Bad Air Days in Fairbanks North Star, Alaska: 37 a Year

37 bad air days a year

Among the worst tenth of monitored US counties. Ranked 12 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 Fairbanks North Star

Most bad days here fall in January and December and November and February. 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.
With this many bad days, whole-home filtration is worth an HVAC contractor quote.

Better or worse than it was

In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 20 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 37. It has got worse. The worst recent year was 2016, with 56 bad days on 366 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2019-07-09	503	PM2.5
2019-07-07	478	PM2.5
2019-07-10	406	PM2.5
2019-07-08	355	PM2.5
2024-06-30	325	PM2.5

Most days, not the worst ones

Across 3,653 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Fairbanks North Star rated Good on 58% of them, less often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 32%. The median day sat at AQI 42; one day in ten went above 103.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

fine particles (PM2.5)73%2,658 days
ozone26%948 days
coarse dust (PM10)1%29 days

Year by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	365	206	139	20	10	44	190
2024	366	213	128	25	10	42	325
2023	365	224	109	32	11	41	231
2022	365	213	105	47	29	43	310
2021	365	211	120	34	13	42	189
2020	366	231	98	37	20	39	177
2019	365	205	121	39	21	44	503
2018	365	215	111	39	10	40	158
2017	365	212	108	45	20	44	190
2016	366	197	113	56	23	46	190
2015	365	124	178	63	43	59	263
2014	365	154	130	81	47	57	231
2013	365	159	147	59	28	53	213
2012	366	214	110	42	27	43	246
2011	365	184	149	32	5	49	165
2010	355	180	140	35	8	48	180

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

Nearby counties on file

Matanuska-Susitna2/yr
Anchorage1/yr
Bethel1/yr
Juneauunder 1/yr
North Slopethin data
Kenai Peninsulathin data
Aleutians Eastthin data
Denali0/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.