Puget Sound Ranked As Best Place To Live For Those With Allergies

SEATTLE — If you're one of the 50 million Americans with seasonal allergies and one of the million people who moved to Washington in the last decade, you may have noticed something: you're probably sneezing a lot less than you used to.

That's because, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America’s 2022 report on the most challenging places to live with allergies, the Seattle metro is the best place to live if you have allergies, ranking 2nd out of 100 metros for those with spring allergies, and first place for fall allergies.

One reason Puget Sound is so protected: our iconic gloomy weather. The rain has a tendency to absorb and wash out pollen, making Western Washington one of the best places for people who struggle with spring and fall allergies.

On the other end of the spectrum, the top 10 "allergy capitals" are:

1. Scranton, Pennsylvania
2. Wichita, Kansas
3. McAllen, Texas
4. Richmond, Virginia
5. San Antonio, Texas
6. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
7. Hartford, Connecticut
8. Buffalo, New York
9. New Haven, Connecticut
10. Albany, New York

Tree pollen is most often what’s making allergy sufferers miserable right now. Trees will continue to produce pollen through May in most of the United States, and the tree and grass pollen seasons often overlap.

Among the trees that cause the most problems: alder, ash, aspen, beech, birch, box elder, cedar, cottonwood, elm, hickory, mountain elder, mulberry, oak, olive, pecan, poplar and willow. While those can still prove problematic for sensitive Washingtonians, our state's native evergreen trees are not going to cause any sniffles.

In the fall, most allergy problems stem from pollen-packed ragweed. One ragweed plant can produce billions of light, dry pollen grains that can travel hundreds of miles, according to the report. Fortunately, ragweed is also rare in Western Washington.

Other weeds to watch out for: burning bush, cocklebur, lamb’s quarters, mugwort, pigweed, Russian thistle and sagebrush.

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation cited research showing climate change puts every American’s health at risk, but those at greater risk include people with chronic diseases such as asthma. The research shows climate change has resulted in extended growing seasons, which result in longer and more intense allergy seasons, the report said.

So-called “urban heat islands” already can be several degrees hotter, a trend scientists expect to continue. These areas are most often located near freeways, power plants and factories, and air pollution and pollen can combine for miserable breathing conditions.

In fact, one Environmental Protection Agency study on ragweed pollen found it can be seven times higher in a city that's about 4 degrees hotter and with 30 percent more air pollution than surrounding rural areas.

Black and Hispanic populations are disproportionately affected because of a long history of housing policies “that discriminate against these groups,” the report said.

“These policies have pushed people of color to live in undesirable neighborhoods with greater environmental and social risks,” the report continued. “As a result of systemic racism in U.S. policies, governance, and culture, racial and ethnic minority populations are more vulnerable to the health impacts of climate change.”

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation said the findings are a call to local community leaders to address the challenges of climate change and increase access to specialized care.

The 2022 Allergy Capitals ranking of the 100-most populated metropolitan areas is based on seasonal pollen scores from the IQVIA Allergy Activity Notification Program database.