health_environmental_burden_county_year
Air quality and respiratory disease burden per county. EPA AQS 2024 PM2.5 and ozone (Tier A-, monitor counties only), PLACES 2025 asthma and COPD prevalence as health outcome bridge. Only ~1,000 counties with monitors appear; absence is informative.
overview
~2,500 counties with PM2.5 monitors; ~1,800 with ozone monitors. EPA's reported coverage is monitor-dependent.
current vintage — 2024
history — EPA AQS: 1980-present
source & licensing
fields
| name | type | definition |
|---|---|---|
| country_id | string | ISO alpha-2 country code (always 'US' for domestic tables). |
| county_idkey | string | 5-character FIPS code identifying the county.Joins dim.counties on county_id. |
| ozone_days_above_standard | float64 · days | Number of days per year when ground-level ozone concentration exceeded the EPA National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). Higher values indicate more frequent poor air quality events and greater population exposure to harmful ozone levels. |
| ozone_monitor_count | int64 · count | Number of active ozone monitoring stations operating in the county during the measurement year. Higher counts indicate denser monitoring coverage and more reliable ozone exceedance tallies. |
| pct_adults_asthma | float64 · percent (0–100) | Percentage of adults who report a current asthma diagnosis, typically sourced from BRFSS or similar self-reported surveillance surveys. Higher values indicate greater prevalence of asthma among the adult population. |
| pct_adults_copd | float64 · percent (0–100) | Percentage of adults who report a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), typically sourced from BRFSS or similar self-reported surveillance surveys. Higher values indicate greater prevalence of chronic respiratory disease in the adult population. |
| pm25_annual_avg | float64 · micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m³) | Annual average concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in ambient air, typically derived from EPA monitor readings or modeled estimates. Higher values indicate greater air pollution and elevated respiratory and cardiovascular health risk. |
| pm25_monitor_count | int64 · count | Number of active PM2.5 air quality monitoring stations operating in the county during the measurement year. Higher counts indicate denser monitoring coverage and generally more reliable concentration estimates. |
| state_id | string | 2-character FIPS code identifying the state.Joins dim.states on state_id. |
| yearkey | int64 | Reference year of the observation. |
joins
how to use this table
EPA AQS reports monitor-level annual averages and design values. Pipeline aggregates to county where monitors exist; counties without monitors are NULL.
County-level inference where no monitor (NULL != clean air); short-term episode analysis (annual averages); causal attribution to specific sources; environmental justice screening at sub-county tract grain (use EPA EJScreen).
Monitor coverage skewed toward urban and high-pollution areas. NULL means 'no monitor', not 'no pollution'. ~700 counties have no air monitor at all.