Bad Air Days in Saratoga County, New York: under 1 a Year

under 1 bad air day a year

Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 802 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

What makes them bad: mostly ozone: summer smog (0% particle days).

When the bad days come in Saratoga

Most bad days here fall in May and July. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.

Is a purifier worth it 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 13 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, under 1. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2016, with 3 bad days on 350 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2023-07-01	122	Ozone
2016-05-25	119	Ozone
2018-05-25	119	Ozone
2016-05-27	105	Ozone
2016-05-26	101	Ozone

Most days, not the worst ones

Across 3,465 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Saratoga County rated Good on 96% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 3%. The median day sat at AQI 32; one day in ten went above 45.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

ozone100%3,465 days

Year by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	322	310	12	0	34	93
2024	347	334	13	0	32	84
2023	365	352	12	1	31	122
2022	362	354	8	0	32	74
2021	354	339	15	0	31	93
2020	319	315	4	0	33	61
2019	331	328	3	0	33	58
2018	361	341	19	1	31	119
2017	354	341	13	0	34	90
2016	350	328	19	3	33	119
2015	359	342	16	1	32	105
2014	364	355	9	0	32	74
2013	362	346	16	0	32	93
2012	364	340	22	2	31	108
2011	360	337	22	1	33	108
2010	362	329	29	4	35	105

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

New York 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, and on why a purifier does not touch ozone in smoke vs ozone.