# Oklahoma City, OK Air Quality Index (AQI) Today > Source: https://breathecheck.com/air-quality/us/oklahoma/oklahoma-city/ > Live AQI for Oklahoma City, OK with a plain verdict — go, short and unloaded, or don't go — plus the monitor behind it and our own hourly record. # Oklahoma City, OK Air Quality Index (AQI) Today Readings collected automatically every hour; text written and checked by BreatheCheck Editorial . How this page is made → Right now: Oklahoma City is at 41 , good . ## Is the air safe to breathe in Oklahoma City today? In Oklahoma City, BreatheCheck reads 41 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 2 low · modelled UV hour by hour in Oklahoma City → Days above AQI 100 9 of 30 days we have recorded The record, day by day → ### Ventilated Prairie, Imported Dust and Range Smoke Wind is the main reason Oklahoma City’s readings behave the way they do. April is the windiest month of the year here and August the calmest, and even at the calm end of that range the air over an open prairie metro keeps moving, so locally produced emissions mostly leave the area before they can build into anything. Which means a bad number here usually started somewhere else. Dry-season wind lifts soil off farmland in western Oklahoma and carries it east. Every March and April, prescribed range fires burn across the Flint Hills of Kansas and northern Oklahoma — around 2.2 million acres a year, on the Kansas health department’s estimate — putting particulate matter and ozone precursors into air that is often heading this way. Kansas runs a smoke management plan for that window and switches on a public smoke modeling tool in early March, ahead of the widespread burning. The two imports do not look alike. Red Permian soil off the fields west of the city is gritty and settles visibly on cars and windowsills. Flint Hills smoke smells of burnt grass and can arrive under an otherwise blue sky, which is why the reading and the view disagree more often in spring here than in any other season. ## Where this number sits Of the 121 US metros reporting to us right now, Oklahoma City is number 60 and number 2 of the 2 we track in Oklahoma. The pollutant driving it today is PM2.5 . Nearby metros we also measure, and what they read at the same hour: - Tulsa, OK — 98 miles away, AQI 43 - Wichita, KS — 154 miles away, AQI 42 - Dallas, TX — 190 miles away, AQI 42 - Fort Worth, TX — 190 miles away, AQI 42 Why a metro a short drive away reads differently → Where this reading comes from AirNow’s Oklahoma City reporting area, about 4.1 miles from the metro centre. ## What has air quality in Oklahoma City actually been? Daily maximum, our own readings. 30 days since 2026-08-16; nothing back-filled. Why we keep our own → 9 of the 30 days we have recorded so far went above AQI 100. | Date | Daily max AQI | EPA band | Hours read | | 2026-09-14 | 51 | Moderate | 22 | | 2026-09-13 | 56 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-12 | 97 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-11 | 84 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-10 | 55 | Moderate | 10 — partial day | | 2026-09-09 | 64 | Moderate | 22 | | 2026-09-08 | 71 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-07 | 60 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-06 | 55 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-05 | 58 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-04 | 58 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-03 | 52 | Moderate | 24 | | 2026-09-02 | 100 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-01 | 100 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-31 | 90 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-30 | 108 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | | 2026-08-29 | 119 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | | 2026-08-28 | 80 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-27 | 112 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | | 2026-08-26 | 136 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | | 2026-08-25 | 156 | Unhealthy | 23 | | 2026-08-24 | 143 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 24 | | 2026-08-23 | 97 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-22 | 71 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-21 | 129 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | | 2026-08-20 | 136 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | | 2026-08-19 | 126 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | | 2026-08-18 | 93 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-17 | 84 | Moderate | 26 | | 2026-08-16 | 93 | Moderate | 7 — partial day | ## Questions about Oklahoma City **What is the air quality in Oklahoma City right now?** AQI 41 — Good. That is number 60 of the 121 US metros reporting to us at this hour. **Which monitor does this number come from?** Oklahoma City, about 4.1 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 Oklahoma City compare with metros nearby?** At this hour: Tulsa 43, Wichita 42, Dallas 42, Fort Worth 42. 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 Oklahoma City → · Why apps disagree → ## Put this number in context On this page Alert me when Oklahoma City turns One email when it crosses your threshold. Updated 14 Sep 2026, 22:12 UTC