Bad Air Days in Orleans Parish, Louisiana: under 1 a Year
under 1 bad air days a year
Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 903 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 January. 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.
Better or worse than it was
In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 5 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, under 1. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2022, with 2 bad days on 365 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-01-01 | 105 | PM2.5 |
| 2022-06-13 | 102 | PM2.5 |
| 2022-06-14 | 102 | PM2.5 |
| 2017-07-01 | 98 | PM2.5 |
| 2022-06-15 | 93 | PM2.5 |
The air on a normal day
Across 3,645 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Orleans Parish rated Good on 69% of them, close to the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 31%. The median day sat at AQI 41; one day in ten went above 57.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- fine particles (PM2.5)89%3,227 days
- nitrogen dioxide10%366 days
- coarse dust (PM10)1%45 days
Year by year
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 365 | 259 | 106 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 71 |
| 2024 | 366 | 257 | 108 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 105 |
| 2023 | 365 | 248 | 117 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 90 |
| 2022 | 365 | 286 | 77 | 2 | 0 | 35 | 102 |
| 2021 | 357 | 308 | 49 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 69 |
| 2020 | 366 | 297 | 69 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 90 |
| 2019 | 365 | 292 | 73 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 90 |
| 2018 | 365 | 209 | 156 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 87 |
| 2017 | 365 | 191 | 174 | 0 | 0 | 49 | 98 |
| 2016 | 366 | 183 | 183 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 73 |
| 2015 | 365 | 229 | 136 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 79 |
| 2014 | 364 | 246 | 115 | 3 | 0 | 43 | 115 |
| 2013 | 362 | 261 | 99 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 115 |
| 2012 | 358 | 173 | 182 | 3 | 0 | 51 | 112 |
| 2011 | 365 | 225 | 135 | 5 | 1 | 46 | 162 |
| 2010 | 365 | 193 | 168 | 4 | 0 | 49 | 140 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
Louisiana compared
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.