Bad Air Days in Racine County, Wisconsin: 15 a Year
15 bad air days a year
Among the worst tenth of monitored US counties. Ranked 48 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: mostly ozone: summer smog (0% 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 July and August. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.
What to buy, and what not to
- Ozone drives many bad days here. Purifiers and filters do not remove ozone, so do not buy one for that. Ozone peaks on hot afternoons: exercise outside in the morning.
- Sign up for EnviroFlash ozone alerts for this area during the worst months.
The record for Racine
In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 16 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 15. Not much has changed. The worst recent year was 2023, with 16 bad days on 203 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2023-07-25 | 200 | Ozone |
| 2020-06-19 | 172 | Ozone |
| 2016-08-04 | 169 | Ozone |
| 2022-06-20 | 164 | Ozone |
| 2018-07-13 | 161 | Ozone |
An ordinary day in Racine
Across 2,084 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Racine County rated Good on 77% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 19%. The median day sat at AQI 41; one day in ten went above 77.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- ozone100%2,084 days
Racine County by year
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 199 | 151 | 40 | 8 | 0 | 41 | 122 |
| 2024 | 205 | 156 | 38 | 11 | 1 | 42 | 151 |
| 2023 | 203 | 138 | 49 | 16 | 2 | 44 | 200 |
| 2022 | 202 | 165 | 34 | 3 | 1 | 40 | 164 |
| 2021 | 210 | 149 | 53 | 8 | 0 | 43 | 126 |
| 2020 | 199 | 162 | 29 | 8 | 1 | 38 | 172 |
| 2019 | 203 | 174 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 115 |
| 2018 | 236 | 187 | 38 | 11 | 2 | 42 | 161 |
| 2017 | 230 | 176 | 43 | 11 | 0 | 42 | 143 |
| 2016 | 197 | 153 | 35 | 9 | 1 | 42 | 169 |
| 2015 | 185 | 154 | 30 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 105 |
| 2013 | 186 | 156 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 93 |
| 2012 | 187 | 126 | 34 | 27 | 5 | 42 | 177 |
| 2011 | 192 | 150 | 35 | 7 | 2 | 40 | 190 |
| 2010 | 192 | 144 | 42 | 6 | 0 | 42 | 147 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
Wisconsin compared
- Sheboygan County16/yr
- Kenosha County12/yr
- Ozaukee County9/yr
- Milwaukee County8/yr
- Manitowoc County7/yr
- Door County7/yr
- Walworth County6/yr
- Rock County6/yr
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.