Riverside County ranks among the worst places to live due to air quality in new report

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif. (KESQ) – A newly-released report from the American Lung Association gave a failing grade to Riverside County – and much of Southern California – due to poor air quality in 2025.

ALA's 2026 State of the Air Report was released last Wednesday. The full report can be found here.

The report ranked Riverside County as the 2nd worst place to live due to ground-level ozone pollution in the country. Other Southern California counties, like neighboring San Bernardino county, topped that list. It also placed Riverside County within the 10 worst counties for PM2.5 pollution, often referred to as fine particulate matter. Both pollutants are harmful to residents and can have lasting health impacts.

Regional air quality managers acknowledged the report's findings, but said the American Lung Association's evaluation did not fully reflect "decades of effort" made in the region.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District covers much of Southern California, including Riverside County. It pointed to significant progress made towards improving air quality over the years.

According to a spokesperson for the AQMD, 2025 levels of ozone were the some of the lowest on record in the region. AQMD said some of the high pollution days observed stemmed from external factors, like large-scale wildfires out of our area.

Wildfire smoke also contributed to heightened levels of PM2.5 in 2025, but the AQMD said the South Coast Air Basin has recently met federal guidelines for PM10 and 24-hour PM2.5 pollution. It acknowledged the region has still not yet met federal guidelines for annual PM2.5 standards, but said several plans for ozone and fine particulate matter are being implemented to work towards improvement.

Leaders with the Air Quality Management District were not available for an interview on Wednesday, but are expected to provide written responses to several of our questions following up on the American Lung Association's findings.

Stay tuned for our full report, where we'll be discussing the State of the Air report with some of the leading researchers at the Association who focused on California's air quality. We'll have the latest at 4, 5, and 6 o'clock.