What Is the Air Quality in Salt Lake, Utah?

Salt Lake, Utah earns a D — air quality falls below the U.S. average, with a 5-year median AQI of 57. Residents with asthma, COPD, heart disease, or young children should watch daily AQI forecasts and limit outdoor exertion when alerts go out.

Salt Lake, Utah's 5-year median AQI of 57 is 16 points above the national average of 41 — meaningfully more polluted than the typical U.S. metro tracked here. Within Utah, Salt Lake, Utah runs more polluted than the state average of 43 — local sources or geography are concentrating pollution above the state's typical reading.

For context within Utah: Wayne, Utah currently holds the state's cleanest grade (B, AQI 11), while Uintah, Utah sits at the bottom (D, AQI 51).

Air quality in Salt Lake, Utah has been getting worse over the past decade, with median AQI climbing by roughly 0.6 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, Salt Lake, Utah posted a median AQI of 49. By 2023 that figure was 54 — a rise of 5 AQI points dirtier across 10 years of EPA records.

Across the past five years, this area has logged 132 days where AQI rose into the "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" range or worse — about 26 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 ozone peaks in the afternoon on hot sunny days, plan outdoor exercise for early morning or after sunset on bad-air days.