Pahrump, NV Air Quality

EPA monitor data through 2025 · Updated September 03, 2026 · Methods

In 2025, Pahrump, NV recorded 2 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 338 Good days and 25 Moderate days. Most of the bad days were driven by ozone and fine particles equally. Under the AQI rules that applied before 2013, the same air would have scored 2 days. Since 2004, unhealthy days are 50% lower on a consistent definition.

Unhealthy days, 2025
2
AQI above 100
Same air, pre-2013 rules
2
for comparison with older reports
Good-air days
338
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

Pahrump, NV: days above AQI 100 by year, current rules 0 3 6 9 12 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2003: 3 days (incomplete monitoring) 2004: 4 days 2005: 0 days 2006: 3 days 2007: 5 days 2008: 2 days 2009: 5 days 2010: 0 days 2011: 1 days 2012: 1 days 2013: 1 days 2014: 2 days 2015: 1 days 2016: 2 days 2017: 4 days 2018: 0 days 2019: 1 days 2020: 3 days 2021: 1 days 2022: 11 days 2023: 6 days 2024: 3 days 2025: 2 days

Scored by the pre-2013 rules

Pahrump, NV: days above AQI 100 by year, pre-2013 rules 0 3 6 9 12 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2003: 3 days (incomplete monitoring) 2004: 4 days 2005: 0 days 2006: 3 days 2007: 5 days 2008: 2 days 2009: 5 days 2010: 0 days 2011: 1 days 2012: 1 days 2013: 1 days 2014: 2 days 2015: 1 days 2016: 2 days 2017: 4 days 2018: 0 days 2019: 1 days 2020: 3 days 2021: 1 days 2022: 11 days 2023: 6 days 2024: 3 days 2025: 2 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
Good33893%
Moderate257%
Unhealthy for sensitive groups10%
Unhealthy or worse10%

Median AQI 26 · 90th-percentile AQI 45 · worst day 153. Scored under current rules, out of 365 days with an AQI.

What drove the unhealthy days

Of the 2 days above 100 in 2025, 0 were driven by ozone and 0 by fine particles, with 2 from another pollutant. 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.

DatePeak AQIDriven byPre-2013 score
Feb 20128Coarse particles 128
Aug 22153Coarse particles 153

Statewide context

Pahrump, NV sits in Nevada.

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
2003 (partial) 10852 1116
2004 302604 0366
2005 334280 0362
2006 314481 2365
2007 321393 2365
2008 340172 0359
2009 328194 1352
2010 332300 0362
2011 346181 0365
2012 341241 0366
2013 352121 0365
2014 339242 0365
2015 35770 1365
2016 349151 1366
2017 346153 1365
2018 350150 0365
2019 352121 0365
2020 343201 2366
2021 336281 0365
2022 306416 5358
2023 339206 0365
2024 319442 1366
2025 338251 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
20033 0 0 3116
20044 0 0 4366
20050 0 0 0362
20063 0 0 3365
20075 0 0 5365
20082 0 0 2359
20095 0 0 5352
20100 0 0 0362
20111 0 0 1365
20121 0 0 1366
20131 0 0 1365
20142 0 0 2365
20151 0 0 1365
20162 0 0 2366
20174 0 0 4365
20180 0 0 0365
20191 0 0 1365
20203 0 0 3366
20211 0 0 1365
202211 0 0 11358
20236 0 0 6365
20243 0 0 3366
20252 0 0 2365

Sources