Bad Air Days in Bernalillo County, New Mexico: 15 a Year
15 bad air days a year
Among the worst tenth of monitored US counties. Ranked 51 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: a mix of particles and ozone (45% particle days).
When the bad days come in Bernalillo
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
Most bad days here fall in July and August. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.
What to buy, and what not to
- Particles (wildfire smoke, dust) cause enough bad days here to matter. A HEPA purifier sized to your bedroom removes them; run it with windows shut on bad days.
- Upgrade the furnace or AC filter to MERV 13 so the whole house is filtered, not just one room.
- 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.
Better or worse than it was
In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 23 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 15. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2022, with 33 bad days on 365 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-04-22 | 825 | PM10 |
| 2024-03-15 | 443 | PM10 |
| 2022-01-25 | 328 | PM10 |
| 2022-05-21 | 297 | PM10 |
| 2020-09-08 | 214 | PM10 |
Most days, not the worst ones
Across 3,653 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Bernalillo County rated Good on 31% of them, less often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 65%. The median day sat at AQI 58; one day in ten went above 85.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- ozone53%1,943 days
- fine particles (PM2.5)28%1,031 days
- coarse dust (PM10)17%638 days
- nitrogen dioxide1%41 days
Every recent year on file
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 365 | 97 | 247 | 21 | 3 | 58 | 204 |
| 2024 | 366 | 100 | 236 | 30 | 5 | 61 | 443 |
| 2023 | 365 | 97 | 264 | 4 | 1 | 59 | 207 |
| 2022 | 365 | 81 | 251 | 33 | 5 | 63 | 825 |
| 2021 | 365 | 60 | 284 | 21 | 2 | 63 | 171 |
| 2020 | 366 | 105 | 252 | 9 | 2 | 57 | 214 |
| 2019 | 365 | 134 | 227 | 4 | 0 | 55 | 108 |
| 2018 | 365 | 137 | 209 | 19 | 1 | 57 | 165 |
| 2017 | 365 | 145 | 216 | 4 | 0 | 53 | 119 |
| 2016 | 366 | 170 | 193 | 3 | 0 | 52 | 143 |
| 2015 | 365 | 166 | 195 | 4 | 0 | 51 | 108 |
| 2014 | 365 | 156 | 208 | 1 | 0 | 52 | 105 |
| 2013 | 365 | 97 | 262 | 6 | 0 | 56 | 145 |
| 2012 | 366 | 67 | 274 | 25 | 2 | 62 | 291 |
| 2011 | 365 | 61 | 276 | 28 | 3 | 64 | 293 |
| 2010 | 365 | 77 | 283 | 5 | 0 | 61 | 146 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
Nearby counties on file
- Dona Ana County28/yr
- Eddy County19/yr
- San Juan County6/yr
- Luna County5/yr
- Lea County4/yr
- Sandoval County2/yr
- Valencia County1/yr
- Rio Arriba County1/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.