Bad Air Days in Ector County, Texas: under 1 a Year

under 1 bad air days a year

Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 888 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

What makes them bad: mostly particles: smoke and dust (100% particle days).

When the bad days come in Ector

Most bad days here fall in March and July. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.

Is a purifier worth it 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.

Better or worse than it was

In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged under 1 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, under 1. Not much has changed. The worst recent year was 2025, with 2 bad days on 358 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2025-03-18	183	PM2.5
2025-03-14	153	PM2.5
2016-07-05	102	PM2.5
2020-06-28	96	PM2.5
2017-03-07	94	PM2.5

Most days, not the worst ones

Across 3,530 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Ector County rated Good on 76% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 24%. The median day sat at AQI 36; one day in ten went above 56.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

fine particles (PM2.5)100%3,530 days

Every recent year on file

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	358	259	97	2	2	39	183
2024	356	280	76	0	0	36	88
2023	355	285	70	0	0	33	84
2022	360	266	94	0	0	37	94
2021	349	269	80	0	0	35	91
2020	346	271	75	0	0	36	96
2019	354	251	103	0	0	38	82
2018	337	229	108	0	0	40	92
2017	350	290	60	0	0	35	94
2016	365	290	74	1	0	36	102
2015	365	255	110	0	0	39	76
2014	365	233	132	0	0	43	88
2013	365	254	110	1	0	41	112
2012	366	190	176	0	0	49	81
2011	365	181	180	4	0	51	130
2010	365	269	96	0	0	41	72

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

Elsewhere in Texas

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.