Throughout Michigan, the air that we breathe may not be all that we need, based on the latest State of the Air report from the American Lung Association. Wayne and Kalamazoo counties racked up failing air quality scores based on unhealthy pollution during 2022 through 2024. Another ten counties failed with excessive high ozone days, including highly populated Oakland, Macomb, and St Clair counties in Southeast Michigan, along with Kent, Allegan, and Muskegon counties in West Michigan.
While the influences on Michigan’s air quality varies greatly, from factories and construction to natural forests and lake winds, government and grassroots movements are working to alert and improve conditions in the most unsafe cities, starting with Detroit. The city’s Health Department is installing air monitors throughout the city, with real-time data accessible to everyone. Citizens in Kalamazoo are taking steps to highlight air pollution, including unpleasant gases, from nearby industrial plants.
Expect more bad air quality grades to come. Many Michiganders battled breathing issues during 2025 when smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted over the state. Detroit recorded 16 days with an air quality alert or advisory, more than any single year in the recent State of the Air report.
The American Lung Association uses a color coded scale to highlight unsafe air quality. All grades were based on air at sites recording orange, red, purple or maroon levels, all deemed unhealthy or hazardous.
As immediate actions against unsafe air quality, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services recommends:
- Avoid exercising outdoors
- Limit child playtime outdoors
- Move workouts indoors to walking in a mall or using a gym
- Stay away from high-traffic areas
- On bad purple or maroon days stay indoors as much as possible
- In the event of wildfire smoke, create a clean air room
For State of the Air reporting specific to Detroit, read more:
For more on Detroit’s actions to enhance air quality tracking and alerts:
https://planetdetroit.org/2026/04/michigan-air-quality-alerts-wildfires/
For the total State of the Air report, find it here:
https://www.lung.org/getmedia/32f0646d-c5de-4501-b0ac-07cd63c974d4/State-of-the-Air-2026-Report.pdf
Author: Ann Hanson, INHALE PAB Member