Counties in Kentucky by highest daily Air Quality Index (US EPA)

McLean County had the highest highest daily Air Quality Index (US EPA) of 38 counties in 1999, at 207. Harlan County had the lowest, at 44. The median was 186. Source: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Highest207McLean County

Lowest44Harlan County

Median18638 counties

Map of counties, 1999

Under 100
100 to 170
170 to 190
190 to 200
200 and over
No data

index, 1999. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: EPA, EPA AirData annual AQI by county: highest daily AQI. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All counties, 1999

index. Source: EPA, EPA AirData annual AQI by county: highest daily AQI. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	Counties	1999 index	Change on 1998
1	McLean County	207	+12
2	Livingston County	206	0
3	Graves County	205	+18
4	Christian County	204	+9
4	Oldham County	204	-3
4	Washington County	204	-4
7	Jefferson County	202	-16
8	Greenup County	201	-13
9	Edmonson County	200	+5
9	Trigg County	200	+8
11	Simpson County	195	-6
12	Hardin County	192	+28
12	McCracken County	192	+10
14	Carter County	190	-7
14	Hancock County	190	-14
14	Morgan County	190	0
14	Scott County	190	-7
18	Boyd County	187	-5
18	Bullitt County	187	-5
20	Fayette County	185	-21
20	Henderson County	185	+8
22	Pulaski County	182	+10
23	Boone County	177	-18
23	Jessamine County	177	-15
23	Kenton County	177	-26
26	Pike County	171	-1
27	Daviess County	169	-35
28	Campbell County	166	-29
29	Perry County	154	+21
30	Bell County	151	-23
31	Warren County	114	+72
32	Franklin County	100	n/a
33	Madison County	98	+43
34	Whitley County	63	+20
35	Marshall County	59	-6
36	Floyd County	50	+14
37	Lawrence County	47	-145
38	Harlan County	44	-4

Other periods

About this ranking

Highest daily Air Quality Index (AQI) value recorded in a US county during the year, from the EPA AirData annual summaries. Values above 500 are beyond the AQI scale and are published as EPA computes them.

A single day decides the value, so one wildfire or dust event can set it. Dust from the dry Owens Lake bed puts Inyo and Mono counties in California in the thousands. United States counties with air quality monitors only, about 1,000 of some 3,100 in recent years; a county without monitors has no value. The number of days with an AQI differs between counties because some monitors run only in the ozone season.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the counties are compared on one definition. 17 counties with data in other periods have no value for 1999 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System, AirData. EPA AirData annual AQI by county: highest daily AQI. https://aqs.epa.gov/aqsweb/airdata/download_files.html#Annual. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2026). EPA AirData annual AQI by county: highest daily AQI (Counties in Kentucky by highest daily Air Quality Index (US EPA), 1999) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://aqs.epa.gov/aqsweb/airdata/download_files.html#Annual

MLA 9

EPA AirData annual AQI by county: highest daily AQI, Counties in Kentucky by highest daily Air Quality Index (US EPA), 1999. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 13 July 2026, https://aqs.epa.gov/aqsweb/airdata/download_files.html#Annual. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/highest-daily-air-quality-index/kentucky-counties?period=1999. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2026. EPA AirData annual AQI by county: highest daily AQI. Counties in Kentucky by highest daily Air Quality Index (US EPA), 1999. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://aqs.epa.gov/aqsweb/airdata/download_files.html#Annual. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/highest-daily-air-quality-index/kentucky-counties?period=1999.

Harvard

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2026) EPA AirData annual AQI by county: highest daily AQI, Counties in Kentucky by highest daily Air Quality Index (US EPA), 1999 [Dataset]. Available at: https://aqs.epa.gov/aqsweb/airdata/download_files.html#Annual, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/highest-daily-air-quality-index/kentucky-counties?period=1999 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{environmental_counties_in_kentucky_by_1999,
  author = {{U.S. Environmental Protection Agency}},
  title = {{EPA AirData annual AQI by county: highest daily AQI: Counties in Kentucky by highest daily Air Quality Index (US EPA), 1999}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://aqs.epa.gov/aqsweb/airdata/download_files.html#Annual},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/highest-daily-air-quality-index/kentucky-counties?period=1999. Publisher attribution: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System, AirData. EPA AirData annual AQI by county: highest daily AQI. https://aqs.epa.gov/aqsweb/airdata/download\_files.html\#Annual. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
TI  - EPA AirData annual AQI by county: highest daily AQI: Counties in Kentucky by highest daily Air Quality Index (US EPA), 1999
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/13
PB  - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://aqs.epa.gov/aqsweb/airdata/download_files.html#Annual
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/highest-daily-air-quality-index/kentucky-counties?period=1999
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/highest-daily-air-quality-index/kentucky-counties?period=1999.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System, AirData. EPA AirData annual AQI by county: highest daily AQI. https://aqs.epa.gov/aqsweb/airdata/download_files.html#Annual. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Embed code

<iframe src="https://invokely.ai/embed/rankings/highest-daily-air-quality-index/kentucky-counties?period=1999" width="760" height="500" title="Counties in Kentucky by highest daily Air Quality Index (US EPA), 1999, chart from Invokely" loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:760px" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank Counties in Kentucky by highest daily Air Quality Index (US EPA) using official data, and cite the source.

rank_places {"indicator":"aqi_max","level":"province","within":"Kentucky","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=aqi_max&level=province&within=Kentucky&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which county has the highest highest daily Air Quality Index (US EPA)?

McLean County, with 207 in 1999, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Which county has the lowest highest daily Air Quality Index (US EPA)?

Harlan County, with 44 in 1999.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA AirData annual AQI by county: highest daily AQI. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 17 counties have no value for 1999 and are not ranked.