Bad Air Days in Cameron County, Texas: 9 a Year
9 bad air days a year
Among the worst tenth of monitored US counties. Ranked 97 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: mostly particles: smoke and dust (99% particle days).
Which months to watch
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
Most bad days here fall in May and April and June. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.
Is a purifier worth it here?
- 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.
The record for Cameron
In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 2 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 9. It has got worse. The worst recent year was 2024, with 61 bad days on 366 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-06-26 | 184 | PM2.5 |
| 2024-05-10 | 171 | PM2.5 |
| 2024-05-17 | 170 | PM2.5 |
| 2024-05-09 | 167 | PM2.5 |
| 2024-05-27 | 164 | PM2.5 |
An ordinary day in Cameron
Across 3,653 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Cameron County rated Good on 47% of them, less often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 51%. The median day sat at AQI 51; one day in ten went above 75.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- fine particles (PM2.5)77%2,809 days
- ozone23%844 days
Cameron County by year
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 365 | 109 | 248 | 8 | 0 | 57 | 139 |
| 2024 | 366 | 99 | 206 | 61 | 13 | 61 | 171 |
| 2023 | 365 | 161 | 198 | 6 | 0 | 54 | 141 |
| 2022 | 365 | 191 | 171 | 3 | 0 | 48 | 120 |
| 2021 | 365 | 162 | 203 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 99 |
| 2020 | 366 | 158 | 199 | 9 | 3 | 52 | 184 |
| 2019 | 365 | 172 | 193 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 91 |
| 2018 | 365 | 178 | 187 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 99 |
| 2017 | 365 | 259 | 106 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 87 |
| 2016 | 366 | 220 | 144 | 2 | 0 | 45 | 110 |
| 2015 | 365 | 197 | 166 | 2 | 0 | 48 | 108 |
| 2014 | 365 | 173 | 192 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 99 |
| 2013 | 365 | 196 | 169 | 0 | 0 | 49 | 96 |
| 2012 | 366 | 173 | 193 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 87 |
| 2011 | 365 | 168 | 196 | 1 | 0 | 52 | 104 |
| 2010 | 361 | 197 | 162 | 2 | 0 | 48 | 105 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
Texas compared
- Harris County29/yr
- El Paso County26/yr
- Tarrant County19/yr
- Denton County17/yr
- Dallas County12/yr
- Collin County11/yr
- Bexar County11/yr
- Montgomery County8/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.