Bad Air Days in Benzie County, Michigan: 3 a Year
3 bad air days a year
About the middle of monitored US counties. Ranked 368 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: mostly ozone: summer smog (0% particle days).
When the bad days come in Benzie
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
Most bad days here fall in June and May and August. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.
Is a purifier worth it here?
- Ozone drives many bad days here. Purifiers and filters do not remove ozone, so do not buy one for that. Ozone peaks on hot afternoons: exercise outside in the morning.
The worst days on file
The worst recent year was 2016, with 6 bad days on 170 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-06-19 | 164 | Ozone |
| 2023-06-29 | 156 | Ozone |
| 2018-05-25 | 154 | Ozone |
| 2022-06-20 | 151 | Ozone |
| 2016-05-24 | 143 | Ozone |
The air on a normal day
Across 2,364 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Benzie County rated Good on 89% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 10%. The median day sat at AQI 37; one day in ten went above 53.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- ozone100%2,364 days
Year by year
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 214 | 195 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 80 |
| 2024 | 245 | 216 | 27 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 101 |
| 2023 | 238 | 198 | 37 | 3 | 1 | 38 | 156 |
| 2022 | 243 | 218 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 36 | 151 |
| 2021 | 251 | 222 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 100 |
| 2020 | 262 | 244 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 36 | 164 |
| 2019 | 247 | 232 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 93 |
| 2018 | 250 | 218 | 30 | 2 | 1 | 38 | 154 |
| 2017 | 244 | 216 | 26 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 112 |
| 2016 | 170 | 146 | 18 | 6 | 0 | 38 | 143 |
| 2015 | 183 | 160 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 108 |
| 2014 | 175 | 150 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 39 | 105 |
| 2013 | 183 | 140 | 42 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 119 |
| 2012 | 182 | 132 | 28 | 22 | 0 | 43 | 147 |
| 2011 | 179 | 154 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 39 | 147 |
| 2010 | 183 | 140 | 38 | 5 | 0 | 41 | 112 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
Elsewhere in Michigan
- Wayne County11/yr
- Marquette County9/yr
- Muskegon County9/yr
- Allegan County9/yr
- Berrien County8/yr
- Macomb County7/yr
- Cass County6/yr
- Oakland County6/yr
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.