Air quality
New York City’s air contains particles, drops of liquid, gasses, and other pollution that can affect health. Bad air quality can be particularly dangerous for older adults, children, and people with heart or lung conditions.
Air quality varies from neighborhood to neighborhood, based on local levels of emissions and many other factors. We monitor air quality using the New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS), NYC’s comprehensive air quality monitoring and modeling network. NYCCAS allows us to understand neighborhood differences in air quality - and what contributes to those differences.
Your Neighborhood's Air Quality
Real-Time Air Quality: PM2.5 in NYC
The New York City Community Air Survey
Key findings from NYC's comprehensive air quality monitoring program, including pollutant trends and local sources.
In January 2025, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Bridge and Tunnels (MTABT) started charging a toll for vehicles entering Manhattan’s Congestion Relief Zone (the zone) to reduce traffic within the zone and raise …
New York City’s public transit system has gotten New Yorkers where they need to go and home again for over a century. For our public transit system to continue to move millions of people and to keep us healthy, it’s important …
This story was recently updated with new data. Every year in NYC between 2017 and 2019 (The most recent data available. See all recorded years of health impacts data here), fine particulate matter pollution from motor …
New York City’s air quality is generally good and has been improving over time. Still, air pollution threatens health: two pollutants, ozone and PM2.5 cause about 2,400 deaths per year in NYC, and thousands more emergency …
On March 20, 2020, New York State announced the COVID-19 shutdown, officially known as NY Pause. In NYC, it lasted until June 8, 2020. With stay-at-home orders in NY and other states, New York City’s air quality changed …
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As city life changes, so does its air quality, as sources of emissions that affect the city’s outdoor air quality, like truck traffic, building boilers and restaurants, also change. For more than a decade, we have been …
PM2.5—or fine particulate matter—are tiny particles that pollute the air and result from everyday urban activities like driving. PM2.5 can be solid or liquid in form when it is airborne. PM2.5 is the most harmful air …
What happens when NYC stays home? The COVID-19 pandemic upended the lives of all New Yorkers. The outbreak has affected many aspects of our daily life, but there are also less apparent effects, such as impacts on our …
Skip Nav A traffic health threat: air toxics Noise levels that harm health The benefits of cleaner fuel Special monitoring for environmental justice For 10 years, the New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS) has measured …
Does the air improve in car-free zones? People often ask us this, and it’s a great question. To answer, we turn to the NYC Community Air Survey, or NYCCAS. NYCCAS is our network of air quality monitors around the city. NYCCAS …
In Part 1, we looked at data from the New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS) - a network of about 100 air quality monitors - to see if air quality improves in areas that go car-free. And the answer is yes. NYCCAS tells …
The air we breathe can have a major effect on our health — air pollution can make asthma worse and can cause heart disease, lung disease, strokes, and even cancer. Fortunately, New York City has made great strides in recent …