Where to move for cleaner air?

[junk4c2]

Did anyone do any research on places in USA with cleanest air? I have a kid with alergy induced asthma and starting to wonder if living next to big airport in midwest is primary reason for it. I am still few years away from FI, so would like to move into area with enough IT jobs, but would consider pretty much anything besides middle of nowhere in Montana as long as it would help my kids asthma.

[Geostache]

Here you go! Straight from the source.

http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/new-nasa-satellite-maps-show-human-fingerprint-on-global-air-quality

Also, here:

https://airquality.gsfc.nasa.gov/cities

[Dollar Slice]

I have asthma that is triggered by air quality/particulate pollution, and while I don't have a map for you, I can tell you that 'microclimate' makes a huge difference for me. By which I mean - different spots in the same city can be dramatically better or worse, depending on things like truck and bus traffic, air stagnation, whether or not there is construction with heavy machinery nearby, and so on. So being next to an airport could certainly be a problem, but it doesn't necessarily mean you have to totally uproot your life. Moving to another location nearby might be OK - on the other side of town from the airport, on a hill that gets a lot of stiff breezes, near a body of water, etc. 

[KCM5]

Also check out www.airnow.gov. This is real time data from air quality monitors.

But in general "cleanest air" can mean a lot of things. The desert southwest, which in general has low pollution production by humans, has a high particulate load because of natural processes. And there are other things you could be concerned about - places that have a lot of inversions like Denver would be hard on asthma suffers as well.

Dollar Slice also has a great point about microclimate.

[Dee18]

Airnow.gov is a great resource.  Be sure to check historic data for at least a year.  Most cities in the southeast (except in Florida) have serious air quality issues. I am definitely considering air quality as I choose where to move in retirement.

[junk4c2]

I agree microclimate makes a difference, but  my biggest issue is Ohare airport - due to new expansion my house is stuck under of path of couple runways - I am talking plane overhead every minute for whole day. When these runways are in use I can count around 20 planes coming for landing at times - that can not be good for your air quality. If I look at the air quality map it shows all green in my area - I find that hard to believe being near the worlds busiest airport surrounded by multiple four lane highways. Are these maps concentrating on some other measurement that does not include pollution from airplanes, or planes dont actually pollute that much?

Anyone tried to actually measure air quality themselves?

[Dollar Slice]

If I look at the air quality map it shows all green in my area - I find that hard to believe being near the worlds busiest airport surrounded by multiple four lane highways. Are these maps concentrating on some other measurement that does not include pollution from airplanes, or planes dont actually pollute that much?

The NASA link looks like it only shows NO2. The AIRNow link shows ozone and particulates. But I don't know how many measuring stations they have and where they are - they may simply not have one close to the airport like you are. I think they only have one for NYC (I've tried different zip codes 6+ miles apart and they all give the same number). So it's possible that the result you're seeing is for some other part of the city.

There are studies showing that asthma rates increase noticeably near airports. I don't think it's overreacting to think about moving an asthmatic child away from there if you are that close to such a big airport (plus lots of highways for a bonus dose of pollutants). Asthma is a serious and scary disease and I wish my parents had been like you instead of smoking cigarettes around me from age 0-12 :-(

[Cranberries]

I can summarize about half of California:

Along the coast headed south: Del Norte, Humboldt and Mendocino counties have low to no ozone, particulates, pollen, or jobs. Inland from the redwood belt there may be fire particulates in the summer, and in the redwood belt the humidity can cause indoor air quality problems. If this is not a problem for you all of coastal Oregon and Washington will be similar. Sonoma, and Marin Counties have excellent air quality though pollen can be a problem in the spring. Lake and Napa are a bit less coastal, so they will have more fire particulates. The Bay Area (Oakland, SF, etc.)air quality is still pretty darn good, as most of the pollution that is generated there is swept inland and south. Santa Cruz County seems a little less ideal then the coastal states further north as the coast range is lower there and more pollution makes it out from San Jose. I have only been to San Jose once and it seems moderate: worse than SF or the East Bay, maybe comparable to Sacramento? I have insufficient data to say.

Further inland the northern Central Valley, South Cascades, northern Sierras and Klamath Ranges are prone to particulates from fire. The central area of the Central Valley (Sacramento, etc.) and the adjacent west side of the Sierra is definitely smoggy but not as bad as it gets further south. The San Juaquin valley and adjacent mountains (particularly south of Fresno) have some of the worst air pollution in the country. In the mountains the air gets better above ~8500 ft.

[GreenSheep]

would consider pretty much anything besides middle of nowhere in Montana as long as it would help my kids asthma.

Slightly off topic, but don't discount Montana yet! Sure, it doesn't have huge cities, but that's probably not what you want anyway if you're interested in air quality. It's a gorgeous state full of some of the nicest people in the world and some great towns. I don't live there, but I love visiting.

[junk4c2]

I don't discount Montana - I bet the air is really clean there, but it would be hard for me to find a job. The goal here is to move to the area with decent/good air quality and fairly close to tech job areas. Couple places I was considering - Seatle or Portland area, Research Triangle (North Carolina), Phoenix, even Chattanooga ...

[Northwestie]

Speaking for Seattle - great place - today 50ish, clear blue skies with view of the snowy mountains out my window.

Maritime climate so summer is low humidity and moderate temperature.  Once in a while there is an inversion in the summer that can make it a bit hazy.  Lots of jobs but yes, expensive.  But great access to the mountains and Puget Sound, which is one of the reasons people move here

[TrMama]

As a fellow asthmatic (although one who isn't affected by particulates), be aware of how elevation may affect your kid. It seems that some of the good places for you may also be at higher elevations.

My asthma gets triggered by exercise, viral infection and elevation. The combo of exercise at elevation is sometimes interesting. I've discovered that skiing at a low elevation, coastal mountain is way more fun than skiing somewhere higher, since I can actually breathe.

Definitely take your kid for a visit before you commit to a specific location.

[BDWW]

would consider pretty much anything besides middle of nowhere in Montana as long as it would help my kids asthma.

Slightly off topic, but don't discount Montana yet! Sure, it doesn't have huge cities, but that's probably not what you want anyway if you're interested in air quality. It's a gorgeous state full of some of the nicest people in the world and some great towns. I don't live there, but I love visiting.

I don't discount Montana - I bet the air is really clean there, but it would be hard for me to find a job. The goal here is to move to the area with decent/good air quality and fairly close to tech job areas. Couple places I was considering - Seatle or Portland area, Research Triangle (North Carolina), Phoenix, even Chattanooga ...

Most of the time the air quality is good. Fire season, and it's absolutely horrible, worse than pretty much anywhere in the US. Past couple years there have been times I couldn't see the mountains from my office. And everything outside gets coated with a thin coat of ash.

[AZDude]

Phoenix has terrible air quality, especially in the winter.

[Geostache]

If I look at the air quality map it shows all green in my area - I find that hard to believe being near the worlds busiest airport surrounded by multiple four lane highways. Are these maps concentrating on some other measurement that does not include pollution from airplanes, or planes dont actually pollute that much?

The NASA link looks like it only shows NO2. The AIRNow link shows ozone and particulates. But I don't know how many measuring stations they have and where they are - they may simply not have one close to the airport like you are. I think they only have one for NYC (I've tried different zip codes 6+ miles apart and they all give the same number). So it's possible that the result you're seeing is for some other part of the city.

Yes, the NASA link shows NO2, which is a crucial component of the development of ground-level ozone. No NO2, no ozone.  NOx compounds are by-products of combustion engines and industrial processes, which is why you see high concentrations of them near densely populated areas (https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-scientists-relate-urban-population-to-air-pollution/#.VuxZSedG1tQ). The chemical processes (which include Volatile Organic Compounds - VOCs - more on that in a minute) that create O3 need intense UV light, which is why ground level O3 pollution is higher in the summer. VOCs are produced naturally (stressed pine trees, eg) and by humans (industrial solvents, think "new car smell"), and themselves can be irritants.

As previous posters mention, air quality is a complicated issue, but most asthmatics, regardless of the source of the asthma (allergen induced, exercise induced, or other), will have difficulty with ground level O3. Heck, even non-asthmatics should be concerned with it.

Unfortunately, air quality ground stations are costly, which is why the coverage isn't great. Your best bet is to use a combination of sources when making a decision, and where absent, you can use NO2 maps as a proxy.

Hope that helps!

[Sibley]

I live in the Chicago area and have asthma. In fact, my asthma has gone from mild intermittent to moderate persistent. That was a fun discovery! What happened? I developed an allergy to ragweed and live next to a forest preserve.

OP, I'd move away from the airport for general quality of life. But you can have problems anywhere, and it doesn't have to be man-made. Good luck.

[Bracken_Joy]

I can speak to Oregon's practices, and I think this applies to a lot of Washington, too.

-Low pollution from industry and cars compared to most places
-Western part of the state (aka the Willamette valley, aka where Portland, Salem, and Eugene are- the 3 largest cities in OR). Extremely high pollen, especially in the spring. Occasionally ranks at the highest concentration of pollen on earth. In the winter, very high in mold. In the summer, there is field burning, which is massively problematic for asthma sufferers here.
-Coastal Oregon has very clean air, but no jobs. At all. You will never find a tech job on the Oregon coast, lol. You can barely even find logging jobs out there now.
-Eastern Oregon: major pollen from sage blooms, but that's a limited time thing. Certain seasons are problematic because you get the desert air inversions. Overall, very clean air. Bend, OR is up and coming as a "real city". Only thing: wild fire season is a problem.

From what I know of the world, as long as your kid isn't strongly triggered by mold, Seattle could be a good option if you can afford it. Portland probably isn't a great option, being in the Valley and all. Bend could be a good option, but could be a problem fire season, and the job market is moving fast right now- everyone wants to move there.

Hope that helps some. You probably know all this, but just in case, I'm a home health nurse for pediatrics, all my kids ("my kids"= my clients, lol, to clarify) have some type of reactive airway disease, so these are the main modification we recommend: Get an air purifier in their room. Strip out your carpets and move to area rugs, which you clean out and under often. Don't use a comforter for your kid's bed- instead use a quilt with no batting and wash it often. No drapes in their room. Dust often. Don't let pets sleep in their room. Don't use dryer sheets or fabric softeners- they're the main source of VOCs in homes. Switch away from any perfumed products like hair spray. Obviously NO SMOKING. Even the smoke left on your clothes can trigger an episode. Similarly, if you or a spouse work in an environment with volatile materials, change clothing as soon as you get home. Double rinse these clothes if you'll wear them at home around the child. No wood fires, obviously =P

[El Marinero]

Hope that helps some. You probably know all this, but just in case, I'm a home health nurse for pediatrics, all my kids ("my kids"= my clients, lol, to clarify) have some type of reactive airway disease, so these are the main modification we recommend: Get an air purifier in their room. Strip out your carpets and move to area rugs, which you clean out and under often. Don't use a comforter for your kid's bed- instead use a quilt with no batting and wash it often. No drapes in their room. Dust often. Don't let pets sleep in their room. Don't use dryer sheets or fabric softeners- they're the main source of VOCs in homes. Switch away from any perfumed products like hair spray. Obviously NO SMOKING. Even the smoke left on your clothes can trigger an episode. Similarly, if you or a spouse work in an environment with volatile materials, change clothing as soon as you get home. Double rinse these clothes if you'll wear them at home around the child. No wood fires, obviously =P

Thank you for that information.  Both comprehensive and succinct!

[acroy]

Asthma can be triggered by 1) pollution 2) allergies 3) temp/humidity (especially cold dry air)
I have 2 and 3 for sure

Bracken_Joy stated some very good control measures for anyone with allergies/asthma in any part of the world.

I have a simpler version
1) install whole-house filter (the 3m Filtrete furnace filters are fine) and run the HVAC fan ON continuously. This should be cheaper and much more effective than the stand-alone air filter. Check it every week to start. You should be able to get 4-8 weeks out of it.
2) decrease/eliminate indoor pollution sources such as dryer sheets, air fresheners, etc. (Don’t worry overmuch about drapes etc. The dust load in the house is what matters, not so much what it sits on.)
3) control humidity from 35-50% or so. Too low: irritates skin/throat. Too high (more important): enables dust mites / mold growth. 

To OP for Moving somewhere
The best ‘Clean Air’ in the world has been scrubbed by blowing over oceans for a few thousand miles. So look at temperate areas with continuous on-shore breezes from oceans. Hawaii (avoid being downstream of the volcano), the various islands such as PR, Florida, perhaps some of the eastern seaboard. Check out this sweet wind map for guidance http://hint.fm/wind/

High desert is attractive for allergy sufferers (not much grows) but is often very dry and cold in winters. Will provoke asthma.

My long-term plans include a move to the Big Island of HI. Aloha!

[VAR]

I don't discount Montana - I bet the air is really clean there, but it would be hard for me to find a job. The goal here is to move to the area with decent/good air quality and fairly close to tech job areas. Couple places I was considering - Seatle or Portland area, Research Triangle (North Carolina), Phoenix, even Chattanooga ...

Chattanooga - pollen is unreal in the South - and because of the long spring-summer, pollen season lasts a looooong time. Pollen in WA state was like - maybe a week. In the South it will go along for 1-2months. I don't have pollen allergies but I've heard a lot of people in TN/NC/GA talk about various tree allergies in late summer/fall. Right now we're having the pollen storm - it's been about 2 weeks. No rain. and everybody is desperately hoping for any small amount to wash some of it away.

 Tennessee is pretty lax about air quality enforcement. Having lived there - with no car inspections whatsoever for a huge chunk of the state. And also there is a lot of industrial air pollution. It's a big problem as it drifts towards the TN/NC mountains and then just sits there.

The hot stagnant air in late summer in the South kicks off lots of bad air quality and ozone warnings. There's also long damp winters here where everything gets musty/moldy/damp.

Another thing that's kind of gross but true and affects me - cockroaches/bugs. In GA/TN you are going to have waaaaayyyy more bugs. There's a huge bug like a cockroach that loves to live in pine trees (which are all over the South). And I'm highly allergic. In NC mountains there were hardly any bugs at all and I had few problems but TN and GA are a different story. Bug sprays always bothered me too - so just spraying the hell out of the house only made things worse.

WA state has a damp winter but because it wasn't a soaking rain it never felt as damp as the South does during winter. And the summer was bone dry (but dusty).

[Lanthiriel]

I know a lot of people who have moved to Alaska for our clean air and water. Even in the "big city" here in Anchorage, we have excellent air quality (unless the wind blows the crap over from China). I love it here!

[Erica]

We took a trip about 6 months ago for this very purpose. To visit the California towns with the best air quality

The #1 best air quality in Ca is at the Lost Coast where you find the town of Petrolia. Only 4 or so businesses in the small town

but Petrolia appeared to have quality schools from the looks of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTNvxVDF708

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NSwMj3NLSM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmZ3obzD3dw


More realistic is living in the cute, fairy tale town of Ferndale. I saw some schools, also cute.  Also likely the only "dry" town in Humboldt County. Dry meaning drugs.

http://ci.ferndale.ca.us/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoMA-WhOotA