NYC Community Air Survey - NYC Health

Health

Promoting and Protecting the City's Health


Interact and VisualizeDatasetsPublications

Community Health Survey
Data Catalog
Vital Statistics
Youth Risk Behavior Survey
NYC Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
NYC Community Air Survey
GIS Data Files
HIV/AIDS Statistical Reports
Traffic Injuries
Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System
NYC Health Opinion Poll

Community Health Survey

Data Catalog

Vital Statistics

Youth Risk Behavior Survey

NYC Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

NYC Community Air Survey

GIS Data Files

HIV/AIDS Statistical Reports

Traffic Injuries

Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System

NYC Health Opinion Poll


New York City Community Air Survey

The Health Department and Queens College (CUNY) conduct the New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS) to evaluate how air quality differs across New York City. Since 2008, this program has studied how pollutants from traffic, buildings (boilers and furnaces) and other sources impact air quality in different neighborhoods.

Read the most recent report: The New York City Community Air Survey: Neighborhood Air Quality

Monitoring Locations

Survey air pollution measurements are taken at about 100 city locations during each season.

Routine sites are spread around the city to capture different neighborhood characteristics, including in residential, commercial and industrial areas. Other sites were selected because they are near potentially high-emission locations. To better understand potential sources of emissions in low-income neighborhoods, an additional 15 environmental justice sites were also included.

Monitor Placement

Every survey site is monitored for a two-week period during each season. Monitors are mounted 10 to 12 feet off the ground on public light poles, on utility poles along streets and in some parks, as shown below.

The monitors use a small battery-powered pump and filters to collect air samples. After each two-week period, monitors are collected and taken to a laboratory for analysis.

Left: Survey team member deploys a monitor in the field. Right: Survey monitor in the field.

Recent NYC Air Quality Data

Survey monitors check pollutants that cause health problems, such as fine particles, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, ozone and elemental carbon (a marker for diesel exhaust particles).

New York City air quality is improving, but our health impact estimates from 2015 to 2017 found that fine particle pollution alone each year caused:

At least 2,000 deaths

About 1,400 hospital admissions for lung and heart conditions

3,750 emergency department admissions for asthma based on levels

For more information about the survey, outdoor air quality or health impacts of air pollution, see:

The Air Quality Hub on our Environment & Health Data Portal includes information from the survey, such as PM2.5 data feed and data stories.
New York City Community Air Survey Fact Sheet (PDF)

Other Languages: Español

New York City Community Air Survey Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)

NYC Open Data provides modeled air pollution raster data from the survey.
Infographic: The Public Health Impacts of PM2.5 from Traffic Air Pollution

Neighborhood Air Quality Reports, Publications

Most Recent Report: The New York City Community Air Survey: Neighborhood Air Quality

Expand AllCollapse All

Past Reports

The New York City Community Air Survey: Neighborhood Air Quality 2008-2016 (PDF)

The New York City Community Air Survey: Neighborhood Air Quality 2008-2015 (PDF)

The New York City Community Air Survey: Neighborhood Air Quality 2008-2014 (PDF)

The New York City Community Air Survey: Neighborhood Air Quality 2008-2013 (PDF)

The New York City Community Air Survey: Results from Years One and Two: December 2008-December 2010 (PDF)

The New York City Community Air Survey: Results from Year One Monitoring 2008-2009 (PDF)

The New York City Community Air Survey: Results from Summer Monitoring 2009 (PDF)

The New York City Community Air Survey: Results from Winter Monitoring 2008-2009 (PDF)

Survey-Related Scientific Publications

Pitiranggon, M., Johnson, S., Huskey, C., Eisl, H., & Ito, K. (2022). Effects of the COVID-19 shutdown on spatial and temporal patterns of air pollution in New York City. Environmental Advances. doi: 10.1016/j.envadv.2022.100171

Pitiranggon, M., Johnson, S., Haney, J., Eisl, H., & Ito, K. (2021). Long-term trends in local and transported PM2.5 pollution in New York City. Atmospheric Environment. doi: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118238

Ito, K., Johnson, S., Kheirbek, I., Clougherty, J., Pezeshki, G., Ross, Z., Eisl, H. and Matte, T.D. (2016). Intraurban variation of fine particle elemental concentrations in New York City. Environmental Science & Technology. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.6b00599

Eliezer E, Johnson S, Crosson WL, Al-Hamdan MZ, Insaf T; 2019,
Ground-truth of a 1-km downscaled NLDAS air temperature product using the New York City
Community Air Survey. J. Appl. Remote Sens. 13(2), 024516 doi: 10.1117/1.JRS.13.024516

Kheirbek I, Ito K, Neitzel R, Kim J, Johnson S, Ross Z, Eisl H, Matte T. 2014. Spatial Variation in Environmental Noise and Air Pollution in New York City. J of Urban Health. DOI 10.1007/s11524-013-9857-0

Kheirbek I, Johnson S, Ross Z, Pezeshki G, Ito K, Eisl H, Matte T. Spatial variability in levels of benzene, formaldehyde and xylenes in New York City: a land-use regression study. Environ Health. Summary of Results (PDF)

King KL, Johnson S, Kheirbek I, Lu JWT, Matte T. 2014. Differences in magnitude and spatial distribution of urban forest pollution deposition rates, air pollution emissions, and ambient neighborhood air quality in New York City. Landscape and Urban Planning. doi: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.04.009

Matte T, Ross Z, Kheirbek I, et al. 2013. Monitoring intraurban spatial patterns of multiple combustion air pollutants in New York City: Design and Implementation. J Exposure and Environmental Epidemiology. doi:10.1038/jes.2012.126

Clougherty JE, Kheirbek I, Eisl HM, et al. 2013. Intra-urban spatial variability in wintertime street-level concentrations of multiple combustion-related air pollutants: The New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS). J Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology. doi:10.1038/jes.2012.125.

Savitz DA, Bobb JF, Carr JL, et al. 2013. Ambient Fine Particulate Matter, Nitrogen Dioxide, and Term Birth Weight in New York, New York American Journal of Epidemiology. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwt268. Summary of Results (PDF)

Health Department Studies of Air Pollution Health Effects

Johnson, S., Haney, J., Cairone, L., Huskey, C., & Kheirbek, I. (2020). Assessing air quality and public health benefits of New York City’s climate action plans. Environmental Science & Technology. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.0c00694

Kheirbek I, Ito K, Matte T; The contribution of motor vehicle emissions to ambient fine particulate matter public health impacts in New York City: a health burden assessment. Environ Health. doi: 10.1186/s12940-016-0172-6.

Air Pollution and the Health of New Yorkers: The Impact of Fine Particles and Ozone (PDF)

Kheirbek I, Haney J, Douglas S, Ito K, Caputo S. Jr., Matte T; The Public Health Benefits of Reducing Fine Particulate Matter through Conversion to Cleaner Heating Fuels in New York City. Environ. Sci. Technol.
2014, 48 (23), pp 13573–13582
DOI: 10.1021/es503587p

Kheirbek I, Wheeler K, Walters S, et al. 2012 PM2.5 and Ozone Health Impacts and Disparities in New York City: Sensitivity to Spatial and Temporal Resolution. Air Qual Atmos Health Environ DOI:10.1007/s11869-012-0185-4

Ito K, Mathes R, Ross Z, Nádas A, Thurston G, et al. 2010 Fine Particulate Matter Constituents Associated with Cardiovascular Hospitalizations and Mortality in New York City. Environ Health Perspect. doi:10.1289/ehp.1002667.

Mathes RW, Ito K, Matte T (2011) Assessing Syndromic Surveillance of Cardiovascular Outcomes from Emergency Department Chief Complaint Data in New York City. PLoS ONE 6(2): e14677. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014677.

Ross Z, Ito K, Johnson S, Yee M, Pezeshki G et.al. 2013. Spatial and temporal estimation of air pollutants in New York City: exposure assignment for use in a birth outcomes study. Environmental Health. doi: 10.1186/1476-069X-12-51

Additional Resources

New York City Trends in Air Pollution and its Health Consequences (PDF)

Air Pollution & the Health of New Yorkers: The Impact of Fine Particles and Ozone (PDF)

Spatial Variation of Fine Particle Vanadium and Ship Emissions in New York City (PDF)

Nickel Concentrations in Ambient Fine Particles: Winter Monitoring, 2008-2009 (PDF)

More Information

Air Quality Main Page

Outdoor Air Quality

Air Quality: Fire and Smoke

Indoor Air Quality

Carpet Emissions Law

Carpet Emissions Law: What Customers and the Public Should Know

Indoor Moisture