Lane County air quality earns failing grade, ranks among worst nationwide

Lane County residents got a blunt warning in the latest American Lung Association air report: the county earned a failing grade, and the Eugene-Springfield metro was listed among the nation’s worst areas for year-round particle pollution. The score is more than a number. It points to the days when smoke, stagnant winter air and vehicle exhaust make it harder to breathe in Eugene, Springfield, Cottage Grove, Florence and Oakridge.

The American Lung Association released its 2025 State of the Air report on April 23, using data from 2021 through 2023. The report grades ozone, year-round particle pollution and short-term particle pollution over a three-year period. Across the United States, 156 million people lived in places that received an F for at least one pollution measure.

For Lane County, the grade is based on weighted unhealthy air days, with orange days counted as 1, red as 1.5, purple as 2 and maroon as 2.5. Counties at or above 9.1 micrograms per cubic meter for year-round particle pollution receive a fail. The health stakes are high: the association says particle pollution can trigger asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, early death and low birth weight. It also says people of color are more than twice as likely as white people to live in communities that fail all three pollution measures.

Local air officials said the countywide F is being driven overwhelmingly by wildfire smoke, especially in the Oakridge area, where monitoring data can heavily skew the overall result. That does not mean Eugene-Springfield is unaffected. The Lane Regional Air Protection Agency says Lane County’s worst air usually comes in summer, when wildfire smoke settles over the region, and in winter, when fireplaces and wood stoves add pollution during stagnant air.

That pattern helps explain why a failing grade can show up even on ordinary-looking days. Smoke can drift into Lane County from fires in California, Washington and Idaho, and even across the Pacific Ocean. The region has also made gains over the past 20 years in cutting pollution from wood stoves and vehicle emissions, but the county still sits in a part of Oregon where weather, terrain and wildfire seasons can quickly overwhelm those improvements.

The bigger concern for Eugene-Springfield is that the problem may not fade. Hotter, drier summers have raised wildfire risk across Oregon, and more smoke-filled seasons would keep pushing Lane County’s air toward the same dangerous pattern. For families planning outdoor sports, school activities or daily exercise, the practical lesson is clear: the worst air is still most likely to arrive when summer smoke or winter wood smoke hangs over the valley, and the county’s failing grade reflects a health burden residents breathe year after year.