Los Angeles is most ozone-polluted US region (again), report shows

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LOS ANGELES - Unhealthy air pollution levels affect more than a third of all residents in the U.S., according to an annual report published Wednesday, and those living in the Los Angeles-Long Beach region are apparently breathing the most polluted air compared to the rest of the country.

That's according to the American Lung Association's "State of the Air" report, which examined ozone smog and particle pollution levels from data recorded in the Environmental Protection Agency's Air Quality System from 2019 to 2021.

The study found cities in California were among the most polluted metropolitan areas in the country for the designated time frame, which coincided with the state being hit by a series of wildfires.

Los Angeles-Long Beach, California, had the worst ozone pollution in the U.S., according to the report. The region has been ranked the nation's worst ozone-polluted area in 23 of the 24 years that the Lung Association has produced its State of the Air report, although the association noted that the area improved slightly from last year in terms of unhealthy ozone days and particle pollution days.

Bakersfield, California, ranked the worst in the U.S. for short-term and long-term particle pollution. Other California cities included on the list include Visalia, Fresno, Sacramento and San Diego.

LA has one of the worst ozone pollution

The Los Angeles and Long Beach area has the worst ozone pollution in the US, according to a report from the American Lung Association.

According to the report, more than 98% of California residents live in areas that earned failing grades for unhealthy ozone pollution days, unhealthy particle pollution days or annual particle pollution levels. More than 40% of residents are in areas with failing grades for each of those pollutants.

Nationally, the report found that nearly 120 million people live in areas with unhealthy air quality, and more than half of them are people of color. The report's authors found that people of color were 64% more likely than white people to live in a county with a failing grade in at least one of the study's pollution categories, and 3.7 times more likely to live in a county with a failing grade in all three categories.

City News Service contributed to this report.