Bad Air Days in Palm Beach County, Florida: under 1 a Year

under 1 bad air day a year

Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 785 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

What makes them bad: mostly particles: smoke and dust (67% particle days).

Which months to watch

Most bad days here fall in October and March and May and November. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.

What actually helps 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 3 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, under 1. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2016, with 3 bad days on 359 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2016-10-27	164	PM10
2016-11-07	122	PM10
2023-10-03	122	PM2.5
2016-10-26	113	PM10
2017-03-22	112	Ozone

Most days, not the worst ones

Across 3,623 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Palm Beach County rated Good on 70% of them, close to the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 30%. The median day sat at AQI 43; one day in ten went above 58.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

fine particles (PM2.5)64%2,314 days
ozone33%1,197 days
coarse dust (PM10)3%112 days

Year by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	365	279	86	0	0	39	87
2024	366	257	109	0	0	43	76
2023	365	260	104	1	0	43	122
2022	365	275	90	0	0	41	90
2021	365	263	102	0	0	43	83
2020	361	267	94	0	0	42	93
2019	357	273	84	0	0	40	94
2018	365	260	105	0	0	42	91
2017	355	186	167	2	0	49	112
2016	359	204	152	3	1	47	164
2015	365	247	118	0	0	42	90
2014	365	253	110	2	0	42	119
2013	365	261	102	2	0	42	104
2012	366	205	159	2	0	47	105
2011	365	218	143	4	1	46	176
2010	365	197	166	2	0	49	119

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

Elsewhere in Florida

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.