Bad Air Days in Madison County, Tennessee: under 1 a Year
under 1 bad air days a year
Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 869 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: mostly particles: smoke and dust (100% 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. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.
What to buy, and what not to
- 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
The worst recent year was 2020, with 1 bad day on 354 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-06-27 | 108 | PM2.5 |
| 2021-07-22 | 106 | PM2.5 |
| 2022-06-14 | 102 | PM2.5 |
| 2021-07-23 | 96 | PM2.5 |
| 2025-07-04 | 96 | PM2.5 |
The air on a normal day
Across 3,242 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Madison County rated Good on 75% of them, close to the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 25%. The median day sat at AQI 37; one day in ten went above 56.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- fine particles (PM2.5)100%3,242 days
Year by year
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 354 | 263 | 91 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 96 |
| 2024 | 357 | 289 | 68 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 90 |
| 2023 | 357 | 237 | 120 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 87 |
| 2022 | 359 | 245 | 113 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 102 |
| 2021 | 356 | 249 | 106 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 106 |
| 2020 | 354 | 304 | 49 | 1 | 0 | 33 | 108 |
| 2019 | 362 | 262 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 65 |
| 2018 | 351 | 275 | 76 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 81 |
| 2017 | 277 | 216 | 61 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 69 |
| 2016 | 115 | 88 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 63 |
| 2015 | 110 | 66 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 66 |
| 2014 | 113 | 67 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 81 |
| 2013 | 114 | 71 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 72 |
| 2011 | 54 | 54 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 33 |
| 2010 | 58 | 58 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 29 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
Nearby counties on file
- Shelby County6/yr
- Davidson County3/yr
- Blount County2/yr
- Sumner County2/yr
- Knox County2/yr
- Hamilton County2/yr
- Sevier County1/yr
- Loudon County1/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.