These Are CT's Top 10 Most-Polluted Cities, Report Says

CONNECTICUT — Wildfires in Canada last year led to widespread concerns about air quality, as haze and smoke prompted alerts in Connecticut and elsewhere in the country. The smoke obscured city skylines and decreased visibility in much of the Northeast.

The poor air quality conditions were of particular concern for those with asthma and lung conditions.

The World Health Organization (WHO) noted that air pollution causes one out of every nine deaths worldwide and considers air pollution to be the greatest environmental threat to human health. Poor air quality exacerbates health conditions such as asthma, stroke, lung disease, and cancer.

A new study from IQAir has pollution statistics for cities around the world from 2018 to 2023. The report examined 7,812 locations across the world using data collected from air quality monitoring stations.

Two Connecticut cities had air pollution levels that exceeded WHO standards by two to three times: Trumbull and Oxford.

However, to keep it in perspective, Trumbull had the highest air quality index at 12.1. Compare that to Delhi, India, which Friday was at 347, or Dhaka, Bangladesh at 185, or Milano, Italy at 143.

Also, no Connecticut cities were among the top 50 in the country. The most-polluted municipality in the country was Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a town of 5,740, which came in at 19.9.

Here are Connecticut's top 10 most-polluted cities, according to IQAir, with numbers expressing the concentration of air pollutants in micrograms per cubic meter of air:

1. Trumbull: 12.1
2. Oxford: 11.6
3. Bridgeport: 9.9
4. East Hartford: 9.9
5. Middletown: 9.9
6. Danbury: 9.5
7. Mansfield: 9.5
8. East Haven: 9.4
9. Hartford: 9.4
10. New Haven: 9.4

Read the full study from IQAir here.