American Lung Association releases ‘State of the Air’ 2026 report

Salisbury, Md. – The American Lung Association released a new report on Earth Day highlighting dangerous air quality levels across the country, including in Delaware and Maryland.

The report found that more than four in 10 Americans live with unhealthy levels of air pollution, and nearly half of children in the U.S. live in counties that receive a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution.

“If people are exposed to pollution, they have lower lung function, even later in their life, ” Dr. Christy Sadreameli said. Dr. Sandreameli is an assistant professor of pediatrics and pediatric pulmonologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. ” We see increased incidence of asthma, meaning people, some people who are receiving an asthma diagnosis, which in many cases is lifelong, it was attributed to air pollution.”

She said even air pollutant exposure in the womb can lead to reduced lung capacity.

In Delaware, over 200,000 children are exposed to air pollution that can reach unhealthy levels over multiple days. The report found that the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden metro area, which includes both Kent and New Castle Counties, continued to earn failing grades for ozone smog and fine particle or soot pollution, ranking 43rd worst in the nation for ozone and 27th worst for the daily measure of particles.

In Maryland, over 570,450 children are breathing unhealthy air particles through the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington metro area. According to the report, although many areas within the state improved on all three air pollution measures compared to last year, Baltimore County ranked 49th-worst in the nation for ozone smog.

However, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, there is still not enough data to know how air pollution affects more rural areas. Dr. Sandreameli says that there are still ways air quality can be impacted through pollutants common in agricultural areas, such as controlled burns, diesel and even dust.

“Because we’re under monitoring in some in many rural areas of the country, we’re not really capturing exactly how much pollution many people in rural areas are exposed to,” she said. “So, if anything, we’re a little under aware of it, and there are probably more people in our country exposed to failing levels of air pollution if we were able to grade accurately with more monitors, specifically in rural areas.”

According to American Lung Association Director of Advocacy Aleks Casper, the report provides people with the opportunity to learn more about air quality, especially as they travel.

“What is the quality of air that they’re breathing in their community, where they’re going to travel, where their friends and neighbors live?” she said. She also said there are steps people can take to lessen emissions. “It’s walk, bike, take public transportation, if that’s available to you, if your budget allows, you know, transition to zero emission technology to kind of improve your own footprint.”

She said that if people wanted to engage more, they could “tell the EPA to prioritize children’s health,” and the State of the Air website to engage with the ALA.