Bad Air Days in Muscatine County, Iowa: under 1 a Year

under 1 bad air day a year

Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 761 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 Muscatine

Most bad days here fall in June and July and August. 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 4 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, under 1. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2023, with 4 bad days on 365 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2023-06-28	207	PM2.5
2023-06-27	179	PM2.5
2023-06-29	169	PM2.5
2023-07-16	146	PM2.5
2025-07-31	141	PM2.5

Most days, not the worst ones

Across 3,653 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Muscatine County rated Good on 59% of them, less often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 41%. The median day sat at AQI 45; one day in ten went above 61.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

fine particles (PM2.5)100%3,649 days

Year by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	365	241	122	2	0	43	141
2024	366	269	97	0	0	38	78
2023	365	189	172	4	3	49	207
2022	365	235	130	0	0	42	89
2021	365	211	154	0	0	45	90
2020	366	245	120	1	0	40	124
2019	365	238	127	0	0	42	93
2018	365	154	211	0	0	52	95
2017	365	176	189	0	0	51	80
2016	366	188	178	0	0	49	96
2015	365	183	181	1	0	50	142
2014	365	157	203	5	0	53	135
2013	365	100	260	5	0	57	135
2012	366	124	238	4	1	55	155
2011	365	117	246	2	0	57	142
2010	365	101	248	16	3	57	157

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

Elsewhere in Iowa

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.