Bad Air Days in Hampton City, Virginia: under 1 a Year

under 1 bad air day a year

Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 823 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

What makes them bad: mostly ozone: summer smog (40% particle days).

The bad-air season here

Most bad days here fall in June and April 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.

The worst days on file

In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 15 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, under 1. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2016, with 2 bad days on 362 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2023-06-07	174	PM2.5
2016-07-27	133	Ozone
2023-06-29	129	PM2.5
2016-04-19	112	Ozone
2025-06-26	105	Ozone

An ordinary day in Hampton City

Across 3,643 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Hampton City rated Good on 79% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 21%. The median day sat at AQI 40; one day in ten went above 55.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

fine particles (PM2.5)55%1,994 days
ozone44%1,599 days
nitrogen dioxide1%36 days

Year by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	365	303	61	1	0	38	105
2024	366	293	73	0	0	39	90
2023	365	241	122	2	1	43	174
2022	363	280	83	0	0	41	77
2021	365	263	102	0	0	42	95
2020	366	316	50	0	0	37	68
2019	364	283	81	0	0	42	84
2018	362	298	64	0	0	39	97
2017	365	297	68	0	0	40	97
2016	362	304	56	2	0	38	133
2015	365	274	91	0	0	40	90
2014	364	268	96	0	0	41	97
2013	359	265	92	2	0	39	105
2012	366	229	131	6	1	45	190
2011	365	238	117	10	0	43	144
2010	274	176	88	10	3	45	179

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

Elsewhere in Virginia

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.