The air quality in Chicago has just been ranked as one of the worst in the U.S.
In Chicago, we're pretty used to the smog, smoke, sewage and other gross things we have to put up with to live in such a big, bustling and beautiful city. However, a recent environmental report has us wanting to reach for those N-95 masks again.
In its 2025 State of the Air report, which was released nationwide on Wednesday, April 23, the American Lung Association saw a "distressing reversal" in the nation's air quality, "creating new challenges for air pollution control efforts and putting the health of the communities affected at increased risk." Scarily, Chicago ranked among the country's most polluted cities. Here's what to know.
What is Chicago ranked in air quality?
Per the new analysis, Chicago is the 15th worst American city for high ozone days out of 228 metropolitan areas, up from its number 17 ranking in the previous two yearly reports. (Ozone pollution, also known as smog, is caused by air pollutants that combine in sunlight. Those pollutants are produced by burning fossil fuels—think gasoline, coal and the like.)
The Windy City also came in as 13th worst for annual particle pollution out of 208 metropolitan areas and 53rd worst for 24-hour particle pollution out of 225 metropolitan areas. In short, no bueno, folks.
And not only did the air quality in the Chicago metropolitan area receive a failing grade for unhealthy levels of ozone and particle pollution, but so did 23 counties (where data was available) throughout Illinois.
"Unfortunately, too many people in the Chicagoland area continue to live with unhealthy levels of ozone and particle pollution," said Kristina Hamilton, Advocacy Director for the American Lung Association, to CBS News Chicago. "This air pollution is a threat to human health at every stage of life—from increasing the risk of premature birth and low birth weight babies to causing or worsening lung disease."
What is causing poor air quality in Chicago?
Of course, man-made pollution throughout Chicago is certainly part of the problem, but so is the uptick in wildfires as of late, which has swept smog across the country and worsened overall air quality.
"Extreme heat, drought and wildfires are contributing to worsening levels of air pollution across much of the U.S., exposing a growing proportion of the population to ozone and particle pollution that put their health at risk," according to the report, which analyzed air quality data collected in 2023 from the Environmental Protection Agency.
The decrease in healthy air quality in Chicago is part of a troubling larger trend.
"After several years of reporting that the worst of the nation's air quality problems were increasingly concentrated in western states, 'State of the Air' 2025 finds the geographic distribution of air pollution shifting back East," reads the study. "The year 2023, which is included in this year's report for the first time, brought improved conditions to the west coast but also a deadly heat wave in Texas and an unprecedented blanket of smoke from wildfires in Canada that drove levels of ozone and particle pollution in dozens of central and eastern states higher than they have been in many years."
So, what can be done to help Chicagoans breathe easier? "We urge Illinois policymakers to take action to improve our air quality, including adopting clean vehicle standards and we are calling on everyone to support the incredibly important work of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)," Hamilton said to CBS News.
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