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

under 1 bad air days a year

Rare: among the cleanest-air counties EPA monitors. Ranked 928 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. 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 Virginia Beach 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 1 bad day on 364 monitored days.

Date	AQI	Main pollutant
2023-06-07	167	PM2.5
2023-06-29	100	PM2.5
2023-06-09	99	PM2.5
2025-08-07	98	PM2.5
2023-07-01	95	PM2.5

Most days, not the worst ones

Across 2,215 monitored days from 2016 to 2025, the air in Virginia Beach City rated Good on 79% of them, more often than the 72% typical of monitored counties, and Moderate on 21%. The median day sat at AQI 35; one day in ten went above 56.

The pollutant setting the AQI on an ordinary day here:

fine particles (PM2.5)100%2,215 days

Virginia Beach City by year

Year	Days monitored	Good	Moderate	Over 100	Over 150	Median AQI	Highest AQI
2025*	365	295	70	0	0	34	98
2024	366	294	72	0	0	36	81
2023	364	246	117	1	1	41	167
2022	109	93	16	0	0	33	67
2021	105	77	28	0	0	35	82
2020	109	95	14	0	0	30	74
2019	115	94	21	0	0	34	70
2018	107	89	18	0	0	33	69
2017	233	184	49	0	0	34	69
2016	342	274	68	0	0	34	71
2015	352	254	98	0	0	39	87
2014	362	241	121	0	0	39	89
2013	357	255	102	0	0	38	80
2012	345	235	110	0	0	41	87
2011	349	195	154	0	0	46	98
2010	365	191	173	1	0	48	108

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

Elsewhere in Virginia

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.