Right now: Scottsdale is at 37, good.
Is the air safe to breathe in Scottsdale today?
In Scottsdale, BreatheCheck reads 37 as Go. The cutoffs: go below 101, keep it short and easy from 101 to 150, move it indoors above 150. These are our own thresholds, drawn on the EPA bands — EPA itself classifies 101–150 as Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups and does not tell you how long to stay out.
Go AQI 0–100
Normal outdoor plans. No change needed.
Short & unloaded AQI 101–150
A 20-minute dog walk, not a 2.5-hour run. Keep it brief and easy.
Don’t go AQI 151+
Move it indoors. Above 200 that becomes everyone, not just sensitive groups.
Above 200 this stops being a personal call: everyone indoors.
Duration and intensity are two separate dials
| Under 20 min | 20–60 min | Over an hour | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | Go | Go | Go |
| Moderate | Go | Go | Go |
| Hard | Go | Go | Go |
Go Every combination lands the same way at this reading — a hard hour is no different from an easy twenty minutes. The two dials separate above 80.
Where people actually draw the line
All the thresholds people reported, and who reported them
- 60 Asthmatic runnerone runner’s own 156-run log
- 75–100 Daycare / schoolparents and staff in one r/toddlers thread, Aug 2025 — not a published rule
- 100 Parentcommunity-reported, escalating at 150 and 200
- 110 Runnercommunity-reported
If you’re staying in, filter the room you’re actually in
The receiving end of the Phoenix plume
Scottsdale occupies the northeast rim of the Salt River Valley, and its ozone is set by that position rather than by anything inside the city. Daytime heating drives valley flow up toward the northeast, so the nitrogen oxides and volatile organics put into the air across central Phoenix during the morning commute spend hours travelling in strong sunlight before they reach this end of the valley. What arrives at the rim is largely finished product rather than ingredients.
Maricopa County has carried EPA nonattainment status for the 70 ppb eight-hour ozone standard for years. The season opens earlier and closes later than the northern equivalent, because the photochemistry here never waits on warmth to arrive, and the high numbers come on hot afternoons from spring through early fall.
Dust is the second story and an unrelated one. Dry soil, disturbed ground and monsoon-season haboobs push PM10 up in ways that are impossible to miss out a window. Ozone is the opposite. It has no color and no smell, and on the worst ozone afternoon of the year the sky over the McDowells looks the way it looked the day before. A resident looking outside has good information about one of these two pollutants and none at all about the other.
Where this number sits
Of the 121 US metros reporting to us right now, Scottsdale is number 73 and number 3 of the 3 we track in Arizona. The pollutant driving it today is O3.
Nearby metros we also measure, and what they read at the same hour:
- Phoenix, AZ — 11 miles away, AQI 66
- Tucson, AZ — 104 miles away, AQI 44
- Las Vegas, NV — 260 miles away, AQI 51
- Las Cruces, NM — 308 miles away, AQI 49
Where this reading comes from
AirNow’s Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community reporting area, about 8.1 miles from the metro centre.
What has air quality in Scottsdale actually been?
8 of the 30 days we have recorded so far went above AQI 100.
| Date | Daily max AQI | EPA band | Hours read |
|---|---|---|---|
| 51 | Moderate | 22 | |
| 74 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 95 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 82 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 105 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | |
| 67 | Moderate | 22 | |
| 69 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 34 | Good | 23 | |
| 42 | Good | 23 | |
| 46 | Good | 23 | |
| 45 | Good | 23 | |
| 135 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 24 | |
| 73 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 55 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 132 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | |
| 257 | Very Unhealthy | 23 | |
| 97 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 101 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 22 | |
| 100 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 129 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | |
| 97 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 74 | Moderate | 24 | |
| 87 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 100 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 101 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | |
| 100 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 119 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | |
| 84 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 77 | Moderate | 26 | |
| 61 | Moderate | 6 — partial day |
Questions about Scottsdale
What is the air quality in Scottsdale right now?
Which monitor does this number come from?
How does Scottsdale compare with metros nearby?
Does this include pollen?
Put this number in context
Updated