Many U.S. neighborhoods with the worst air 40 years ago remain the most polluted
Marginalized communities are still disproportionately affected despite improvements in air quality
![Detroit residents protesting air pollution](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/072920_jl_air-pollution_feat.jpg?fit=1028%2C579&ssl=1)
Detroit residents (shown) gathered in May 2000 to protest air pollution caused by a factory in their low-income, largely Hispanic neighborhood. An analysis of 36 years’ worth of data finds that while particulate air pollution has declined over several decades across the United States, the worst-off neighborhoods in the 1980s are largely the same ones exposed to the worst air today.
Jim West/Alamy Stock Photo