Bad Air Days in Alachua County, Florida: under 1 a Year

under 1 bad air days a year

Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 901 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

What makes them bad: mostly particles: smoke and dust (67% particle days).

When the bad days come in Alachua

Most bad days here fall in May and June and October. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.

What actually helps here

Bad air days are rare here. A standard furnace filter is enough; no purifier needed for outdoor air.
On the odd bad day, check AirNow and keep windows shut.

The record for Alachua

In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 8 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, under 1. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2016, with 1 bad day on 360 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2020-06-26	105	PM2.5
2023-10-03	104	PM2.5
2016-05-09	101	Ozone
2024-02-07	94	PM2.5
2017-05-31	93	PM2.5

Most days, not the worst ones

Across 3,613 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Alachua County rated Good on 81% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 19%. The median day sat at AQI 40; one day in ten went above 54.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

fine particles (PM2.5)60%2,156 days
ozone40%1,457 days

Alachua County by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	364	323	41	0	0	37	69
2024	349	300	49	0	0	38	94
2023	365	270	94	1	0	40	104
2022	362	292	70	0	0	41	84
2021	364	308	56	0	0	39	84
2020	366	274	91	1	0	42	105
2019	364	289	75	0	0	39	80
2018	364	317	47	0	0	37	90
2017	355	267	88	0	0	42	93
2016	360	278	81	1	0	42	101
2015	365	291	74	0	0	39	74
2014	361	282	79	0	0	40	77
2013	359	278	81	0	0	39	100
2012	363	275	85	3	2	39	159
2011	356	183	171	2	0	49	109
2010	365	215	149	1	0	46	101

*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.

Nearby counties on file

How this is counted

A bad air day is a day the county's daily AQI from EPA AirData went above 100, the level where EPA tells children, older adults and people with asthma or heart disease to cut back outdoors. Monitors do not run every day, so yearly counts are scaled to 365 days. This is the record, not today's air: for that, check AirNow. More on the method in how the county numbers are made, on the AQI 100 line in what counts as a bad air day.