These Counties Are NJ's Most Polluted, New Report Says

NEW JERSEY — The New York City-Newark metropolitan area is the 16th-worst location in the country for smog pollution, according to the American Lung Association’s 2025 “State of the Air” report, which found the air we breathe is getting dirtier in many parts of the country.

The report noted that after decades of progress in reducing the two major air pollutants, 156.1 million people — 46 percent of all Americans — are living in places that get failing grades for unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone pollution, or smog, and fine particle pollution, or soot. They are two of the most widespread and dangerous of pollutants.

In New Jersey, five counties received ‘F’ grades for high ozone days, according to the report. Those counties included Bergen, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex and Ocean.

Meanwhile, Hudson, Hunterdon, Camden and Monmouth counties received ‘D’ grades.

Of New Jersey’s 21 counties, the American Lung Association graded 15 for at least one measure of air quality. See the full report card.

“This is nearly 25 million more people breathing unhealthy air compared to last year’s report, and more than in any other ‘State of the Air’ report in the last ten years,” according to the report. “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.”

Here’s what the report says about air quality in New York-Newark metropolitan area now compared to 25 years ago:

• Ranked 16th-worst for high ozone days out of 228 metropolitan areas, with an annual weighted average of 20.2 high ozone days from 2021 to 2023, down from 56.5 days in 2000.
• Ranked 58th-worst for 24-hour particle pollution among 225 metropolitan areas, with an annual weighted average of 3.2 days from 2021 to 2023, down from 14.7 days in 2000.
• Ranked 48th-worst among 208 cities for annual particle pollution, with an average of 9.4 days in 2021 to 2023, down from 17.6 in 2000.

Ground-level ozone causes more breathing difficulties than any other single pollutant, according to the report. From 2021 through 2023, 37 percent of the population — about 125.2 million people — were exposed to unhealthy levels of ozone. That’s 24.6 million more people than reported in last year’s air-quality study.

The number of people living in counties that earned an “F” grade for unhealthy spikes in fine particle pollution increased to 77.2 million, up 12.1 million people from last year’s report. This is the seventh straight year this deadly pollutant increased, according to the American Lung Association.

Since 2000, the American Lung Association report has tracked the successes of the Clean Air Act, including reductions over time in emissions from transportation, power plants and manufacturing. However, climate change is making it harder to protect air quality and human health, the organization said.

For years, the worst air pollution problems were in western states, but the 2025 report found the geographic distribution of air pollution shifting back East. The year 2023 saw improved conditions along 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.

Both smog and soot can cause premature death and other serious health conditions, such as asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, preterm babies, impaired cognitive function later in life and lung cancer.

The report noted that the burden of living with unhealthy air is not shared equally and that communities of color are disproportionately exposed to air pollution and are more than likely living with one or more chronic health conditions that make them vulnerable.

People of color make up 41.2 percent of the U.S. population, but 50.2 percent of those living in a place with at least one failing grade on the air quality report card. Notably, Hispanic individuals are nearly three times as likely as white individuals to live in a community with three failing grades, the report said.