Bad Air Days in Santa Cruz County, California: 3 a Year
3 bad air days a year
About the middle of monitored US counties. Ranked 321 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: mostly particles: smoke and dust (97% particle days).
When the bad days come in Santa Cruz
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
Most bad days here fall in August and September and November and October. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.
Is a purifier worth it here?
- Particles (wildfire smoke, dust) cause enough bad days here to matter. A HEPA purifier sized to your bedroom removes them; run it with windows shut on bad days.
- Upgrade the furnace or AC filter to MERV 13 so the whole house is filtered, not just one room.
The record for Santa Cruz
In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 1 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 3. It has got worse. The worst recent year was 2020, with 20 bad days on 366 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-08-21 | 624 | PM2.5 |
| 2020-08-22 | 571 | PM2.5 |
| 2020-08-20 | 338 | PM2.5 |
| 2020-08-27 | 235 | PM2.5 |
| 2020-08-23 | 195 | PM2.5 |
The air on a normal day
Across 3,653 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Santa Cruz County rated Good on 79% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 20%. The median day sat at AQI 38; one day in ten went above 56.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- fine particles (PM2.5)55%2,023 days
- ozone45%1,630 days
Santa Cruz County by year
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 365 | 320 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 71 |
| 2024 | 366 | 293 | 73 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 80 |
| 2023 | 365 | 300 | 64 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 130 |
| 2022 | 365 | 287 | 78 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 93 |
| 2021 | 365 | 298 | 67 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 80 |
| 2020 | 366 | 261 | 85 | 20 | 14 | 39 | 624 |
| 2019 | 365 | 291 | 74 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 74 |
| 2018 | 365 | 273 | 82 | 10 | 5 | 41 | 177 |
| 2017 | 365 | 269 | 92 | 4 | 0 | 39 | 130 |
| 2016 | 366 | 306 | 60 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 76 |
| 2015 | 365 | 282 | 83 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 95 |
| 2014 | 365 | 256 | 97 | 12 | 0 | 39 | 136 |
| 2013 | 365 | 249 | 94 | 22 | 0 | 42 | 149 |
| 2012 | 365 | 328 | 36 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 101 |
| 2011 | 365 | 293 | 72 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 80 |
| 2010 | 365 | 311 | 54 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 95 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
California compared
- San Bernardino County138/yr
- Riverside County132/yr
- Kern County109/yr
- Tulare County107/yr
- Los Angeles County106/yr
- Fresno County81/yr
- Kings County49/yr
- Imperial County40/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.