Yes.
The American Lung Association’s 2025 report ranked the Phoenix-Mesa metro area fourth-worst in the country for ozone (smog) pollution, based on data from 2021 to 2023. Maricopa County earned an “F” for air quality, averaging 54.8 unhealthy ozone days per year during that period. That’s worse than in 2020, when the region ranked seventh.
Exposure to elevated ozone levels can aggravate existing lung conditions and trigger symptoms like inflamed airways and asthma attacks. Warmer weather compounds the effects. Research from climate organization First Street attributes Arizona’s unhealthy ozone levels to more frequent wildfires, the state’s hot and dry climate, and vehicle and industry emissions.
In April 2025, the EPA eased rules on how regions account for pollution from sources like wildfires and foreign countries, allowing Maricopa County to sidestep stricter air quality limits that could have curbed development.
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The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs, or quick-response fact checks, about trending claims relating to Arizona.
Sources
- New ‘State of the Air’ Report Finds Phoenix Metro Area Residents Are Breathing Some of the Most Ozone-Polluted Air in the Country, American Lung Association
- Nearly Half of U.S. Breathing Unhealthy Air; Record-breaking Air Pollution in Nine Western Cities 2020, American Lung Association
- Health Effects of Ozone Pollution, United States Environmental Protection Agency
- Air Quality Messaging | May 2025, Greater Phoenix Economic Council
- Phoenix, AZ Poor Air Quality Map and Forecast, First Street
- Administrator Zeldin Moves Forward with Ensuring U.S. States Are Not Punished for Foreign Air, United States Environmental Protection Agency
- Reclassification to Serious Ozone Nonattainment Permit Requirements, Maricopa County Air Quality
- EPA ozone shift spares metro Phoenix costly consequences, Axios
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The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is partnering with Gigafact to produce timely fact briefs, or quick-response fact checks, about trending claims relating to Arizona.
