Bad Air Days in Shawnee County, Kansas: 2 a Year
2 bad air days a year
About the middle of monitored US counties. Ranked 473 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.
What makes them bad: mostly particles: smoke and dust (64% particle days).
When the bad days come in Shawnee
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
Most bad days here fall in June and April and August and May. 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 2 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 2. Not much has changed. The worst recent year was 2023, with 8 bad days on 363 monitored days.
| Date | AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-03-14 | 238 | PM10 |
| 2020-04-07 | 169 | Ozone |
| 2023-09-06 | 164 | PM2.5 |
| 2020-04-08 | 163 | PM2.5 |
| 2019-04-01 | 161 | PM2.5 |
The air on a normal day
Across 3,632 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Shawnee County rated Good on 63% of them, less often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 37%. The median day sat at AQI 45; one day in ten went above 62.
The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:
- fine particles (PM2.5)55%1,997 days
- ozone44%1,614 days
- coarse dust (PM10)1%21 days
Year by year
| Year | Days monitored | Good | Moderate | Over 100 | Over 150 | Median AQI | Highest AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025* | 365 | 234 | 126 | 5 | 2 | 44 | 238 |
| 2024 | 366 | 246 | 119 | 1 | 0 | 45 | 125 |
| 2023 | 363 | 196 | 159 | 8 | 2 | 48 | 164 |
| 2022 | 350 | 220 | 130 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 87 |
| 2021 | 365 | 189 | 173 | 3 | 1 | 49 | 151 |
| 2020 | 366 | 227 | 135 | 4 | 2 | 44 | 169 |
| 2019 | 365 | 216 | 148 | 1 | 1 | 45 | 161 |
| 2018 | 365 | 194 | 171 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 99 |
| 2017 | 361 | 242 | 119 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 94 |
| 2016 | 366 | 319 | 47 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 87 |
| 2015 | 365 | 312 | 52 | 1 | 0 | 37 | 108 |
| 2014 | 365 | 293 | 71 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 105 |
| 2013 | 364 | 288 | 76 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 93 |
| 2012 | 366 | 242 | 103 | 21 | 0 | 44 | 150 |
| 2011 | 365 | 254 | 102 | 9 | 0 | 43 | 147 |
| 2010 | 365 | 269 | 94 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 140 |
*2025 may be a partial year in EPA's file.
Kansas compared
- Wyandotte County5/yr
- Sedgwick County2/yr
- Trego County2/yr
- Sumner County2/yr
- Johnson County2/yr
- Neosho County1/yr
- Douglas County1/yr
- Leavenworth County1/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.