Large City Air Quality Comparison

Air Quality

OneNYC is a comprehensive sustainability plan for New York City’s future.

Goal: Achieve the cleanest air quality of any big United States (US) city.

To measure progress towards this goal, we are tracking atmospheric concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) in NYC compared to other large cities (populations greater than 1 million) in the US.

Air Quality and Sustainability

Particulate matter is a complex mixture of very small solids and droplets suspended in air. Some particles are produced directly by vehicles, power plants and other sources that burn fuel while others are formed in the atmosphere when certain pollutants react with sunlight. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) can be inhaled deep into the lungs, and exposure has been linked to breathing problems, reduced lung function and heart disease.

To achieve our goal, New York City is developing strategies to decrease the amount of harmful air pollutants emitted from a variety of sources within the city, including vehicles, power plants, and buildings, while promoting natural solutions such as planting one million trees.

City Ranking

The Large City Air Quality Ranking indicator compares levels of PM2.5 in NYC to levels in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and San Diego. We provide yearly estimates that are derived from three year rolling averages to reduce the influence of year to year weather variation on trends.