Bad Air Days in Tulare County, California: 107 a Year

107 bad air days a year

Among the worst tenth of monitored US counties. Ranked 4 of 996 monitored counties, where 1 is worst.

What makes them bad: mostly ozone: summer smog (23% particle days).

Which months to watch

Most bad days here fall in July and August and September and June. Averaged over 2016 to 2025.

What to buy, and what not to

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.
With this many bad days, whole-home filtration is worth an HVAC contractor quote.
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 Tulare

In 2000 to 2009 this county averaged 165 bad days a year; in 2016 to 2025, 107. The air has improved. The worst recent year was 2020, with 135 bad days on 366 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2021-09-14	961	PM2.5
2019-10-27	280	PM10
2021-09-13	271	PM2.5
2023-09-21	242	PM2.5
2023-09-24	228	PM2.5

An ordinary day in Tulare

Across 3,653 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Tulare County rated Good on 19% of them, less often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 52%. The median day sat at AQI 75; one day in ten went above 136.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

ozone54%1,972 days
fine particles (PM2.5)44%1,595 days
coarse dust (PM10)2%86 days

Tulare County by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	365	88	234	43	0	64	147
2024	366	76	179	111	28	71	185
2023	365	94	189	82	21	69	242
2022	365	58	193	114	8	77	182
2021	365	49	182	134	41	81	961
2020	366	52	179	135	32	80	225
2019	365	98	186	81	3	67	280
2018	365	50	194	121	26	79	180
2017	365	67	171	127	31	81	174
2016	366	55	187	124	22	77	177
2015	365	29	238	98	20	80	176
2014	365	44	197	124	27	84	172
2013	365	33	194	138	27	84	201
2012	366	63	165	138	40	81	195
2011	365	49	168	148	55	84	195
2010	365	65	188	112	34	72	197

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

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