Cities with the Cleanest Air, Honolulu, Hawaii Leads (2026)

Name: Best air quality by city and state, The Honest Local
Creator: The Honest Local
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

How many days a year the air is rated good, blended with how much fine particle pollution hangs in it.

By The Honest Local · 104 cities · every value links to its public source

99.4Honolulu, Hawaii leads on The Honest Local Clean Air Score, 104 cities, the 100 largest metro areas and every city we coverHow many days a year the air is rated good, blended with how much fine particle pollution hangs in it.

Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach seen from under the red umbrellas of a beachfront bar in Honolulu — **Honolulu, Hawaii**, No. 1 highest of 104. Waikiki from a beach bar, Diamond Head at the end of the sand.

The top five cities Clean Air Score out of 100, and the readings behind it

No. 1Honolulu, Hawaii99.497.3 % of days Good
No. 2Poughkeepsie, New York9894 % of days Good
No. 3Melbourne, Florida97.191.2 % of days Good
No. 4Vancouver, Washington90.882.7 % of days Good
No. 5Worcester, Massachusetts90.881.6 % of days Good

Cities with the Cleanest Air on the map

Clean Air Score, cities hover for the numbers, click for every one

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The share of monitored days the EPA rated Good, blended with the average fine particle pollution in the air over the year.

Cities with the Cleanest Air, all 104

The full ranking best score, 0 to 100

	Place	Clean Air Scoreout of 100	Good days pct	PM2.5µg/m³
1	Honolulu, Hawaiibig city	99.4	97100	499
2	Poughkeepsie, New York	98	9498	no reading
3	Melbourne, Florida	97.1	9197	597
4	Vancouver, Washington	90.8	8393	689
5	Worcester, Massachusetts	90.8	8290	691
6	Syracuse, New York	87.5	8393	682
7	Boise, Idaho	85.2	7476	595
8	Portland, Oregonbig city	81.5	7882	681
9	Boston, Massachusettsbig city	80.5	7681	680
10	Colorado Springs, Coloradobig city	79.9	6862	598
11	Cape Coral, Florida	78.3	7680	676
12	Providence, Rhode Island	76.6	7374	679
13	Ogden, Utah	76	6656	596
14	Seattle, Washingtonbig city	75.7	6759	693
15	Rochester, New York	75.3	7476	774
16	Virginia Beach, Virginiabig city	75.3	8188	762
17	Daytona Beach, Florida	75.2	8190	761
18	Richmond, Virginia	75.2	7986	764
19	San Francisco, Californiabig city	74.9	7680	770
20	Orlando, Floridabig city	74.3	7374	775
21	Greensboro, North Carolinabig city	72.6	7578	767
22	Asheville, North Carolina	72	7375	769
23	Omaha, Nebraskabig city	70.9	7169	773
24	Lakeland, Florida	69.6	9699	840
25	Durham, North Carolinabig city	69.3	7270	768
26	Allentown, Pennsylvania	67.3	7272	763
27	Sarasota, Florida	66.7	6554	680
28	Portland, Maine	66.7	7477	756
29	Huntsville, AL	64.7	7272	757
30	Albany, New York	64.1	6963	765
31	New Orleans, Louisianabig city	62.4	7170	755
32	Washington DC, Washington, DCbig city	61.1	6657	766
33	Raleigh, North Carolinabig city	59.1	6963	756
34	Baltimore, Marylandbig city	57.5	6555	760
35	Spokane, Washington	57.5	6553	762
36	Provo, Utah	57.5	5637	678
37	Reno, Nevadabig city	56.6	5026	687
38	Fayetteville, Arkansas	55.4	8394	917
39	Madison, Wisconsinbig city	54.5	6760	849
40	Buffalo, New Yorkbig city	53.2	6452	754
41	Oxnard, California	52.9	5230	676
42	Sacramento, Californiabig city	52.6	5434	772
43	Denver, Coloradobig city	52.2	5028	677
44	Des Moines, Iowa	52.2	6147	758
45	Chattanooga, Tennessee	49.2	6555	843
46	Tucson, Arizonabig city	47.7	349	687
47	Knoxville, Tennessee	47.5	6349	846
48	Winston-Salem, North Carolinabig city	47.5	6450	845
49	San Jose, Californiabig city	47.2	5536	759
50	Las Vegas, Nevadabig city	46	317	685
51	Charleston, South Carolina	44.9	6146	844
52	Harrisburg, Pennsylvania	42.9	6349	837
53	Albuquerque, New Mexicobig city	41.4	275	678
54	Tampa, Floridabig city	41.3	5332	751
55	Columbia, South Carolina	41.3	5841	842
56	Memphis, Tennesseebig city	40.3	6045	836
57	Miami, Floridabig city	40	5638	842
58	Salt Lake City, Utah	39.4	338	771
59	Kansas City, Missouribig city	39	5739	839
60	Milwaukee, Wisconsinbig city	38.9	6348	830
61	Jacksonville, Floridabig city	38.3	4823	754
62	Stockton, Californiabig city	38.3	6044	833
63	Jacksonville, Floridabig city	37.7	4822	753
64	Akron, Ohio	35.6	6451	921
65	New York, New Yorkbig city	35.4	5026	844
66	Nashville, Tennesseebig city	34.7	5331	838
67	Greenville, SC	33.7	5636	831
68	Dayton, Ohio	33.7	6045	922
69	Savannah, Georgia	33.3	5942	925
70	Dallas, Texasbig city	32.1	4114	750
71	Louisville, Kentuckybig city	30.4	5229	832
72	Oklahoma City, Oklahomabig city	29.4	5025	834
73	Tulsa, Oklahomabig city	27.8	5128	827
74	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvaniabig city	25.5	4620	831
75	Philadelphia, Pennsylvaniabig city	24.8	5027	923
76	Atlanta, Georgiabig city	24.7	5434	915
77	Minneapolis, Minnesotabig city	23.1	5840	96
78	Wichita, Kansasbig city	23.1	5840	97
79	Austin, Texasbig city	22.5	4418	827
80	Birmingham, Alabama	21.8	4418	826
81	San Antonio, Texasbig city	20.8	4316	925
82	Charlotte, NCbig city	19.8	4824	916
83	Chicago, Illinoisbig city	19.2	4115	924
84	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	19.1	5024	914
85	Jackson, Mississippi	16.5	4620	913
86	Phoenix, Arizonabig city	13.9	90	828
87	Cincinnati, Ohiobig city	13.9	3410	918
88	Cleveland, Ohiobig city	13.2	4317	99
89	Toledo, Ohiobig city	13.2	4722	105
90	Columbus, Ohiobig city	12.6	4013	912
91	Augusta, Georgia	11.6	4721	102
92	Detroit, Michiganbig city	11.3	3611	911
93	Grand Rapids, Michigan	11.2	4215	97
94	McAllen, Texas	10.9	4419	103
95	St. Louis, Missouribig city	9.6	349	910
96	Fresno, Californiabig city	8.3	296	911
97	Indianapolis, Indianabig city	8.3	4013	104
98	Riverside, Californiabig city	7.7	111	915
99	Bakersfield, Californiabig city	5.6	183	98
100	San Diego, Californiabig city	5.6	183	99
101	Little Rock, Arkansas	4.3	317	101
102	Houston, Texasbig city	2.7	112	103
103	El Paso, Texasbig city	2	184	130
104	Los Angeles, Californiabig city	1	111	111

Sources and method

EPA annual air quality by county, 2025 · 2025, with 2024 where 2025 is not yet filed
EPA annual air quality by county, 2024
EPA annual fine particle readings by monitor, 2025

How we got this. The Clean Air Score is The Honest Local’s own recipe. Each source ranks every place on its own from 0 to 100 and the score is the average, so a place has to do well on all of them to lead. We don't grade air on one count alone, so we blend two EPA readings. The share of monitored days in the year the EPA rated Good, and the average fine particle concentration the EPA's own monitors measured that year, a longer look at what hangs in the air than any one day's category. Each source ranks every place against every other place that has it and the average of the two ranks is the score that decides the list. The plain share of Good days is still what we show you. A city uses its own county. For a state we never hand you one county's reading and call it the state's. We weight every county in the state by population, for each source on its own. Connecticut is a real gap. The federal tables no longer agree on what a Connecticut county is, so there's no population to weight by and we use a plain average of the counties the EPA covers, noted in that row. It refreshes once a year, when the EPA publishes the prior year. For Honolulu, Hawaii, that means EPA county AQI, 2025 file, 365 monitored days (county FIPS 15003).

Rankings by The Honest Local from public data, one page per list, refreshed on each source’s own cycle. Places with no reading are left out rather than estimated. Every value on this page carries its source in the page’s structured data.

Photos Embrace Someplace · Juliancolton, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons · Pokemonprime, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · More Than Just Parks.