What Is the Air Quality in Harris, Texas?

Harris, Texas earns a D — air quality falls below the U.S. average, with a 5-year median AQI of 59. Residents with asthma, COPD, heart disease, or young children should watch daily AQI forecasts and limit outdoor exertion when alerts go out.

Harris, Texas's 5-year median AQI of 59 is 18 points above the national average of 41 — meaningfully more polluted than the typical U.S. metro tracked here. Within Texas, Harris, Texas runs more polluted than the state average of 42 — local sources or geography are concentrating pollution above the state's typical reading.

For context within Texas: Lubbock, Texas currently holds the state's cleanest grade (B, AQI 28), while El Paso, Texas sits at the bottom (D, AQI 60).

Air quality in Harris, Texas has been getting worse over the past decade, with median AQI climbing by roughly 0.5 points per year. That bucks the national trend of broad improvement, and most often reflects either growing wildfire smoke exposure (particularly across the West) or rising local emissions from population and freight growth.

In 2014, Harris, Texas posted a median AQI of 58. By 2023 that figure was 64 — a rise of 6 AQI points dirtier across 10 years of EPA records.

Across the past five years, this area has logged 144 days where AQI rose into the "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" range or worse — about 29 days per year, or roughly one every five to seven days. That is well above the national norm and explains the D grade.

Treat daily AQI forecasts as essential input. On flagged days, sensitive groups (asthma, COPD, heart disease, pregnancy, young children, older adults) should limit outdoor exertion and keep windows closed. A HEPA air cleaner sized to a bedroom or family room can cut indoor PM2.5 by 80%+ during smoke or pollution events. Because PM2.5 penetrates deep into the lungs and bloodstream, an N95 or KN95 mask provides meaningful protection on smoky or high-particulate days — surgical masks do not.