Bad Air Days in Alexandria City, Virginia

Not enough data

EPA monitors in Alexandria City ran on too few days between 2016 and 2025 to give a fair yearly count (about 27% of days covered). Neighbouring counties below are a better guide.

Is a purifier worth it here?

EPA monitors here ran too few days to give a fair yearly count. Use AirNow for today's air.

The worst days on file

The worst recent year was 2016, with 1 bad day on 180 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2016-01-25	103	NO2
2016-03-01	71	NO2
2016-04-19	63	NO2
2016-01-24	55	NO2
2016-01-28	54	NO2

The air on a normal day

Across 487 monitored days from 2016 to 2021, the air in Alexandria City rated Good on 99% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 1%. The median day sat at AQI 8; one day in ten went above 20.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

coarse dust (PM10)84%407 days
nitrogen dioxide10%50 days
carbon monoxide6%30 days

Year by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2021	15	15	0	0	0	6	9
2019	109	109	0	0	0	5	16
2018	78	78	0	0	0	6	11
2017	105	105	0	0	0	7	19
2016	180	174	5	1	0	12	103
2015	345	337	8	0	0	23	67
2014	365	360	5	0	0	19	70
2013	365	321	42	2	0	36	115
2012	366	297	54	15	4	35	182
2011	365	267	87	11	3	39	187
2010	365	243	108	14	1	43	166

Elsewhere in Virginia

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, and on why a purifier does not touch ozone in smoke vs ozone.