Bellingham has some of the cleanest air in the United States

Bellingham, Washington joined a small list of cities deemed to have the cleanest air in the nation.

All six cities ranked high on lists from the American Lung Association that measured ozone, year-round particle pollution, and short-term particle pollution. They also had zero high ozone or high particle pollution days.

Cleanest Cities in the U.S
Bellingham, WA (new)
Burlington-South Burlington, VT
Casper, WY (new)
Honolulu, HI
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL
Wilmington, NC

Cleanest Cities for Short-term Particle Pollution
Bellingham, WA
Casper, WY
Honolulu, HI

Cleanest for Ozone Pollution
Anchorage, AK
Bellingham, WA
Casper, WY
Cheyenne, WY
Fairbanks, AK
Idaho Falls-Rexburg-Blackfoot, ID
Honolulu, HI

Cleanest Cities for Year-Round Particle Pollution
1. Cheyenne, WY
2. Honolulu, HI
3. Casper, WY
4. Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, HI
10.  Wenatchee, WA
19.  Bellingham, WA

In case you were wondering, the American Lung Association’s State of the Air 2018 report also ranked the worst cities.

The Seattle-Tacoma area ranks as the 15th most-polluted area for short-term particle pollution, a worsening in it’s ranking from number 17 last year.

Yakima also made the list at number 17 for this year in short-term particle pollution.

Climate change is worsening our air pollution problems, as the State of the Air 2018 report shows. Warmer temperatures linked to climate change increase the frequency and severity of ozone days and make it harder to reach our clean air goals. Climate change is also linked to extreme weather patterns, drought and wildfires, which contribute to increased particle pollution.

“With record-setting heat in 2016, high ozone days increased dramatically which puts millions more people at risk.” Nyssen said. “This also puts creates challenges to the work cities are doing across the nation to clean up.”

Most-Polluted Cities for Short-Term Particle Pollution
Bakersfield, CA
Visalia-Porterfield, CA
Fresno-Madera, CA
Fairbanks, AK
Modesto-Madera, CA
San Jose-San Francisco, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Salt Lake City, UT
El Centro, CA
Pittsburgh, PA
Logan, ID
Missoula, MT
Lancaster, PA
Anchorage, AK
Seattle-Tacoma, WA
17. Yakima, WA