Insights: New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA metro. Aggregated EPA AQS monitors across this Core-Based Statistical Area logged a median Air Quality Index of 52 over 317 measured days in 2025, which corresponds to a Moderate band and a Poor metro-wide health grade. The monitored-day split lands at 149 Good days (47%), 149 Moderate (47%), and 15 Unhealthy-for-Sensitive-Groups (5%). The 90th-percentile AQI finished at 84 while the highest single-day reading hit 161 (Unhealthy). Metro residents averaged roughly 14.1 clean-air days per 30-day window across the reporting year.

Across the 2020–2025 trend window, good days shifted by +18 and the median AQI moved -2 points, which classifies the multi-year trajectory as improving. The metro recorded 4 unhealthy-or-worse days combined, on those days the EPA recommends that sensitive groups limit prolonged outdoor exertion, and many schools and athletic programs adjust outdoor activity accordingly. Metros with comparable AQI profiles include Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA (45.3% good, AQI 52); El Dorado, AR (44.0% good, AQI 52); Greeley, CO (42.7% good, AQI 52).