Sandpoint, ID Air Quality

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

In 2025, Sandpoint, ID recorded 4 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 205 Good days and 156 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 2 days. Since 2000, unhealthy days are 100% higher on a consistent definition.

Unhealthy days, 2025
4
AQI above 100
Same air, pre-2013 rules
2
for comparison with older reports
Good-air days
205
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

Sandpoint, ID: days above AQI 100 by year, current rules 0 4 8 12 16 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2000: 2 days 2001: 0 days 2002: 0 days 2003: 0 days 2004: 0 days 2005: 0 days 2006: 0 days 2007: 0 days 2008: 0 days 2009: 0 days 2010: 1 days 2011: 0 days 2012: 0 days 2013: 0 days (incomplete monitoring) 2014: 0 days 2015: 12 days 2016: 0 days 2017: 12 days 2018: 16 days 2019: 1 days 2020: 10 days 2021: 10 days 2022: 8 days 2023: 4 days 2024: 4 days 2025: 4 days

Scored by the pre-2013 rules

Sandpoint, ID: days above AQI 100 by year, pre-2013 rules 0 4 8 12 16 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2000: 1 days 2001: 0 days 2002: 0 days 2003: 0 days 2004: 0 days 2005: 0 days 2006: 0 days 2007: 0 days 2008: 0 days 2009: 0 days 2010: 1 days 2011: 0 days 2012: 0 days 2013: 0 days (incomplete monitoring) 2014: 0 days 2015: 7 days 2016: 0 days 2017: 9 days 2018: 13 days 2019: 1 days 2020: 8 days 2021: 8 days 2022: 7 days 2023: 3 days 2024: 1 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
Good20556%
Moderate15643%
Unhealthy for sensitive groups41%
Unhealthy or worse00%

Median AQI 47 · 90th-percentile AQI 66 · worst day 138. Scored under current rules, out of 365 days with an AQI.

What drove the unhealthy days

Of the 4 days above 100 in 2025, 0 were driven by ozone and 4 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. 2 of these 4 would not have counted as unhealthy under the pre-2013 rules.

DatePeak AQIDriven byPre-2013 score
Sep 5111Fine particles 98 (not unhealthy)
Sep 6138Fine particles 121
Sep 27102Fine particles 91 (not unhealthy)
Sep 28120Fine particles 106

Statewide context

Sandpoint, ID sits in Idaho.

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 312482 0362
2001 270420 0312
2002 343210 0364
2003 326130 0339
2004 33870 0345
2005 327120 0339
2006 34920 0351
2007 30500 0305
2008 35910 0360
2009 35240 0356
2010 31911 0321
2011 34000 0340
2012 35600 0356
2013 (partial) 27120 0273
2014 31920 0321
2015 293609 3365
2016 317490 0366
2017 2481027 5362
2018 2588911 5363
2019 291731 0365
2020 283725 5365
2021 260944 6364
2022 259975 3364
2023 273862 2363
2024 272894 0365
2025 2051564 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
20002 0 2 1362
20010 0 0 0312
20020 0 0 0364
20030 0 0 0339
20040 0 0 0345
20050 0 0 0339
20060 0 0 0351
20070 0 0 0305
20080 0 0 0360
20090 0 0 0356
20101 0 0 1321
20110 0 0 0340
20120 0 0 0356
20130 0 0 0273
20140 0 0 0321
201512 0 11 7365
20160 0 0 0366
201712 0 12 9362
201816 0 16 13363
20191 0 1 1365
202010 0 6 8365
202110 0 10 8364
20228 0 8 7364
20234 0 4 3363
20244 0 4 1365
20254 0 4 2365

Sources