Hughes County, South Dakota air quality history
Daily Air Quality Index summaries from EPA monitors in Hughes, South Dakota, 1985–2025.
In 2025, EPA reported a daily Air Quality Index (AQI) for Hughes, South Dakota on 358 days. 333 of those days (93%) were in the Good range, and the median daily AQI was 18. That median is lower than the typical monitored county in South Dakota (median 35.5 across 10 counties), and lower than the typical monitored U.S. county (40). The main pollutant was fine particles (PM2.5) on 358 days. Across the years with fuller monitoring, the share of Good days fell: an average of 95% in 2015–2017 versus 92% in 2023–2025.
Years with fewer than 120 monitored days (1985) are shown in the table but left out of comparisons and trend statements.
How the days broke down each year
Each bar is one year. The colored segments show the share of monitored days that fell in each AQI category.
- Good
- Moderate
- Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
- Unhealthy
- Very Unhealthy
- Hazardous
Typical and high-end AQI over time
The median is the middle day of the year. The 90th percentile is the level that only the highest 10% of days exceeded.
- Median daily AQI
- 90th-percentile daily AQI
Main pollutant by day, 2025
On each monitored day, the AQI reflects whichever measured pollutant had the highest index. This counts how many days each pollutant set the AQI. A pollutant that was not measured here cannot appear.
| Pollutant | Days as main pollutant | Share of monitored days |
|---|---|---|
| Fine particles (PM2.5) | 358 | 100% |
Year-by-year data
| Year | Days with AQI | Good | Moderate | Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups | Unhealthy | Very Unhealthy | Hazardous | Median AQI | 90th pct. | Max AQI | Main pollutant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 358 | 333 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 45 | 112 | PM2.5 |
| 2024 | 363 | 340 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 34 | 69 | PM2.5 |
| 2023 | 359 | 321 | 30 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 52 | 223 | PM2.5 |
| 2022 | 362 | 352 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 28 | 63 | PM2.5 |
| 2021 | 349 | 325 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 46 | 268 | PM2.5 |
| 2020 | 355 | 332 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 40 | 79 | PM2.5 |
| 2019 | 356 | 338 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 37 | 69 | PM2.5 |
| 2018 | 354 | 327 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 43 | 108 | PM2.5 |
| 2017 | 356 | 343 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 39 | 98 | PM2.5 |
| 2016 | 352 | 341 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 40 | 69 | PM2.5 |
| 2015 | 361 | 331 | 28 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 43 | 152 | PM2.5 |
| 1985 | 75 | 74 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 37 | 57 | PM10 |
What this data can and can’t tell you
It is a county-level summary. EPA reports one AQI per day for the county, based on the monitors operating there. Air at a particular street, school or home can differ, especially near roads, industry or wildfire smoke.
It is not a health assessment. The AQI is EPA’s scale for communicating daily air quality. A county’s history can’t tell you what the health risk is for any particular person. For daily conditions and health guidance, see AirNow.
Rules change over time. EPA has revised AQI breakpoints, most recently for fine particles in 2024, so some year-to-year change can reflect the scale rather than the air.
Counties in South Dakota with a similar median AQI in 2025
All monitored counties in South Dakota
Source: U.S. EPA AirData, “Annual AQI by County” files for 1985–2025 (EPA download page). EPA file dates: 2026-06-26. Imported into EnviroNearby November 5, 2026. How we use this data · Report a problem