Report places New York City in top 10 most polluted US cities (2024)

FAQs

Where is the most polluted place in NYC? ›

Greenpoint/Williamsburg, UWS Home to the Most Air Quality Complaints in NYC. As it turns out, the worst air quality in NYC is found not in Manhattan, but Brooklyn.

For PM2. 5, NYC meets the National Ambient Air Quality Standard of an annual average under 12 μg/m³, and a 24-hour average under 35 μg/m³. But hour to hour, there is large variation in our air quality - even in neighborhoods with the cleanest air. PM2.

Important local sources include fuel combustion in vehicles, boilers in buildings, power plants, construction equipment, marine vessels, and commercial cooking.

New York City has ranked as either the top or second most polluted city in the world Thursday, and Detroit is back in the top 5 for the dubious honor.

Despite this progress, two air pollutants, ozone and PM_2.5, cause about 2,400 deaths per year in NYC, and thousands more emergency department visits and hospitalizations for asthma, heart and lung problems. Those most at risk include older adults, children and people with preexisting health conditions.

According to IQAir, in 2021, Los Angeles was the city with the most pollution.

How much pollution is in NYC? ›

They worry that the city's complex tangle of crises — migrants, homelessness, housing and the cost of living — cannot be easily fixed, even if philanthropists band together to help.

We are committed to reducing disparities in ambient pollution level exposures within the city by 20 percent for PM2. 5 and 50 percent for sulfur dioxide (SO2) by 2030 relative to 2013. Meeting this goal will require significant reductions in air pollutant emissions.

Air pollution is an important environmental threat to the health of New York City residents. Exposures to two common air pollutants, fine particulate matter (PM2. 5) and ozone (O3), can worsen respiratory illness and heart conditions and contribute to premature deaths.

The cleanest ZIP in town — or, at least, the one where citizens complained the least — was 11040, on the border of Queens and New Hyde Park in Nassau County. Also on the good list were equally-remote Roosevelt Island and Floral Park, Queens.

Not New York City

The Big Apple isn't as dirty as you may think. It only came in at #17 on the list. The city has a surprisingly low complaint rate of 3,728 per 100k population — in comparison to the 21,616 complaints made by the inhabitants of the glamorous — albeit dry, dusty, and dirty — Los Angeles.

Love Canal is a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, United States, infamous as the location of a 0.28 km² (0.11 sq mi) landfill that became the site of an environmental disaster discovered in 1977. Decades of dumping toxic chemicals killed residents and harmed the health of hundreds, often profoundly.