Texas has some of the worst lungs in the country.
West Virginia has the highest number of smokers per capita, so it’s not that.
It’s the pollution.
The Lung Institute looked at data from five years, ranking lung health by state.
Texas is dead last.
Virginia is 1, Colorado 2 and Tennessee 3.
Texas is dead last at 50.
They looked at the change in the rate of smokers, and we’ve decreased 1% over the time frame.
Then they looked at change in pollution level, the PM2.5, the average daily density of fine particulate matter in micrograms per cubic meter.
Texas is dead last, our PM2.5 2.3% worse than it was five years ago.
Jeff Davis County has the best air in Texas. They’re over in West Texas: think Marfa and the McDonald Observatory.
San Jacinto County has the worst.
Here’s the state data:
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