Sorry, but whomever wrote this -- New England has poor air quality much to the surprise of many. Even animals struggle here. This includes the coast line as well. Please make sure that your facts are correct. The Pioneer Valley, where I live, is beautiful but terrible if you have allergies or asthma.
Sue... I wrote this article and my facts WERE correct at that time. I was not providing the ratings of healthy and unhealthy places to live. I was simply reporting on the ratings that are done twice a year by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, a leading resource for asthma and allergy research and treatment in the U.S. I am not connected with them.
If you have an issue with the ratings and whether New England IS or IS NOT included, then it would be better to take it up with them... or at least to read their report so that you can understand how they reached their conclusions.
It's important to understand that they are doing a comparative study, so if a place isn't on the list, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a healthy place to live. It just means it's healthier than the 100 places that DID make the list. And if a city is in the 90s on the list (as some of the New England cities were), it only means they're a better place to live than the 90 cities lower than them on the list, with #1 being the unhealthiest place to live, of those on the list.). So it's all relative.
Hope that helps you understand what I wrote in a more clear way.
I have dust and mites allergens. We have asthma in our family. I would not recommend coastal California for anyone with similar problems. My allergies were terrible in coastal San Diego county. Mites thrive in humid, warm, mediterranean climates. Move to the desert or over 5,000 feet in elevation, where mites can't live.
This post was NOT poorly researched. As stated in a previous response, I was simply reporting on the semi-annual report put out by the AAFA, an authority on asthma and allergy research. I didn't develop the research and as I stated, the rankings are all relative, as all 100 cities on the report are some of the worst places to live in the U.S. if you have allergies and/or asthma.
However, if you must live in an urban area, then picking cities towards the bottom of the list is definitely going to be healthier than those near the top.
And how you react to allergens in any particular area is always going to be related to YOUR specific sensitivities. So while you may have had terrible allergies in southern California, it doesn't necessarily mean everyone will.
This post was never meant as more than an overview and quick analysis of the latest report from AAFA. Not meant to come across as the gospel truth or a guideline for living. 
About 4 years ago I moved from Milwaukee, WI to Cincinnati, OH...First of all, I DID NOT WANT to move here, unfortunately I had to follow my now ex husband and his career. Almost immediately after arriving here I started feeling lousy and had reoccurring headaches. For 6 MONTHS I was going to the doctor every couple of weeks!! I was miserbale and didn't know why!! I've NEVER experienced allergies or sinus problems ever in my life until I moved to this city I now refer to as CincinNASTY! All year round I suffer, it's deblitating at times and I DO NOT recommend a move here.
Thank you Kathleen for your recommendations....anywhere but here will be refreshing for me, just good to know where the "top" spots are anyway! :)
I agree with all locations except Portland when it comes to allergies. Portland is located within the Willamette Valley which has a huge farming population equaling to terriable allergies if you are sensitive to grass; however, air quality is pretty good and my asthma and allergies during non-grass pollinating times were well controlled.
The air quality in the San Diego area is disgusting! I developed allergies while living in San Diego...and lost my tonsils here (no past history of tonsil issues). The San Diego area is an allergy hole of hades. Rain is rare and the air is disgusting. The sky actually has a gray/brown tint because of all of the pollution here...really?!?!?!
I cannot breathe here without allergy medicine.
I live in "Needles California". I've lived here toooooooo long already,now going on 4 years.It's the sadest place i've ever lived,the people here are so deprived that the makeover show gave their school a makeover.As for my, alergies and ashma ha,ha,i can't even go outside and haven't.Tooo
depressing....All steer clear. "Arizona" same thing,lived their 9 years......Steer clear...........
For my ashma and allergies,i was actually healthier in "Trinidad,California",moving from "Texas"
which for me was as bad as "Arizona" and "Needles California".
Sacramento & surrounding areas is the worst place to live with allergies. If you live there long enough you will adventually get allergies if you do not have any. If you have them you will need injections for allergies & you will be miserable. I know this from experience I was allergic to all grasses, mold, & dust I was sick all the time and miserable, because of being allergic to all grasses I developed Asthma.
Are there any report about Wyoming, Montana, S Dakota or N Dakota? My asthma became so bad in Sacramento that my doctor recommended that I move. Finally for economic reasons we moved to Indiana and that has been a major mistake. Our alleergies are so bad we now have chronic migraines that are nit responding to medication are repetitive sinus infections. The only good part of the year is the frozen snowy part. So if anyone knows anything about Wyoming or Montana it would be nice to hear. I haven't been able to find anything.
This is only anecdotal, but I lived in Missoula, Montana for a year. I did not find that my allergy symptoms were substantially different while living there than they'd been back east in New Jersey. Nor have I noticed much difference on long vacations in Wyoming.
Still, so much depends on what you are specifically allergic to.
Kathi
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I lived in Salt Lake City for 13 years and it has some of the deadliest air on the planet. Especially during wintertime inversions, which can last for weeks at a time. The air gets trapped in the valley and stagnates because it can't go anywhere. And it's just filled with auto, refinery and factory emissions, not to mention ozone. If memory serves, it was 2005 or 2006 when the air pollution index was in the red for almost a month nonstop.
Just a few hours after writing that, I found this item on my Yahoo news feed:
SALT LAKE CITY - A thick layer of smog stubbornly lingering over parts of Utah has fouled the state's air so badly this week that health officials warned people not to exercise outside and some schools kept children inside for recess and sports.
The haze that has obscured Utah's picture-perfect mountain views for the last several days is blamed on a weather phenomenon called an inversion that pins pollution to the valley floors and doesn't relent until a major storm blows through.
The smog spell has made Utah's air the dirtiest in the country for almost a week, and nearly 8 of 10 Utah residents are living under health advisories. Residents are being urged to drive less and prohibited from burning wood, and sometimes even the most fit have been urged not to exercise outside.
More at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100115/ap_on_re_us/us_utah_air_pollution
Hey, I hear you. I was just reporting on what the AAFA said were at the bottom of the top 100. As I stated near the end, that still doesn't make them as healthy as places that didn't make the list at all.