California Cities Lead Pollution Rankings with Eight in Top 25

As California gears up for new clean-air initiatives and a contested electric vehicle mandate, a recent study highlights the state’s ongoing struggle with pollution, with eight cities ranking among the 25 most polluted in the United States.

The American Lung Association’s 2026 State of the Air report identifies the cities with the best and worst air quality nationwide.

Bakersfield, along with the nearby Delano area, holds the top spot for “year-round particle pollution” among 211 metropolitan areas across the country.

Joining Bakersfield, four other California regions are prominently featured in the top 10 for persistent particle pollution. These include Fresno-Hanford-Corcoran at fourth, San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad tied for fifth, Visalia also tied for fifth, and Los Angeles-Long Beach at seventh.

Additional California cities making the list for year-round particle pollution are San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose tied at thirteenth, as well as El Centro at twenty-first.

When it comes to short-term particle pollution, Bakersfield-Delano has seen a slight improvement, moving from first place last year to third, with Fairbanks, Alaska now topping the list.

Visalia (#5), Fresno-Hanford-Corcoran (#6), Los Angeles-Long Beach (#7), El Centro (#14) and San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose (#20) are also on this list.

The final metric — highest ozone days — finds Los Angeles atop the list, ranking as the worst ozone city now for 26 of the 27 years this report has been released.

The top 5 is also California-heavy with Visalia (#2), Bakersfield-Delano (#3) and Frenso-Hanford-Corcoran (#5), with San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad (#7), El Centro (#10), San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose (#14), Sacramento-Roseville (#16) in the top 25.

Los Angeles County was graded an F for both High Ozone Days and Particle Pollution, and they are far from the only county to earn a failing grade.

Out of California’s 58 counties, 45 report particle pollution data, and 18 of them received failing grades for Particle Pollution, including Fresno, Riverside, Sacramento and San Bernadino.

For High Ozone Days, 40 of California’s 58 counties report data, with 22 receiving an F, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, Riverside and Fresno.

The report also concluded that more than 44% of Americans (152.3 million people) are living in areas that have failing grades for ozone or particle pollution.

The findings also reveal that nearly half of American children (46% or 33.5 million people under 18) are living in places where at least one of the three metrics have a failing grade.

Additionally, 10% of those children (7.3 million) are living in places where all three metrics have failing grades.

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