12 NJ Counties Ranked Among Worst Air Quality In The USA: Report

NEW JERSEY - The American Lung Association has released its annual air quality report, with this year's results concluding that over 40 percent of Americans breathe unhealthy air. Although some New Jersey counties such as Atlantic and Monmouth received B ratings for air quality, others such as Middlesex and Hudson continue to receive F markings - with counties like Bergen showing signs of air quality decline in recent years (see the full list of county ratings below).

This year’s State of the Air report found that the Garden State’s two major metropolitan areas ranked among the worst in the nation for two pollutant measures.

For ozone smog, both the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden and New York-Newark metro areas continued on the list of the nation’s worst 25 metro areas (ranking 21st worst and 14th worst in 2021, respectively). Compared to the 2020 report, New Jersey experienced fewer unhealthy days of high ozone in 13 of the 15 counties with enough data to be graded for pollutants, according to the ALA.

Eight Garden State counties in total continued to earn “F” grades:

• Bergen
• Camden
• Gloucester
• Hudson
• Hunterdon
• Mercer
• Middlesex
• Ocean.

Bergen County in the New York-Newark metro area represented a new worst value for year-round particle pollution. In fact, Bergen County came in worst for New Jersey, posting a weighted average number of days high in ozone pollution of 8.3 days for the 2017-2019 period. Only one county in the state worsened—Cumberland, going from a “B” to a “C” grade with an average of 1.0 day per year high in ozone.

“Ozone pollution can harm even healthy people, but is particularly dangerous for children, older adults and people with lung diseases such as COPD or asthma,” said American Lung Association National AVP, State Public Policy, Michael Seilback. “Breathing ozone-polluted air can trigger asthma attacks in both adults and children with asthma, which can land them in the doctor’s office or the emergency room. Ozone can even shorten people’s lives.”

Here is the ALA’s 2021 county-by-county breakdown for ozone smog.

• Atlantic: B
• Bergen: F
• Burlington: N/A
• Camden: F
• Cape May: N/A
• Cumberland: C
• Essex: C
• Gloucester: F
• Hudson: F
• Hunterdon: F
• Mercer: F
• Middlesex: F
• Monmouth: B
• Morris: D
• Ocean: F
• Passaic: C
• Salem: N/A
• Somerset: N/A
• Sussex: N/A
• Union: N/A
• Warren: B

*N/A indicates that there is no monitor collecting data in this county.

For particle pollution, the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden metro area continued to hold a spot on the top 25 worst list. The New York-Newark metro area showed a significant increase in the average particle pollution value for Bergen County as the New York-Newark metro area’s ranking moved from 36th worst to 20th worst (landing that metro area on the list of the nation’s 25 most polluted metropolitan areas).

The worst grades in the state went to Camden County’s “C” rating for its daily measure of particle pollution and Bergen County’s “F” rating for its ozone smog.

Here is the ALA’s county-by-county breakdown for particle pollution:

• Atlantic: A
• Bergen: A
• Burlington: N/A
• Camden: C
• Cape May: N/A
• Cumberland: A
• Essex: A
• Gloucester: A
• Hudson: A
• Hunterdon: A
• Mercer: A
• Middlesex: A
• Monmouth: N/A
• Morris: A
• Ocean: A
• Passaic: A
• Salem: N/A
• Somerset: N/A
• Sussex: N/A
• Union: B
• Warren: B

*N/A indicates that there is no monitor collecting data in this county.

“The grades in Bergen and Camden show room for improvement and more must be done to protect the health of people at risk,” said Seilback.

“There are still dozens of days when the air pollution levels are high enough to harm health and trigger asthma attacks, heart attacks and stroke, placing children, older adults, and people living with chronic lung and heart disease at particular risk. Ozone and particle pollution are the nation’s most harmful and widespread air pollutants, and both can be deadly. In addition, more exposure to particle pollution is linked to worse health outcomes from COVID-19, including more deaths.”

The “State of the Air” 2021 report found that year-round particle pollution levels in eight New Jersey counties improved, but mostly were relatively small increments. Two other counties plateaued compared to last year, with all New Jersey counties posting long-term averages found to be meeting the air quality standard for this pollutant.

However, Bergen County, posting a level of 10.3 µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter) for 2017-2019 period, barely overtook Camden County’s continuing 10.2 µg/m3 as the county with the highest annual average in the state.

The report also tracked short-term spikes in particle pollution, which can be extremely dangerous and even lethal. The report found that New Jersey statewide recorded the same few number of days (six) as in last year’s report when short-term particle pollution reached unhealthy levels. The state’s worst grade for this measure was Camden County’s “C”, earned for its four days high in this pollutant.

The following 12 counties all earned “A” grades for fine particle pollution in this year’s report, posting zero days with average concentrations in the unhealthy ranges, according to the air quality standard. That placed these counties on the list of cleanest counties in the nation for this pollutant:

• Atlantic
• Bergen
• Cumberland
• Essex
• Gloucester
• Hudson
• Hunterdon
• Mercer
• Middlesex
• Morris
• Ocean
• Passaic

“Particle pollution can lodge deep in the lungs and can even enter the bloodstream. It can trigger asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes and cause lung cancer,” said Seilback. Particle pollution comes from industry, coal-fired power plants, construction, agriculture, vehicles, wildfires and wood-burning devices.”

This year’s report found that, across the nation, over 135 million (or 4 in 10 people) lived with polluted air, placing their health and lives at risk. In New Jersey, air pollution placed the health of nearly nine million residents at risk, including those who are more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution such as older adults, children and people with a lung disease. The report also shows that people of color were 61 percent more likely to live in a county with unhealthy air than white people, and three times more likely to live in a county that failed all three air quality grades.

You can view the full report here.