# Dallas, TX Air Quality Index (AQI) Today > Source: https://breathecheck.com/air-quality/us/texas/dallas/ > Live AQI for Dallas, TX with a plain verdict — go, short and unloaded, or don't go — plus the monitor behind it and our own hourly record. # Dallas, TX Air Quality Index (AQI) Today Readings collected automatically every hour; text written and checked by BreatheCheck Editorial . How this page is made → Right now: Dallas is at 42 , good . ## Is the air safe to breathe in Dallas today? In Dallas, BreatheCheck reads 42 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 O3 UV index 2 low · modelled UV hour by hour in Dallas → Days above AQI 100 13 of 30 days we have recorded The record, day by day → ### Upwind of where its own ozone peaks On the days that matter, Dallas stands upwind of its own pollution. TCEQ’s conceptual modeling for the Dallas–Fort Worth nonattainment area describes hot, slow, southeasterly flow carrying the urban plume northwest across the region, with the ozone finishing its formation well downwind of where the ingredients were emitted. The measured result is that the region’s highest ozone design values sit at monitors on the northwest side, Keller and Grapevine and Eagle Mountain Lake among them, and the lowest sit east and southeast of the city, on the side the air reaches first. That has a specific consequence for a reading taken in Dallas. It is often closer to a measure of what entered the metro than of what left it, and on a southeast-flow afternoon the same hour can be dirtier thirty miles up the road in Tarrant or Denton County than it is over downtown. Particles keep their own calendar. From late June into mid-August, Saharan dust that has crossed the Atlantic and the Gulf can turn the sky milky and push readings into the moderate range with nothing local changing at all. Smoke from fires well outside Texas does the same whenever the pattern delivers it. Neither is a Dallas emission, and both are Dallas readings. ## Where this number sits Of the 121 US metros reporting to us right now, Dallas is number 56 and number 4 of the 5 we track in Texas. The pollutant driving it today is O3 . Nearby metros we also measure, and what they read at the same hour: - Fort Worth, TX — 30 miles away, AQI 42 - Austin, TX — 182 miles away, AQI 52 - Oklahoma City, OK — 190 miles away, AQI 41 - Houston, TX — 225 miles away, AQI 49 Why a metro a short drive away reads differently → Where this reading comes from AirNow’s Dallas-Fort Worth reporting area, about 1.8 miles from the metro centre. ## What has air quality in Dallas actually been? Daily maximum, our own readings. 30 days since 2026-08-16; nothing back-filled. Why we keep our own → 13 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 | 74 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-12 | 108 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | | 2026-09-11 | 93 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-10 | 84 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-09 | 87 | Moderate | 22 | | 2026-09-08 | 74 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-07 | 64 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-06 | 77 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-05 | 74 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-04 | 71 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-03 | 90 | Moderate | 24 | | 2026-09-02 | 90 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-09-01 | 100 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-31 | 93 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-30 | 90 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-29 | 147 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | | 2026-08-28 | 133 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 22 | | 2026-08-27 | 192 | Unhealthy | 23 | | 2026-08-26 | 177 | Unhealthy | 23 | | 2026-08-25 | 97 | Moderate | 23 | | 2026-08-24 | 108 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 24 | | 2026-08-23 | 122 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | | 2026-08-22 | 151 | Unhealthy | 23 | | 2026-08-21 | 122 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | | 2026-08-20 | 133 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | | 2026-08-19 | 143 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 23 | | 2026-08-18 | 161 | Unhealthy | 23 | | 2026-08-17 | 115 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | 26 | | 2026-08-16 | 69 | Moderate | 7 — partial day | ## Questions about Dallas **What is the air quality in Dallas right now?** AQI 42 — Good. That is number 56 of the 121 US metros reporting to us at this hour. **Which monitor does this number come from?** Dallas-Fort Worth, about 1.8 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 Dallas compare with metros nearby?** At this hour: Fort Worth 42, Austin 52, Oklahoma City 41, Houston 49. 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 Dallas → · Why apps disagree → ## Put this number in context On this page Alert me when Dallas turns One email when it crosses your threshold. Updated 14 Sep 2026, 22:12 UTC