Bad Air Days in Pulaski County, Arkansas: 2 a Year

2 bad air days a year

About the middle of monitored US counties. Ranked 480 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

What makes them bad: mostly ozone: summer smog (27% particle days).

Which months to watch

Most bad days here fall in June and September. 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 23 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 2. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2023, with 5 bad days on 365 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2023-06-19	174	Ozone
2024-06-13	147	Ozone
2025-03-15	138	PM2.5
2020-06-27	132	PM2.5
2018-06-06	122	Ozone

An ordinary day in Pulaski

Across 3,653 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Pulaski County rated Good on 40% of them, less often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 60%. The median day sat at AQI 53; one day in ten went above 68.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

fine particles (PM2.5)80%2,921 days
ozone20%718 days

Year by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	365	114	247	4	0	55	138
2024	366	118	243	5	0	55	147
2023	365	122	238	5	1	55	174
2022	365	153	211	1	0	52	115
2021	365	114	249	2	0	54	112
2020	366	186	178	2	0	50	132
2019	365	145	220	0	0	53	81
2018	365	164	199	2	0	52	122
2017	365	161	203	1	0	52	115
2016	366	172	194	0	0	52	100
2015	365	151	214	0	0	53	100
2014	365	149	213	3	0	53	115
2013	365	124	238	3	0	55	108
2012	366	77	272	17	0	58	150
2011	365	63	284	18	0	59	147
2010	365	74	283	8	0	59	133

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

Elsewhere in Arkansas

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.