Data from a nationwide study by the American Lung Association (ALA) shows that air quality in three major Mississippi cities has worsened since 2024.
The ALA’s “State of the Air” report says air quality across the U.S. has grown more polluted, with more than 150 million residents exposed to unhealthy ozone smog and year-round levels of particle pollution.
In Jackson, the “ground-level ozone pollution” was downgraded from an A grade in 2024 to a B in the recent report, now ranked 149th out of 228 analyzed zones after being tied for cleanest last year. The capital city also received a failing grade for year-round average level of particle pollution, ranking 54th worst out of 204.
“Unfortunately, too many peopel in the Jackson metro area are living with unhealthy levels of ozone and particle pollution,” Calandra Davis, Mississippi director of advocacy at the Lung Association, said. “This air pollution is a threat to human health at every stage of life – increasing the risk of premature birth and low birth weight in babies to causing or worsening lung and heart disease to shortening lives.”
Ozone smog also worsened in the Gulfport-Biloxi metro area, downgraded to a C grade after being labeled a B in 2024. There was some good news however, with the coastal region receiving one of the highest marks nationally for daily particle pollution and the area’s second-best mark for year-round particle pollution.
In north Mississippi, the Tupelo-metro area was downgraded from an A grade to a B after seven consecutive reports labeling the region as among the nation’s cleanest in that category.
However, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) took exception to some of the low grades, claiming that “all monitoring locations in Mississippi meet all federal health-based National Ambient Air Quality Standards.” MDEQ officials say a changed grading formula could have led to scores not wholly reflective of the analyzed area’s true air quality.
“The ALA’s grading system diverges significantly from EPA compliance protocols and can present a potentially misleading picture,” a portion of a statement from MDEQ reads. “We are concerned that applying this alternative grading approach – particularly without clearly distinguishing it from EPA’s official compliance process – risks creating unnecessary public alarm and confusion, potentially undermining confidence in the very regulatory framework the ALA has historically supported.”
