Boise Real-Time AQI Tracker
Get Alerts For Unhealthy AQI In Your Area
When air quality in your area reaches unhealthy levels, we'll send you a quick alert, along with expert tips on how to reduce your exposure.
What's Actually In Boise Air Today?
What High AQI Means for Your Lungs in Boise
How to Read AQI
The Air Quality Index (AQI) measures how polluted the air is and how it may affect your health.
0–50 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory.
51–100 (Moderate): Acceptable, but some pollutants may pose minor concerns.
101–150 (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups)
151–200 (Unhealthy)
201–300 (Very Unhealthy)
301+ (Hazardous)
Moderate
Still okay for most, but if you have asthma or allergies, take it easy and avoid long outdoor workouts.
Shop MERV 11 filters→What's the Right Filter for Your AQI Level?
Check Today's Live Real Time Air Quality Index AQI Map in Boise, ID Now
TL;DR
Filterbuy's live AQI map above shows Boise's air right now, from Idaho DEQ and EPA monitors. Under 50 is good for everyone; above 100, sensitive groups should cut back outdoors. Boise's worst air comes from summer smoke and winter inversions, and a reading of 60 triggers local burn limits.
Start with the Live Boise Air Quality Map
Start with the color, then the number. The map draws on the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which collects hourly data from more than 30 monitors statewide.
Filterbuy built this page for the call Boise households make most: open the windows or close up? Our 60-second map check:
Color. It tells you how long to stay outside.
Pollutant. If PM2.5 (fine particles from smoke and exhaust) drives a high reading, close up and filter. If ground-level ozone does, shift outdoor time to the morning; ozone fades indoors, but smoke doesn't.
Clock. Smoke is often worst overnight and early morning, while ozone peaks in mid-afternoon.
The 60, 74 and 100 lines. At 60, Boise bans outdoor burning; at 74, fireplaces and woodstoves go off. At 100, Filterbuy's smoke steps below kick in.
Key Takeaways
Fine particulate drives most of Boise's AQI: wildfire smoke in summer, trapped wood smoke in winter.
Boise bans open burning at AQI 60 and fireplaces and woodstoves at 74, while the map still reads yellow.
For smoke events, the EPA recommends MERV 13 or higher in the HVAC.
Filterbuy's action line is AQI 100: MERV 13, fan On, and a HEPA cleaner in each occupied room.
What Each AQI Color Means for Your Day in Boise
Find your map color below. Health guidance comes from EPA AirNow; the last column shows where Boise's burn rules kick in, per DEQ's Treasure Valley ordinance chart.
Health guidance: EPA AirNow. Burn thresholds: Boise City ordinances via Idaho DEQ.
Why the Boise Reading Can Trail What You See
When the map disagrees with the view outside, three things usually explain it. First, DEQ's NowCast averages recent hours, so it trails a fast-moving plume.
Second, the valley's main reference station, the EPA NCore site at St. Luke's in Meridian, sits about 10 miles west of downtown, so your block's reading is an estimate. If it looks off, compare Filterbuy's Meridian AQI map and Nampa AQI map.
Third, nighttime surface inversions let smoke settle into the valley overnight, per National Weather Service forecasters, so mornings can read worst until afternoon winds stir the air.
Is Boise's Air Safe to Breathe Today?
It depends on the map color right now. Below 100, the air suits most people. Above 100, people with asthma, COPD or heart disease, plus children and adults over 65, should cut outdoor time short; above 150, everyone should. Your doctor's plan comes first, and trouble breathing or chest pain needs medical care right away.
Where Boise Air Forecasts and Burn Calls Come From
DEQ publishes three-day Treasure Valley forecasts and issues an Air Quality Advisory when air is or will be degraded. Advisories ban outdoor burning, fire pits included; a barbecue is fine.
NWS Boise adds Air Stagnation Advisories in inversion season, late November to mid-February, per Boise State's Resilience Institute. Filterbuy's free AQI alerts above email you a heads-up.
What's Actually in Boise's Air Through the Year
The AQI reflects whichever of six pollutants is worst. In Boise that is usually fine particulate, with ozone joining on hot summer afternoons.
Seasonal pattern per Idaho DEQ and NWS Boise data.
The Treasure Valley is a basin, so on cold, calm days a lid of warm air holds woodstove smoke and exhaust near the valley floor. Filterbuy's support queue follows the same calendar: fireplace questions arrive in December, peak in January and fade by March. Our guide to fireplace smoke and indoor air covers the indoor side.
How Boise's Air Compares Nationally
The American Lung Association's State of the Air 2026 ranks Boise 24th worst for ozone, up from 46th a year earlier. Compare the state on Filterbuy's Idaho air quality map.
The long view is better: Northern Ada County failed federal carbon monoxide and PM10 standards in 1990 and met both by 2003, mostly thanks to cleaner vehicles, which do little about smoke or ozone.
Wildfire Smoke Over Boise
Wildfire smoke brings Boise's sharpest spikes, from Idaho's backcountry and on westerly winds from Oregon and California. On July 26 and 27, 2026, DEQ issued a Red, Unhealthy forecast for the Treasure Valley with a forecast AQI of 180, Boise station KBOI reported.
Check AirNow and any DEQ advisory first, and if officials tell you to stay in, relocate or evacuate, do that. Once the map reaches 100, this is the order Filterbuy works through:
Switch the HVAC to MERV 13. It's the whole-home layer.
Set the thermostat fan to On, not Auto, so the system filters around the clock.
Run a portable HEPA air cleaner in each occupied room, bedrooms first. EPA's sizing rule is a smoke CADR of at least two-thirds of the room's square footage, so a 300 sq ft bedroom wants about 200. Skip ionizers and ozone generators. Filterbuy doesn't make air cleaners.
Close up the house: windows and doors shut, and no candles, frying, smoking or regular vacuuming while smoke is in.
Move practices indoors. If you must be out, a well-fitted N95 helps; a cloth mask doesn't.
No ducts? In an apartment or a home heated by baseboards or window units, portable HEPA cleaners are the main defense, so put one in every room people use.
Track plumes on Filterbuy's Boise wildfire smoke map. Afterward, the complaint we hear most is that the house still smells like a campfire. The filter caught the particles; the residue on walls and fabric needs cleaning, which our wildfire smoke recovery checklist covers.
Boise Furnaces and the Filter Slot
A Boise home with a furnace already has ducts and a filter slot to work with. Two checkpoints cover the year: check the filter in late June, before smoke season, and again around Thanksgiving, before inversions set in.
Sizing is the question our support team answers most, because builders frame slots to the ductwork. If your slot lands on an odd fraction, Filterbuy cuts custom sizes to the eighth of an inch. Confirming MERV 13 is the same kind of fit check: the EPA notes most furnaces and HVAC systems run it without equipment problems when the filter is replaced often. In a smoke event, replace it once it looks dark brown or black, which can be well before the usual interval. Keep spares on hand with filter auto-delivery.
“Most systems I test are not struggling because the filter is too efficient. They are struggling because it has been in there since spring.”
David Clark, Licensed HVAC Technician, Filterbuy HVAC Solutions
Our Take on Boise's Air
Filterbuy has built air filters in its own U.S. plants for more than a decade and shipped them to over two million households, so we see what filters catch and miss.
Yellow is not always a free pass here. The map can read Moderate while a city burn ban is already in force.
The filter is a two-season part. Smoke loads it in August, and inversions load it again in January.
“The number everyone watches is the one outside. The number that decides how your family actually feels is the dust still sitting on your baseboards three weeks later. I see the same split every smoke season: the households that clean move on, and the ones that only wait are still smelling it in October.”
Michelle Wan, Brand Manager and Air Quality Writer, Filterbuy
Matching a Filter to the Boise AQI Reading
At AQI 100 and above, Filterbuy recommends MERV 13 in the HVAC, the thermostat fan on On, and a portable HEPA air cleaner in each occupied room, bedrooms first. Below 100, a normal filter is fine; use the yellow range to get MERV 13 in before smoke arrives. Filterbuy makes all three tiers in 600+ sizes.
Filterbuy acts at 100, the top of the Moderate range, rather than waiting for orange. Per EPA, most systems run MERV 13 without problems when the filter is replaced often.
Shop MERV 8, MERV 11 or MERV 13 in your size, or read which MERV rating fits your home. Smoke smell is a gas, which pleated filters don't capture; for household odors, see the Odor Eliminator line.
Supporting Statistics
Top 25 worst for ozone and particle spikes
Ozone: 24th worst. Ada County logs 10.3 unhealthy days a year.
Particle spikes: 17th worst. Canyon County logs 8.7.
Wood smoke beats all vehicles for PM2.5
More PM2.5 than cars, trucks and heavy equipment combined.
No. 2 winter PM2.5 source nationwide.
Source: U.S. EPA Burn Wise, 2017 National Emissions Inventory
Room air cleaners cut indoor particles by up to 85%
High-efficiency portable air cleaners: up to 85% fewer indoor particles.
Thermostat fan on, not Auto: up to 24% fewer.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I check the air quality in Boise right now?
Open Filterbuy's live AQI map at the top of this page, then run the 60-second check.
Is the air quality bad in Boise today?
Check the map color. Orange or higher means sensitive groups cut back, and at 60 Boise bans outdoor burning.
Where can I see Boise PM2.5 today?
The live map names the pollutant behind the reading, usually PM2.5 in Boise. DEQ's real-time map shows it monitor by monitor.
Can I use my fireplace when Boise's AQI is yellow?
Not always. Boise bans fireplaces and all woodstoves at AQI 74, still yellow. Check DEQ's burn map first.
Why is Boise's air worse in winter?
Temperature inversions. Cold air pools under a warm layer and traps smoke near the ground until a storm breaks it.
Glossary
AQI (Air Quality Index): The EPA's 0 to 500 air pollution scale.
PM2.5: Fine particles 2.5 micrometers or smaller, found in smoke and exhaust.
Temperature inversion: A warm air layer that traps cooler air, and its pollution, near the ground.
Air Quality Advisory (AQA): An Idaho DEQ notice of degraded air that bans outdoor burning.
NowCast: The EPA method behind current AQI, weighted toward the most recent hours.
CADR: Clean Air Delivery Rate, how fast an air cleaner clears smoke from a room.
MERV: The 1 to 16 filter capture scale.