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 wrote a written response for some of our questions following up on the report's release.

We asked if the District was concerned by the State of the Air Report's findings, or if it dismissed what was reported. The organization wrote:

"South Coast AQMD takes the American Lung Association’s findings seriously and shares the concern about continued air quality challenges in Riverside County and across the region. At the same time, the report is a snapshot in time and does not fully capture the long-term progress that has been made. It is also not designed to separate out air quality by air basin; differences in pollutant levels are significant between the Greater LA region and the Coachella Valley. For example, ozone levels and fine particle pollution levels are considerably lower in the Coachella Valley than the Riverside County portion of the South Coast Air Basin. Our region’s unique geography, climate, large industrial presence, and growing population continue to make air quality improvement more challenging than in other parts of the country. We view these findings as a reminder of the work remaining, particularly regarding sources outside our direct regulatory control."

AQMD also said significant air quality progress has been made over the decades. We asked them to clarify what they were referring to. Their response:

"The South Coast region has achieved significant improvements in air quality despite a nearly tripling population and a fourfold increase in vehicles since the 1950s. Maximum levels of ozone have been cut to less than one-quarter of what they were in that era. Furthermore, Stage I smog alerts, which once occurred 100 to 120 times per year, have not occurred since 1998, and the more severe Stage II alerts have not been recorded since the 1980s."

"South Coast AQMD has achieved significant long-term air quality improvements through a combination of local regulations, cleaner technologies, and partnerships with state and federal agencies. Compared to past decades, the region has seen a substantial decline in the number and severity of unhealthy ozone days and overall reductions in smog-forming and particulate emissions. The Greater Los Angeles (LA) region now meets the federal PM10 standard and recently met the 24-hour PM2.5 standard in 2023 and 2024 after a decline of over 50% since measurements began in the late 1990s, reflecting measurable progress despite ongoing challenges. These gains reflect decades of coordinated efforts to clean up vehicles, industrial sources, and consumer products."

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.