Albuquerque ranked No. 1 worst city in U.S. for seasonal allergies

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A national publication just ranked Albuquerque the “Worst City in the U.S. for Allergy Sufferers.”

“We are seeing it every day in our clinic, Albuquerque has a lot of unique factors that make allergies worse here,” said Dr. Jack Ghably, an allergy and immunology specialist.

One of those unique factors is that all the trees around Albuquerque are native to the East Coast.

“The architects of this landscape at the time didn’t really account for the health ramifications that would come from introducing these species into this environment,” said Patrick Hudson, a Senior Environment Health scientist. 

The City of Albuquerque has pollen trackers all across town. 

“This tape is exposed to the air, uh the particulate matter sticks to that tape then as it moves past this lens those images are processed, and pollen is identified roughly to species level,” said Hudson.

Every day, the city sends out an air quality update telling folks what allergens they see the most.

“Juniper could be driving a lot of the misery that is experienced by allergy sufferers here in Albuquerque,” said Hudson. 

But there are some things you can do to make your allergies more bearable.

“Keep windows closed when you come home from outside, wash your hair, take off your clothes, keep them out of the bedroom that have been outside because pollen will stick to them,” Hudson said. “Keeping an air filter in the house as well making sure that air is as pollen-free as possible.”

If you want to get those daily allergy updates from the City of Albuquerque website, click here.