Bad Air Days in Baker County, Oregon: 3 a Year

3 bad air days a year

About the middle of monitored US counties. Ranked 416 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

What makes them bad: mostly particles: smoke and dust (100% particle days).

The bad-air season here

Most bad days here fall in September and August and July. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.

What to buy, and what not to

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 worst days on file

In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged under 1 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 3. Not much has changed. The worst recent year was 2020, with 7 bad days on 366 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2020-09-13	225	PM2.5
2020-09-12	218	PM2.5
2017-09-07	176	PM2.5
2018-08-20	172	PM2.5
2020-09-15	166	PM2.5

The air on a normal day

Across 3,623 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Baker County rated Good on 79% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 20%. The median day sat at AQI 30; one day in ten went above 58.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

fine particles (PM2.5)100%3,623 days

Year by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	365	304	61	0	0	29	85
2024	366	279	84	3	2	28	155
2023	363	301	62	0	0	30	83
2022	365	283	79	3	0	32	124
2021	364	271	88	5	4	29	155
2020	366	282	77	7	5	33	225
2019	360	293	67	0	0	31	68
2018	347	273	72	2	1	32	172
2017	365	273	86	6	3	30	176
2016	362	303	59	0	0	28	77
2015	365	285	70	10	2	31	159
2014	365	284	81	0	0	30	91
2013	365	223	142	0	0	44	95
2012	366	275	89	2	0	33	137
2011	352	254	98	0	0	31	95
2010	356	267	89	0	0	33	80

*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.