Insights: Payson, AZ metro. Aggregated EPA AQS monitors across this Core-Based Statistical Area logged a median Air Quality Index of 50 over 273 measured days in 2025, which corresponds to a Good band and a Moderate metro-wide health grade. The monitored-day split lands at 142 Good days (52%), 116 Moderate (42%), and 14 Unhealthy-for-Sensitive-Groups (5%). The 90th-percentile AQI finished at 93 while the highest single-day reading hit 196 (Unhealthy). Metro residents averaged roughly 15.6 clean-air days per 30-day window across the reporting year.

Across the 2020–2025 trend window, good days shifted by -114 and the median AQI moved +6 points, which classifies the multi-year trajectory as worsening. The metro recorded 1 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 Birmingham-Hoover, AL (51.9% good, AQI 50); Boulder, CO (50.9% good, AQI 50); Durango, CO (53.3% good, AQI 50).