Bad Air Days in Polk County, Arkansas: under 1 a Year
under 1 bad air day a year
Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 799 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: mostly ozone: summer smog (40% particle days).
Which months to watch
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
Most bad days here fall in March and February and April. 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.
The record for Polk
In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 7 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 350 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-02-24 | 167 | PM2.5 |
| 2019-04-09 | 119 | Ozone |
| 2025-03-14 | 119 | PM2.5 |
| 2022-03-03 | 105 | Ozone |
| 2022-03-02 | 101 | Ozone |
Most days, not the worst ones
Across 3,389 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Polk County rated Good on 82% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 18%. The median day sat at AQI 39; one day in ten went above 56.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- ozone77%2,612 days
- fine particles (PM2.5)23%777 days
Polk County by year
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 302 | 234 | 67 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 119 |
| 2024 | 324 | 261 | 62 | 1 | 1 | 38 | 167 |
| 2023 | 242 | 188 | 54 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 92 |
| 2022 | 350 | 308 | 40 | 2 | 0 | 34 | 105 |
| 2021 | 360 | 299 | 61 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 93 |
| 2020 | 359 | 322 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 84 |
| 2019 | 361 | 291 | 69 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 119 |
| 2018 | 363 | 293 | 70 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 93 |
| 2017 | 362 | 299 | 63 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 97 |
| 2016 | 366 | 289 | 77 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 87 |
| 2015 | 361 | 286 | 74 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 101 |
| 2014 | 360 | 278 | 82 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 100 |
| 2013 | 354 | 261 | 93 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 93 |
| 2012 | 361 | 229 | 128 | 4 | 0 | 44 | 133 |
| 2011 | 364 | 200 | 151 | 13 | 0 | 48 | 150 |
| 2010 | 362 | 225 | 128 | 9 | 0 | 45 | 136 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
Nearby counties on file
- Crittenden County3/yr
- Pulaski County2/yr
- Washington County1/yr
- Union Countythin data
- Ashley Countythin data
- Newton Countyunder 1/yr
- Arkansas Countythin data
- Benton Countythin data
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, and on why a purifier does not touch ozone in smoke vs ozone.