Bad Air Days in Richmond City, Virginia: under 1 a Year

under 1 bad air day a year

Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 822 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

What makes them bad: mostly particles: smoke and dust (100% particle days).

Which months to watch

Most bad days here fall in June and July. 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 Richmond City

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 2023, with 4 bad days on 365 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2023-06-29	158	PM2.5
2023-06-07	152	PM2.5
2023-06-08	152	PM2.5
2023-06-30	107	PM2.5
2021-07-21	101	PM2.5

Most days, not the worst ones

Across 3,642 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Richmond City rated Good on 70% of them, close to the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 29%. The median day sat at AQI 40; one day in ten went above 57.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

fine particles (PM2.5)84%3,062 days
nitrogen dioxide15%563 days

Year by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	365	288	77	0	0	36	77
2024	366	290	76	0	0	36	79
2023	365	227	134	4	3	45	158
2022	365	249	116	0	0	42	67
2021	363	238	124	1	0	41	101
2020	364	294	70	0	0	37	80
2019	362	236	126	0	0	43	96
2018	364	249	115	0	0	42	78
2017	365	266	99	0	0	36	85
2016	363	227	136	0	0	44	81
2015	365	172	193	0	0	51	86
2014	365	364	1	0	0	20	51
2013	92	91	1	0	0	25	55
2012	366	364	2	0	0	20	84
2011	365	365	0	0	0	20	48
2010	365	351	14	0	0	22	81

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

Virginia 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.