While California braces fornew clean-air policiesand anEV mandate that has been challenged, a new report reveals the state is as polluted as ever, with eight cities in the top 25 most-polluted in the nation.
The American Lung Association released their2026 State of the Airreport, revealing both the cleanest and dirtiest cities, in terms of air quality.
Bakersfield, California and the surrounding Delano area has remainedthe most-polluted, in terms of “year-round particle pollution,” out of 211 American metropolitan areas.
Four other California metro areas were found in the top 10 for year-round particle pollution – Fresno-Hanford-Corcoran (#4), San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad (#5 – tie), Visalia (#5 – tie) and Los Angeles-Long Beach (#7).
Other California cities on the year-round particle pollution list include the Bay Area cities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose (#13 – tie) and El Centro (#21).
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In terms of short-term particle pollution, Bakersfield-Delano improved slightly from first on the list last year to third (viaSecret Los Angeles), with Fairbanks, Alaska taking the #1 spot.
Visalia (#5), Fresno-Hanford-Corcoran (#6), Los Angeles-Long Beach (#7), El Centro (#14) and San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose (#20) are also on this list.
The final metric — highest ozone days — finds Los Angeles atop the list, ranking as the worst ozone city now for 26 of the 27 years this report has been released.
The top 5 is also California-heavy with Visalia (#2), Bakersfield-Delano (#3) and Frenso-Hanford-Corcoran (#5), with San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad (#7), El Centro (#10), San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose (#14), Sacramento-Roseville (#16) in the top 25.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
