How’s the air quality by metro area?

This map shows you how the air quality has been over the past 10 years (2014-2023) in each major US metro area. More specifically, it is an average of 10 years of median annual AQI data. The darker color is better air quality and the lighter color is poorer air quality. Generally, an AQI of 0-50 is considered good (I believe 0-30 is actually good), 50-100 is moderate, 101+ is unhealthy. Anyway, the coloration is log-scaled for easier interpretation. You can mouse over each dot to see a given location’s data.

How did I make these maps? First, I gathered and organized a massive amount of data from various sources, then used Python to analyze the data, then Folium to create interactive maps.

The map uses data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), specifically their Air Quality System (AQS). The annual AQI data by CBSA and the site coordinates (latitude, longitude, location setting, etc.) were pulled from EPA’s publicly available air quality datasets, which provide detailed air quality metrics for various locations across the United States.