Bad Air Days in Hennepin County, Minnesota: 4 a Year
4 bad air days a year
About the middle of monitored US counties. Ranked 280 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: mostly particles: smoke and dust (83% 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 June and July and May. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.
Is a purifier worth it here?
- 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.
The record for Hennepin
In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 4 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 4. Not much has changed. The worst recent year was 2023, with 17 bad days on 365 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2023-06-14 | 187 | PM2.5 |
| 2025-06-03 | 178 | PM2.5 |
| 2025-07-12 | 175 | PM2.5 |
| 2025-08-01 | 173 | PM2.5 |
| 2025-07-31 | 167 | PM2.5 |
An ordinary day in Hennepin
Across 3,653 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Hennepin County rated Good on 55% of them, less often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 44%. The median day sat at AQI 47; one day in ten went above 67.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- fine particles (PM2.5)65%2,376 days
- coarse dust (PM10)17%628 days
- ozone15%559 days
- nitrogen dioxide2%85 days
Every recent year on file
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 365 | 211 | 144 | 10 | 6 | 45 | 178 |
| 2024 | 366 | 243 | 119 | 4 | 1 | 42 | 166 |
| 2023 | 365 | 173 | 175 | 17 | 3 | 52 | 187 |
| 2022 | 365 | 244 | 121 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 96 |
| 2021 | 365 | 213 | 149 | 3 | 3 | 45 | 157 |
| 2020 | 366 | 206 | 158 | 2 | 1 | 48 | 158 |
| 2019 | 365 | 187 | 178 | 0 | 0 | 49 | 95 |
| 2018 | 365 | 175 | 189 | 1 | 0 | 51 | 104 |
| 2017 | 365 | 166 | 198 | 1 | 0 | 52 | 115 |
| 2016 | 366 | 198 | 166 | 2 | 0 | 48 | 145 |
| 2015 | 365 | 155 | 207 | 3 | 0 | 52 | 119 |
| 2014 | 365 | 162 | 203 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 96 |
| 2013 | 365 | 227 | 138 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 93 |
| 2012 | 366 | 216 | 149 | 1 | 0 | 44 | 104 |
| 2011 | 365 | 196 | 169 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 96 |
| 2010 | 365 | 212 | 150 | 3 | 0 | 44 | 128 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
Nearby counties on file
- Blue Earth County10/yr
- Saint Louis County5/yr
- Wright County5/yr
- Cass County4/yr
- Beltrami County4/yr
- Anoka County4/yr
- Becker County4/yr
- Stearns County3/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.