Western states — and the pregnant people living there — are hit hard by air pollution

Average annual calculated concentration of particle pollution (known as the design value) for counties the American Lung Association says fail to meet national standards, 2018-2020

Only counties who collected data across all three years were assigned a grade. Highest daily particle pollution readings for each county were averaged over each year, then the three years were averaged together to get the design value. Ratings are based on the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2012 National Ambient Air Quality Standard.

Source: Analysis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data by the American Lung Association
Chart: Jasmine Mithani & Jessica KutzThe 19th・19thnews.org