Clearing The Air 6.0

Executive Summary

December 2025

Read the full report here: Clearing The Air 6.0 report

Among the findings from Clearing the Air 6.0, the annual assessment of air quality in the Pittsburgh region, are: 

• Pollution levels in the eight-county Pittsburgh region were so low in 2024 that Pittsburgh ranked as one of the cleanest big-city metropolitan regions in the country. 
• The annual levels of microscopic soot (PM_2.5) found across Allegheny County were the lowest ever recorded. 
• Allegheny County’s average PM_2.5 level was lower than the average in most other urban core counties in the U.S., including San Diego (San Diego), New Orleans (Orleans), and Miami (Dade). 
• All PM_2.5 monitors in the region registered levels below the new EPA standard of 9 micrograms per cubic meter. 
• The Asthma & Allergy Foundation in its new study has rated the Pittsburgh region as “average” for asthma risk among the country’s 100 largest metro areas. 

Pittsburgh Works Together issued the first Clearing the Air 1.0 report in 2021 using EPA data and research by others to dispel the myth that the air in the Pittsburgh region is among the worst in the country.¹ That initial report found that our air is fairly typical of that found in big-city regions around the country, better than some, worse than others. 

The results for Clearing the Air 6.0, using 2024 EPA data, shows the region last year fared better than most. 

This is not to say we should be content. There is still further work that can be done to improve air quality in the region. And there may be communities where the air quality tends to be worse than the region’s typical conditions. But we need to act based on facts, not fear or feelings. Misunderstanding the nature of the region’s air quality can lead people to believe that they live in a uniquely bad community and are putting their health at risk unnecessarily. It can send an inaccurate message to people and companies considering living or investing in the region. And mischaracterizing the problem puts pressure on regulators and public officials to solve “problems” that some people imagine exist rather than those that actually do.

1. Different databases and studies vary on what they mean when they say “Pittsburgh.” It can refer to the City  of Pittsburgh, the federal Office of Management & Budget’s definition of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan  Statistical Area or MSA (Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland  counties), or the 12-county Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area or CMSA, consisting of the eight counties in the MSA, along with Indiana in Pennsylvania, Jefferson in Ohio, and Brooke and Hancock in West Virginia. In Sections I and II, “Pittsburgh region” refers to the eight-county MSA definition. 

Read the full report here: Clearing The Air 6.0

Read Clearing the Air 5.0 here: Clearing The Air 5.0

Read Clearing the Air 4.0 here: Clearing The Air 4.0

Read Clearing the Air 3.0 here: Clearing The Air 3.0

Read Clearing the Air 2.0 here: Clearing The Air 2.0

Read Clearing The Air 1.0 here: Clearing The Air 1.0