Tucson economy: Air quality tops most Western peers

Published
06-24-2017

In 2016, the Tucson Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) tied with Salt Lake City for fifth out of 12 comparable western MSAs in air quality. Tucson’s daily air quality was rated “good” 54.9% of the time. Phoenix was last among the 12 western metropolitan areas, with only 7.1% of days in 2016 considered “good”. Days are rated “good”, according to the U.S. EPA, when air quality is satisfactory and air pollution poses little or no threat. The annual share of good air quality days in Tucson decreased by 12.5 percentage points during the last year.

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