Can You Even Breathe in Lubbock? Study Ranks City Worst for Median Air Quality in the US

Lubbock, Texas is known for being the home of Buddy Holly and Texas Tech. However, if you're having trouble breathing in Lubbock, you step outside to take in a deep breath of fresh air and might not get the reaction you wanted.  Maybe you start coughing your head off, or you can't catch your breath.

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There may be a reason for this...bad air quality.

Wallet Hub recently released a survey about the Greenest Cities in America.   Let's face it, although you might find some green cities in Texas, you probably won't find that many compared to elsewhere.  Not one Texas city ended up in the Top 20, Austin finally hit the list at #26.

What's Up With Lubbock's Air?

The survey found that out of the 100 cities studied, Lubbock landed in the Top 50 at #46, but when it comes to the air quality index.

Lubbock, Texas, has the lowest median air-quality index, which is 4.2 times lower than in Riverside and San Bernardino, California, the cities with the highest.

If you look up the Air Quality Index for today, it says that Lubbock is in a good range the AQI is 20.

Let's compare that to cities close to Lubbock, Amarillo's AQI is at 31 which is 11 higher than Lubbock.  Abilene's AQI was not available at the time of publishing.   Here's something interesting, the Greenest City in America is San Diego, CA and its AQI today is 58. That's 38 higher than Lubbock and considered moderate.  Freemont, CA ranked #1 in the environment category, at 47, making them 27 higher than Lubbock.  It must be how they did the research for the study that determined that Lubbocks median air quality was the worst.

This metric measures the average exposure of the general public to particulate matter of 2.5 microns (PM2.5) or less in size.

Take it for what you will, I guess determining the worst about a city is all about certain measurements and equations way above my pay grade. But today according to the AQI, the air in Lubbock is good, unless one of those infamous dust storms blows into the city.