Louisville receives failing grades in national air quality report

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville's air quality is getting worse, according to a study by the American Lung Association.

The American Lung Association released its 2025 State of the Air report, which listed Louisville as the second worst in its region for ozone pollution. The annual report grades exposure to unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone air pollution and year-round and short-term spikes in particle pollution over a three-year period.

"The air pollutants covered in this report are widespread and can impact anyone’s health," Shannon Baker, Advocacy Director for the Lung Association in Kentucky, said in a news release. "Both ozone and particle pollution can cause premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes, preterm births and impaired cognitive functioning later in life. Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer."

The report revealed data from 2021-23:

Ground-level Ozone Pollution in the Louisville metro area:

Number of Unhealthy Days per Year: 8.2 days (5 days in 2024 report)
Grade: F (F in 2024 report)
National Ranking: 29th worst (39th worst in 2024 report)

Particle Pollution in the Louisville metro area:

Number of Unhealthy Days Per Year: 2.2 days (1.3 days in 2024 report)
Grade: D (C in 2024 report)
National Ranking: 88th (64th worst in 2024 report)

Year-Round Average Level of Particle Pollution in Louisville metro area:

Grade: Failing grade, pollution levels above the federal standard (passing grade in 2024 report)
National Ranking: 32nd worst (27th worst in 2024 report)

Baker said the air pollution is causing children to have asthma attacks and makes people who work outdoors sick and unable to work.

The report also found that 156 million people in the U.S. live in an area that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution.

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