Bad Air Days in Collin County, Texas: 11 a Year
11 bad air days a year
Among the worst tenth of monitored US counties. Ranked 77 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: mostly ozone: summer smog (0% particle days).
The bad-air season here
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
Most bad days here fall in August and September and June and July and May. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.
What actually helps 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.
- Sign up for EnviroFlash ozone alerts for this area during the worst months.
Better or worse than it was
In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 32 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 11. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2025, with 23 bad days on 359 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-08-07 | 161 | Ozone |
| 2019-09-06 | 156 | Ozone |
| 2024-07-11 | 156 | Ozone |
| 2025-09-16 | 156 | Ozone |
| 2020-08-17 | 154 | Ozone |
An ordinary day in Collin
Across 3,613 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Collin County rated Good on 82% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 15%. The median day sat at AQI 39; one day in ten went above 69.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- ozone100%3,613 days
Every recent year on file
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 359 | 272 | 64 | 23 | 3 | 40 | 156 |
| 2024 | 365 | 283 | 71 | 11 | 3 | 40 | 161 |
| 2023 | 356 | 261 | 74 | 21 | 2 | 41 | 154 |
| 2022 | 359 | 289 | 63 | 7 | 0 | 40 | 143 |
| 2021 | 357 | 294 | 55 | 8 | 1 | 37 | 154 |
| 2020 | 365 | 317 | 45 | 3 | 1 | 37 | 154 |
| 2019 | 365 | 309 | 48 | 8 | 1 | 40 | 156 |
| 2018 | 361 | 296 | 49 | 16 | 0 | 37 | 150 |
| 2017 | 363 | 313 | 43 | 7 | 0 | 39 | 122 |
| 2016 | 363 | 318 | 41 | 4 | 0 | 37 | 119 |
| 2015 | 360 | 304 | 47 | 9 | 0 | 36 | 143 |
| 2014 | 361 | 299 | 57 | 5 | 0 | 37 | 143 |
| 2013 | 362 | 277 | 71 | 14 | 0 | 40 | 140 |
| 2012 | 358 | 256 | 72 | 30 | 3 | 42 | 159 |
| 2011 | 360 | 257 | 71 | 32 | 7 | 41 | 174 |
| 2010 | 365 | 296 | 64 | 5 | 1 | 38 | 154 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
Nearby counties on file
- Harris County29/yr
- El Paso County26/yr
- Tarrant County19/yr
- Denton County17/yr
- Dallas County12/yr
- Bexar County11/yr
- Cameron County9/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, and on why a purifier does not touch ozone in smoke vs ozone.