Best Cities for Air Quality in Washington
Ranking of cities with the cleanest air in Washington based on AQI data.
Cleanest air in Washington: Vancouver
Of the 4 Washington metro areas EPA published a full year of AQI data for in 2025, Vancouver recorded the highest share of Good-air days: 255 of 365 monitored days (69.9%) at AQI 50 or below, with a median AQI of 41 and 2 days above AQI 100. Its peak reading that year was AQI 119. The pollutant that set the daily AQI most often was ground-level ozone (192 days). The other end of the Washington list is Tacoma (55.9% Good days, median AQI 48, 1 days above AQI 100).
| # | City (EPA area) | Good days (2025) | Median AQI | Days over 100 | Peak AQI | AQI now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VancouverPortland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | 255 / 365 (69.9%) | 41 | 2 | 119 | 32 |
| 2 | SpokaneSpokane-Spokane Valley, WA | 206 / 365 (56.4%) | 47 | 10 | 243 | 35 |
| 3 | SeattleSeattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 204 / 365 (55.9%) | 48 | 1 | 125 | 42 |
| 4 | TacomaSeattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 204 / 365 (55.9%) | 48 | 1 | 125 | 35 |
Figures are EPA's published annual AQI summaries by metropolitan area (Annual AQI by CBSA, 2019–2025), retrieved 2026-09-07. The daily AQI EPA summarises is the highest value any monitor in the area reported that day, so these are metro-area readings, not statewide or rural ones.
Vancouver's air quality year by year
One clean year can be luck — a mild summer, no wildfire smoke. This is every year EPA has published for the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA area, so you can see whether Vancouver's ranking is durable.
| Year | Days measured | Good days | Median AQI | Days over 100 | Days over 150 | Peak AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 365 | 245 | 43 | 3 | 0 | 128 | fine particulate matter (PM2.5) |
| 2020 | 366 | 243 | 41 | 14 | 8 | 874 | fine particulate matter (PM2.5) |
| 2021 | 365 | 254 | 42 | 1 | 1 | 161 | fine particulate matter (PM2.5) |
| 2022 | 365 | 225 | 41 | 7 | 4 | 175 | fine particulate matter (PM2.5) |
| 2023 | 365 | 219 | 43 | 6 | 2 | 153 | fine particulate matter (PM2.5) |
| 2024 | 366 | 280 | 38 | 6 | 0 | 127 | ground-level ozone |
| 2025 | 365 | 255 | 41 | 2 | 0 | 119 | ground-level ozone |
Across 2019–2025, Vancouver's air quality shows no clear trend: the area's median AQI held near 42 and days above AQI 100 fell from about 6 to 5 per year (comparing the earlier and later halves of the period).
How Washington compares
Ranked by the median of its metro areas' median AQI in 2025, Washington is #26 cleanest of the 51 states EPA publishes metro AQI data for, at a median AQI of 47. The cleanest state on that measure is Alaska; the most polluted is Arizona. See the full state air quality rankings.
What this ranking does and does not cover
We track 4 Washington cities. 4 have a full 2025 EPA record and are ranked above.
EPA's AQI is reported by metropolitan area, and the daily value is the worst reading from any monitor in that area. Rural Washington — and any town without a regulatory monitor — is not represented here. A high Good-day share means the monitored metro air was clean on most days; it is not a statement about a specific street, and it does not capture short pollution spikes between the daily summaries.