Air Quality in Jackson, Mississippi — Live
Live readings from PurpleAir sensors across Jackson — with free alerts when ozone or particle pollution spikes.
AQI 55 from 3 PurpleAir sensors · Trending down · data from PurpleAir
As of , the air quality in Jackson, Mississippi is AQI 55 — Moderate and falling — with PM2.5 at 11.4 µg/m³, the median of 3 live PurpleAir sensors reading 53 to 56. Canairy's verdict: Mostly clear.
For scale, that PM2.5 reading is below the World Health Organization's 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³. The WHO figure is a daily average and this is a live reading, so read it as a sense of magnitude rather than a formal exceedance — a brief spike and a bad day are not the same thing. More on the WHO guidelines
Free to download · Live data from PurpleAir & public monitors
Live PurpleAir sensor map for Jackson and Ridgeland, Madison, Clinton, Flowood. Every dot is a real sensor, color-coded by current air quality.
Sensor by sensor in Jackson
The sensors Canairy reads in Jackson agree right now — all 3 sit in the Moderate band, a 3-point spread — so the city-wide number is a fair description of the whole area today.
| From city center | AQI | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 1.7 mi W | 56 | Moderate |
| 4.4 mi ENE | 55 | Moderate |
| 6.3 mi ENE | 53 | Moderate |
Most of the year, Jackson's air isn't dramatic - there's no wildfire smoke rolling in the way there is out West. The problem here is steadier and easier to miss: ground-level ozone that builds on hot, still summer afternoons over the Pearl River basin, and fine particle pollution from the diesel trucks and cars that run straight through downtown on I-55 and I-20. The American Lung Association failed the Jackson metro area on year-round particle pollution in its 2025 State of the Air report. The 2026 report gave Hinds County a narrow pass on that measure, while ozone and short-term particle rankings slipped.
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Jackson's particle grade went from failing to a narrow pass
The American Lung Association's 2025 State of the Air report gave the Jackson metro area a failing F for year-round particle pollution, ranking it 54th worst out of 204 metro areas nationwide, even as its ozone grade held at a B, down from an A the year before. ALA Mississippi advocacy director Ashley Lyerly pointed to traffic as the main driver: "People are using their vehicles, which are causing vehicle emissions, diesel trucks and other cars."
The 2026 report, covering 2022-2024, moved Hinds County to a pass. Its annual fine-particle level averaged 8.9 micrograms per cubic meter, just under the federal standard of 9. The year before it was 9.3, which is what failed. The metro now ranks 57th worst of 211 for year-round particle pollution.
That traffic runs right through the middle of the city. Interstates 55 and 20 - two of the busiest freight corridors in the state - cross directly through downtown Jackson rather than skirting around it, so diesel exhaust from through-traffic settles over the same streets and neighborhoods residents live and work in, not some industrial edge of town.
The 2026 report found ozone slipping too, as data centers arrive
The Lung Association's 2026 State of the Air report, built on 2022-2024 federal monitoring data, showed further decline: the Jackson-Vicksburg-Brookhaven metro area's ozone ranking fell to 143rd out of 226 areas and its short-term particle pollution ranking fell to 154th out of 224, both slightly worse than the year before. ALA Mississippi advocacy director Calandra Davis said air quality "is beginning to worsen" and warned the next report "may reveal that the air quality, once again, has worsened."
Part of that is new demand for electricity. Amazon has been expanding data-center operations in neighboring Madison County, and the gas turbines built to power facilities like that - on top of existing TVA power plants serving the region - emit nitrogen oxides, a precursor to both ozone and particle pollution. It's a newer contributor layered on top of the traffic pollution Jackson has dealt with for decades.
Why summer is when Jackson's numbers turn
Jackson sits in the Pearl River's floodplain with a humid subtropical climate - long, hot, often windless summers that are close to a recipe for ozone. Sunlight cooks vehicle exhaust and other emissions into ground-level ozone fastest on hot, still, sunny afternoons, and Jackson's summers reliably supply all three: heat that regularly tops 95 degrees, thick humidity, and long stretches with barely any wind to clear the air.
Winter tends to be calmer for ozone, though the same interstate traffic keeps producing fine particles year-round regardless of season. That's why the useful question in Jackson isn't "is there a fire nearby" the way it is out West - it's closer to "how hot and still is it today," since that's what decides whether the ozone number climbs toward the unhealthy range.
Jackson air quality FAQ
What is the air quality in Jackson right now?
As of November 2, 2026 at 7:34 PM CST, the air quality in Jackson, Mississippi is AQI 55 — Moderate — with PM2.5 at 11.4 µg/m³, the median of 3 live PurpleAir sensors. Sensitive groups may want to take it slower outside.
Does Jackson, Mississippi still fail on particle pollution?
Not in the latest report. The American Lung Association's 2025 State of the Air failed the Jackson metro area on year-round particle pollution, and its advocacy director pointed to vehicle emissions - cars and diesel trucks - as the main driver. The 2026 report gave Hinds County a narrow pass, at 8.9 micrograms per cubic meter against a federal standard of 9. Interstates 55 and 20 both run directly through downtown Jackson, so through-traffic exhaust settles over the same neighborhoods people live in rather than an industrial area on the edge of town.
Why does Jackson's air get worse in summer?
Ground-level ozone forms fastest when heat, sunlight, and still air combine with vehicle exhaust, and Jackson's humid subtropical summers - hot, muggy, and often windless - supply all three. Ozone numbers here tend to climb on the hottest, stillest afternoons and settle back down once a front moves through.
What the AQI numbers mean
| AQI | Category | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| 0–50 | Good | Open the windows. Great for outdoor activity. |
| 51–100 | Moderate | Sensitive groups may want to take it slower outside. |
| 101–150 | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | Kids, elderly, and respiratory conditions stay closer to home. |
| 151–200 | Unhealthy | Skip outdoor exercise. Close windows. |
| 201–300 | Very Unhealthy | Limit time outside. N95 if you must go. |
| 301+ | Hazardous | Health emergency. Stay inside, run filtration if you have it. |
Canairy lets you tighten these bands if you’re more sensitive than the EPA default, so an alert can fire before the official category changes. How to read the Air Quality Index
Where these readings come from
The AQI at the top of this page is the median of the 3 curated PurpleAir sensors Canairy tracks in and around Jackson, with outliers set aside so that one sensor brought indoors — or parked beside a barbecue — cannot set the number for a whole city. Every sensor behind it is listed above with its distance and bearing from the city center. There is no black box here.
In the app, a place you save resolves the same way first. When no neighborhood sensor is reporting it falls back to the nearest EPA AirNow monitor, and anything modeled rather than measured is labelled a regional estimate rather than passed off as a sensor reading. How low-cost sensors compare to regulatory monitors
About Canairy
Canairy is free to download. The free plan covers one saved place with live readings, a plain-English verdict, and push alerts when the air crosses a threshold you choose. Paid plans add more places, faster refreshes, and SMS alerts. It is built by two parents in Sonoma County, California, who got tired of guessing whether it was safe to send the kids outside. Why we built it
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