Right now: San Antonio is at 52, moderate.
Is the air safe to breathe in San Antonio today?
In San Antonio, BreatheCheck reads 52 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
Highest ozone north of the urban core
TCEQ runs three regulatory ozone monitors in the San Antonio area: San Antonio Northwest, Calaveras Lake, and Camp Bullis. The one that most often records the region’s highest values, Camp Bullis, sits on the northern edge of the built-up area rather than inside it.
AACOG’s conceptual model for the region accounts for that. It describes the highest concentrations forming north and northwest of the urban core, which is what a persistent southeasterly Gulf wind produces: precursors leave the city, keep reacting as they travel, and reach their peak over the rising ground of the Balcones Escarpment. On a hot, light-wind summer afternoon the air over the northwest suburbs and the Hill Country parks beyond them can be worse than the air over the River Walk, which inverts what most people assume about city air.
The regulatory line is drawn on county borders instead. When EPA finished its 2015 ozone designations in July 2018 it named Bexar County alone, classified marginal, and designated the seven surrounding counties — Atascosa, Bandera, Comal, Guadalupe, Kendall, Medina and Wilson — attainment or unclassifiable. That took effect on September 24, 2018. Comal, Kendall and Bandera lie in the same northward direction the plume travels, on the far side of a line that the air itself does not observe.
Where this number sits
Of the 121 US metros reporting to us right now, San Antonio is number 26 and number 2 of the 5 we track in Texas. The pollutant driving it today is PM2.5.
Nearby metros we also measure, and what they read at the same hour:
- Austin, TX — 74 miles away, AQI 52
- Houston, TX — 189 miles away, AQI 49
- Fort Worth, TX — 239 miles away, AQI 42
- Dallas, TX — 253 miles away, AQI 42
Where this reading comes from
AirNow’s San Antonio reporting area, about 0.4 miles from the metro centre.
What has air quality in San Antonio actually been?
1 of the 30 days we have recorded so far went above AQI 100.
| Date | Daily max AQI | EPA band | Hours read |
|---|---|---|---|
| 69 | Moderate | 22 | |
| 52 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 57 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 57 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 38 | Good | 23 | |
| 40 | Good | 22 | |
| 48 | Good | 23 | |
| 45 | Good | 23 | |
| 46 | Good | 23 | |
| 53 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 53 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 60 | Moderate | 24 | |
| 54 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 64 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 64 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 46 | Good | 23 | |
| 67 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 101 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 22 | |
| 60 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 63 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 66 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 58 | Moderate | 24 | |
| 58 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 83 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 93 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 75 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 66 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 72 | Moderate | 23 | |
| 66 | Moderate | 26 | |
| 53 | Moderate | 6 — partial day |
Questions about San Antonio
What is the air quality in San Antonio right now?
Which monitor does this number come from?
How does San Antonio compare with metros nearby?
Does this include pollen?
Put this number in context
Updated