What Is the Air Quality in Pueblo, Colorado?

Pueblo, Colorado earns a B — air quality is reliably in the safe range for most residents most of the time, with a 5-year median AQI of 27. Sensitive groups will see occasional caution days, but the typical resident will not need to change behavior based on air quality.

Pueblo, Colorado's 5-year median AQI of 27 is 14 points below the national average of 41 — meaningfully cleaner than the typical U.S. metro tracked here. Within Colorado, Pueblo, Colorado runs cleaner than the state average of 39 — a positive signal that local conditions (terrain, wind patterns, emission sources) are working in residents' favor.

For context within Colorado: Alamosa, Colorado currently holds the state's cleanest grade (A, AQI 14), while Jefferson, Colorado sits at the bottom (D, AQI 47).

Air quality in Pueblo, Colorado 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, Pueblo, Colorado posted a median AQI of 28. By 2023 that figure was 43 — a rise of 15 AQI points dirtier across 10 years of EPA records.

Across the past five years, this area has logged just 5 days where AQI rose into the "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" range or worse — about 1 days per year, or roughly one every other month. That is a low count by national standards.

For most healthy adults, current air quality in this area does not require any change in behavior. People with severe asthma, COPD, or recent cardiac events should still keep an eye on daily AQI alerts, especially during wildfire season. 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.