# Raleigh, NC Air Quality Index (AQI) Today

> Source: https://breathecheck.com/air-quality/us/north-carolina/raleigh/
> Live AQI for Raleigh, NC with a plain verdict — go, short and unloaded, or don't go — plus the monitor behind it and our own hourly record.

# Raleigh, NC Air Quality Index (AQI) Today

Readings collected automatically every hour; text written and checked by BreatheCheck Editorial . How this page is made →

Right now: Raleigh is at 53 , moderate .

## Is the air safe to breathe in Raleigh today?

In Raleigh, BreatheCheck reads 53 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 runner one runner’s own 156-run log

- 75–100 Daycare / school parents and staff in one r/toddlers thread, Aug 2025 — not a published rule

- 100 Parent community-reported, escalating at 150 and 200

- 110 Runner community-reported

EPA classifies 101–150 as Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups. That is an attributed classification, not a verdict on your lungs specifically.

If you’re staying in, filter the room you’re actually in

A portable HEPA unit or a Corsi-Rosenthal box — one builder put theirs at about $130 for a 12×14 bedroom. We don’t default to a MERV-13 swap in whole-house HVAC: it can restrict airflow, and the safe version needs a static-pressure check first.

Dominant pollutant

PM2.5

UV index

0.5 low · modelled

UV hour by hour in Raleigh →

Days above AQI 100

0 of 30 days we have recorded

The record, day by day →

### Pollen too coarse for the PM10 cutoff

What residents see in spring is not in this number at all. Tree pollen in the Triangle peaks from late March into April, and pine is the visible part of it. Those grains run tens of microns across, well above the ten-micron ceiling that defines PM10 and far above anything a PM2.5 monitor counts.

The counting is done by the same agency all the same. North Carolina’s Division of Air Quality operates one pollen sampler in the state, on Reedy Creek Road in Raleigh, read under a microscope Monday through Friday for the previous day’s total, and it publishes that count on its own because pollen is not one of the pollutants the AQI is calculated from. The practical result is a morning when every car on the street is filmed yellow and this page still reads Good. Both are accurate. They are measuring different things, and the yellow film is the one that is not being measured here.

The regulated pollutant here has always been ozone. EPA designated the Triangle nonattainment for the 1997 eight-hour standard in April 2004, covering Wake, Durham, Orange, Person, Granville, Franklin and Johnston counties, and moved it back to attainment and maintenance at the end of 2007. Terrain played little part in either direction. Relief across Wake County is measured in tens of feet, so nothing here traps and nothing has to be vented.

## Where this number sits

Of the 121 US metros reporting to us right now, Raleigh is number 19 and the highest of the 2 we track in North Carolina. The pollutant driving it today is PM2.5 .

Nearby metros we also measure, and what they read at the same hour:

- Charlotte, NC — 129 miles away, AQI 52

- Richmond, VA — 139 miles away, AQI 39

- Virginia Beach, VA — 166 miles away, AQI 46

- Columbia, SC — 182 miles away, AQI 54

Why a metro a short drive away reads differently →

Where this reading comes from

AirNow’s Wake County reporting area, about 11.1 miles from the metro centre.

## What has air quality in Raleigh actually been?

Daily maximum, our own readings. 30 days since 2026-08-16; nothing back-filled. Why we keep our own →

0 of the 30 days we have recorded so far went above AQI 100.

| Date | Daily max AQI | EPA band | Hours read |

| 2026-09-14 | 53 | Moderate | 22 |

| 2026-09-13 | 49 | Good | 23 |

| 2026-09-12 | 63 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-09-11 | 56 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-09-10 | 52 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-09-09 | 54 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-09-08 | 51 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-09-07 | 45 | Good | 23 |

| 2026-09-06 | 49 | Good | 23 |

| 2026-09-05 | 61 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-09-04 | 63 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-09-03 | 87 | Moderate | 24 |

| 2026-09-02 | 68 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-09-01 | 59 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-08-31 | 64 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-08-30 | 54 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-08-29 | 57 | Moderate | 21 |

| 2026-08-28 | 61 | Moderate | 22 |

| 2026-08-27 | 72 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-08-26 | 66 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-08-25 | 62 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-08-24 | 56 | Moderate | 24 |

| 2026-08-23 | 54 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-08-22 | 48 | Good | 23 |

| 2026-08-21 | 59 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-08-20 | 71 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-08-19 | 53 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-08-18 | 58 | Moderate | 23 |

| 2026-08-17 | 67 | Moderate | 26 |

| 2026-08-16 | 66 | Moderate | 7 — partial day |

## Questions about Raleigh

**What is the air quality in Raleigh right now?**

AQI 53 — Moderate. That is number 19 of the 121 US metros reporting to us at this hour.

**Which monitor does this number come from?**

Wake County, about 11.1 miles from the metro centre. One instrument reports for the whole metro, so the side farthest from it is the least well described.

**How does Raleigh compare with metros nearby?**

At this hour: Charlotte 52, Richmond 39, Virginia Beach 46, Columbia 54. Readings that close together suggest one airshed rather than local sources.

**Does this include pollen?**

No. The AQI covers PM2.5 , PM10 , ozone, NO₂, SO₂ and CO. A high-pollen day can read clean here and still put someone in bed.

What the number means, band by band → · UV in Raleigh → · Why apps disagree →

## Put this number in context

On this page

Alert me when Raleigh turns

One email when it crosses your threshold.

Updated 14 Sep 2026, 22:12 UTC