366
2025 298670 0365

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
200011 0 9 7366
20015 0 5 4365
20020 0 0 0365
200310 0 8 9364
20045 0 5 3251
20055 0 5 5342
20065 0 5 3359
20076 0 6 4365
20081 0 1 0352
200919 0 19 9364
201047 0 47 34365
201157 0 57 38365
201247 0 47 39366
201324 0 24 19365
201418 0 18 9365
201523 0 23 14365
201625 0 25 14366
201773 0 73 65365
20184 0 4 2365
20194 0 4 4365
202019 0 19 10366
202130 0 30 18365
202215 0 15 11365
20238 0 8 5365
20244 0 4 2366
20250 0 0 0365

Sources