Bad Air Days in Dutchess County, New York: 2 a Year

2 bad air days a year

Fewer bad air days than most monitored US counties. Ranked 524 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

What makes them bad: mostly ozone: summer smog (0% particle days).

Which months to watch

Most bad days here fall in June and May and April and July. 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 Dutchess

In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 10 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 2. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2016, with 5 bad days on 353 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2018-07-02	156	Ozone
2024-06-18	151	Ozone
2025-06-04	140	Ozone
2021-05-21	129	Ozone
2016-05-27	122	Ozone

Most days, not the worst ones

Across 3,478 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Dutchess County rated Good on 95% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 5%. The median day sat at AQI 34; one day in ten went above 46.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

ozone100%3,478 days

Dutchess County by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	364	342	19	3	0	34	140
2024	366	338	23	5	1	35	151
2023	347	333	13	1	0	33	108
2022	341	321	20	0	0	35	97
2021	341	323	17	1	0	34	129
2020	331	322	9	0	0	35	87
2019	331	319	12	0	0	34	90
2018	349	327	20	2	1	31	156
2017	355	338	16	1	0	32	101
2016	353	324	24	5	0	34	122
2015	358	337	19	2	0	33	133
2014	357	332	24	1	0	34	101
2013	356	335	21	0	0	33	100
2012	343	312	26	5	0	32	119
2011	333	310	19	4	1	34	185
2010	361	320	35	6	1	34	166

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

Elsewhere in New York

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.