Air quality · ZIP 52240
Air quality in Iowa City (IA), IA
ZIP 52240 (Iowa) — air quality summary sourced from EPA AirNow. Refreshed on the cadence of the primary regulator with every claim cited to the source record.
What lands here
Pages show the current AQI category (Good, Moderate, Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, Unhealthy, Very Unhealthy, Hazardous), the nearest reporting station, and historical averages.
Source & refresh
EPA AirNow. Refreshed hourly real-time / daily historical. Stale data is flagged, never silently served. Primary source →
Limitations specific to this source
Rural ZIPs may not have a nearby monitoring station; zipradar then reports the closest available station with distance context.
Iowa context
Radon Zone 1, agricultural water nitrates
Iowa is one of the highest-radon states in the US — uniformly Zone 1. Agricultural runoff drives EPA SDWIS nitrate violations in small rural systems and even Des Moines Water Works. Tornadoes peak April-June.
See Iowa state page for the full state-level rollup across all 12 dimensions.
Read more on air quality
Editorial deep-dives explaining the source data, its limits, and how to read it.
EPA AQI categories explained — what 0–50 Good through 301–500 Hazardous mean
Plain-English guide to the six EPA Air Quality Index categories: 0–50 Good, 51–100 Moderate, 101–150 Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, 151–200 Unhealthy, 201–300 Very Unhealthy, 301–500 Hazardous — what each level means and who is at risk.
AQI explained — what 50, 100, 150 actually mean for your lungs
Plain-English guide to the EPA Air Quality Index (AQI) and the 6 categories from Good to Hazardous. When to take precautions and which pollutants matter.
Wildfire Hazard Potential — what the USFS scale means and how to defend your home
Plain-English guide to the USDA Forest Service's Wildfire Hazard Potential 1–5 scale, how to read your community's risk, and concrete home-defense measures.
AirNow + wildfire smoke — when AQI is a real-time tool
How EPA AirNow handles real-time wildfire smoke, what the colors mean during fire season, and where AirNow leaves gaps you should know about.
Full dashboard for ZIP 52240
Air quality is one of twelve dimensions zipradar federates per address. See the full federated summary for ZIP 52240:
Open Iowa City (IA), IA dashboard →Frequently asked questions
What is the air quality for ZIP 52240?
Air quality for ZIP 52240 (Iowa City (IA), Iowa) is federated from EPA AirNow. Pages show the current AQI category (Good, Moderate, Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, Unhealthy, Very Unhealthy, Hazardous), the nearest reporting station, and historical averages. Refreshed hourly real-time / daily historical — see /methodology for full source citations and refresh-cadence details.
Where does the air quality data come from?
EPA AirNow (primary regulator). zipradar federates air quality on the regulator's published cadence: hourly real-time / daily historical. Every claim cites the source record; stale data is flagged, never silently served. The primary source URL: https://www.airnow.gov/.
What are the limitations of air quality data?
Rural ZIPs may not have a nearby monitoring station; zipradar then reports the closest available station with distance context.
Is ZIP 52240 (Iowa City (IA)) data current?
Last verified 2026-06-10. Air quality for ZIP 52240 refreshes hourly real-time / daily historical per EPA AirNow cadence. See the full ZIP dashboard at /zip/52240/ for all 12 dimensions side-by-side.