Bad Air Days in Bennington County, Vermont: 1 a Year

1 bad air day a year

Fewer bad air days than most monitored US counties. Ranked 642 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

What makes them bad: mostly particles: smoke and dust (75% particle days).

The bad-air season here

Most bad days here fall in June and July and May. 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 Bennington

In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 8 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 1. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2023, with 6 bad days on 359 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2023-06-07	157	PM2.5
2023-06-06	151	PM2.5
2023-07-01	146	PM2.5
2023-06-08	136	PM2.5
2023-06-30	123	PM2.5

An ordinary day in Bennington

Across 3,640 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Bennington County rated Good on 87% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 13%. The median day sat at AQI 37; one day in ten went above 52.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

ozone68%2,492 days
fine particles (PM2.5)32%1,148 days

Bennington County by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	360	301	57	2	0	37	122
2024	365	332	33	0	0	36	80
2023	359	290	63	6	2	38	157
2022	365	324	41	0	0	37	74
2021	365	307	57	1	0	37	115
2020	366	330	36	0	0	37	73
2019	365	329	36	0	0	37	95
2018	365	300	64	1	0	37	101
2017	364	317	46	1	0	37	101
2016	366	325	40	1	0	37	112
2015	365	276	89	0	0	39	97
2014	362	288	74	0	0	38	90
2013	365	294	70	1	0	39	101
2012	366	286	79	1	0	39	108
2011	361	239	121	1	0	42	140
2010	364	283	79	2	0	38	101

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

Elsewhere in Vermont

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.