Texas Air Quality

EPA monitor data through 2025 · Updated August 13, 2026 · Methods

In 2025, Texas recorded 135 days above an Air Quality Index of 100, the level at which EPA begins warning sensitive groups, out of 365 days with monitoring data. Most of those bad days were driven by ozone. Under the AQI rules that applied before 2013, the same air would have scored 106 days. Since 2000, unhealthy days are 6% lower on a consistent definition.

Unhealthy days, 2025

135

AQI above 100

Same air, pre-2013 rules

106

for comparison with older reports

Good-air days

AQI 50 or below

Days monitored

365

full year

How to read a statewide figure. The Air Quality Index describes one place at one time. A statewide number is the worst monitor anywhere in the state on each day, so it answers “was the air unhealthy somewhere in Texas?” — not “what did a typical resident breathe?” In a large state with many monitors it will read high even if most of the state was clean. EPA publishes the AQI for metropolitan areas rather than states for exactly this reason. For what people actually breathed, use the metro pages below.

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

Scored by the pre-2013 rules

What 2025 looked like

Air quality category	Days	Share of monitored days
Good	3	1%
Moderate	227	62%
Unhealthy for sensitive groups	89	24%
Unhealthy or worse	46	13%

Median AQI 90 · 90th-percentile AQI 157 · worst day 2122. Scored under current rules.

What drove the unhealthy days

Of the 135 days above 100 in 2025, 65 were driven by ozone and 23 by fine particles, with 47 from another pollutant. The two behave differently. Ozone peaks on hot sunny afternoons; fine particles now spike mainly with wildfire smoke. In the eastern United States, ozone has stopped responding to emission cuts: nitrogen oxide emissions kept falling after 2014 and ambient ozone barely moved.

The unhealthy days in 2025

Every day the index passed 100, what it reached, and which pollutant drove it. 29 of these 135 would not have counted as unhealthy under the pre-2013 rules.

Date	Peak AQI	Driven by	Pre-2013 score
Jan 4	158	Coarse particles	158
Jan 7	283	Coarse particles	283
Jan 17	168	Coarse particles	168
Jan 20	118	Coarse particles	118
Jan 30	183	Coarse particles	183
Feb 1	140	Ozone	116
Feb 3	104	Fine particles	93 (not unhealthy)
Feb 4	130	Fine particles	115
Feb 6	102	Fine particles	100 (not unhealthy)
Feb 7	101	Fine particles	90 (not unhealthy)
Feb 8	103	Fine particles	92 (not unhealthy)
Feb 9	137	Fine particles	120
Feb 10	156	Coarse particles	156
Feb 11	633	Coarse particles	620
Feb 12	161	Fine particles	153
Feb 14	179	Coarse particles	179
Feb 15	113	Coarse particles	113
Feb 25	112	Coarse particles	112
Feb 27	283	Coarse particles	283
Mar 1	179	Ozone	154
Mar 2	157	Fine particles	147
Mar 3	1059	Coarse particles	1003
Mar 4	383	Coarse particles	394
Mar 5	208	Fine particles	202
Mar 6	446	Coarse particles	451
Mar 7	414	Coarse particles	423
Mar 11	122	Coarse particles	122
Mar 13	194	Coarse particles	194
Mar 14	607	Coarse particles	596
Mar 15	169	Coarse particles	169
Mar 18	2122	Coarse particles	1959
Mar 19	164	Fine particles	156
Mar 25	136	Ozone	114
Mar 26	157	Coarse particles	157
Mar 27	116	Coarse particles	116
Mar 28	106	Coarse particles	106
Mar 29	223	Coarse particles	223
Mar 30	117	Fine particles	104
Mar 31	120	Fine particles	107
Apr 1	1342	Coarse particles	1257
Apr 2	121	Coarse particles	121
Apr 3	112	Fine particles	99 (not unhealthy)
Apr 4	104	Fine particles	93 (not unhealthy)
Apr 8	101	Ozone	87 (not unhealthy)
Apr 9	126	Ozone	106
Apr 10	133	Ozone	111
Apr 11	115	Ozone	100 (not unhealthy)
Apr 12	133	Ozone	111
Apr 16	123	Coarse particles	123
Apr 17	710	Coarse particles	689
Apr 18	762	Coarse particles	736
Apr 19	123	Coarse particles	123
Apr 27	1139	Coarse particles	1075
Apr 28	101	Coarse particles	101
May 2	158	Fine particles	151
May 6	122	Fine particles	108
May 7	139	Fine particles	121
May 8	110	Fine particles	98 (not unhealthy)
May 11	129	Ozone	109
May 12	140	Ozone	116
May 13	403	Coarse particles	413
May 14	189	Coarse particles	189
May 15	115	Ozone	100 (not unhealthy)
May 18	117	Coarse particles	117
May 19	135	Fine particles	125
May 21	101	Ozone	87 (not unhealthy)
May 23	136	Ozone	114
May 29	126	Ozone	106
May 30	106	Fine particles	94 (not unhealthy)
Jun 2	126	Ozone	112
Jun 9	121	Coarse particles	121
Jun 10	117	Coarse particles	117
Jun 15	240	Coarse particles	240
Jun 16	150	Ozone	124
Jun 17	103	Coarse particles	103
Jul 9	105	Ozone	90 (not unhealthy)
Jul 10	159	Coarse particles	159
Jul 11	151	Coarse particles	151
Jul 12	278	Coarse particles	278
Jul 15	101	Ozone	87 (not unhealthy)
Jul 24	161	Ozone	137
Jul 26	101	Ozone	87 (not unhealthy)
Jul 29	172	Ozone	147
Jul 30	156	Ozone	132
Jul 31	143	Ozone	119
Aug 1	119	Ozone	101
Aug 3	159	Ozone	135
Aug 4	161	Ozone	137
Aug 5	122	Ozone	104
Aug 6	108	Ozone	93 (not unhealthy)
Aug 8	115	Ozone	100 (not unhealthy)
Aug 13	143	Ozone	119
Aug 18	122	Ozone	104
Aug 19	147	Ozone	122
Aug 20	161	Ozone	137
Aug 21	129	Ozone	109
Aug 24	112	Ozone	97 (not unhealthy)
Aug 25	147	Ozone	122
Aug 26	140	Ozone	116
Aug 27	115	Ozone	100 (not unhealthy)
Sep 3	108	Ozone	93 (not unhealthy)
Sep 4	122	Ozone	104
Sep 5	126	Ozone	106
Sep 9	140	Ozone	116
Sep 10	154	Ozone	129
Sep 11	179	Ozone	154
Sep 12	147	Ozone	122
Sep 13	151	Ozone	127
Sep 14	115	Ozone	100 (not unhealthy)
Sep 15	154	Ozone	129
Sep 16	156	Ozone	132
Sep 17	140	Ozone	116
Sep 18	136	Ozone	114
Sep 19	136	Ozone	114
Sep 27	112	Ozone	97 (not unhealthy)
Sep 28	108	Ozone	93 (not unhealthy)
Sep 29	129	Ozone	109
Sep 30	129	Ozone	109
Oct 1	151	Ozone	127
Oct 2	147	Ozone	122
Oct 3	101	Ozone	87 (not unhealthy)
Oct 9	106	Fine particles	94 (not unhealthy)
Oct 10	123	Fine particles	109
Oct 11	112	Ozone	97 (not unhealthy)
Oct 12	101	Ozone	87 (not unhealthy)
Oct 13	133	Ozone	111
Oct 14	143	Ozone	119
Oct 15	143	Ozone	119
Oct 16	108	Ozone	93 (not unhealthy)
Nov 9	132	Coarse particles	132
Nov 15	106	Coarse particles	106
Dec 4	109	Fine particles	96 (not unhealthy)
Dec 9	102	Coarse particles	102
Dec 10	122	Coarse particles	122
Dec 24	103	Coarse particles	103

Metro areas in Texas

Ranked by unhealthy days in their latest year. These are the geographies EPA actually reports the AQI for.

Metro area	Unhealthy days	Pre-2013 rules	Main driver
El Paso, TX	63	55	fine particles
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX	46	33	ozone
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	45	29	ozone
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX	11	5	ozone
Brownsville-Harlingen, TX	8	5	fine particles
Corpus Christi, TX	8	4	fine particles
Austin-Round Rock, TX	6	3	ozone
Laredo, TX	5	1	ozone
Killeen-Temple, TX	4	1	ozone
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX	4	2	ozone
Waco, TX	3	1	ozone
Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	2	0	ozone
Lubbock, TX	2	2	fine particles
Odessa, TX	2	2	fine particles
Corsicana, TX	1	0	fine particles
Kingsville, TX	1	0	fine particles
Longview, TX	1	0	ozone
Amarillo, TX	0	0	ozone and fine particles equally
Eagle Pass, TX	0	0	ozone and fine particles equally
Marshall, TX	0	0	ozone and fine particles equally
Tyler, TX	0	0	ozone and fine particles equally
Victoria, TX	0	0	ozone and fine particles equally

The full series

Year	Unhealthy days, current rules	Pre-2013 rules	Days monitored
2000	135	113	366
2001	136	108	365
2002	140	116	365
2003	157	127	365
2004	118	101	366
2005	152	123	365
2006	150	119	365
2007	113	82	365
2008	102	72	366
2009	75	54	365
2010	84	60	365
2011	127	86	365
2012	116	70	366
2013	74	52	365
2014	52	25	365
2015	67	46	365
2016	51	25	366
2017	64	36	365
2018	70	43	365
2019	62	37	365
2020	71	35	366
2021	67	38	365
2022	104	63	365
2023	100	71	365
2024	167	126	366
2025	135	106	365

Sources

EPA AirData daily monitor files, recomputed under both breakpoint tables. Methods and validation.
Download the full dataset for every state and metro.