A University of Minnesota study found that across the country, low-income people of color breath significantly more pollutants in their environment than high-income whites, contributing to health problems like asthma and heart disease. Out of all large cities, Philadelphia has the second highest inequality between whites and non-whites when it comes to breathing polluted air.

Latino, Black and Asian individuals inhale 38 percent more pollution than white individuals, and in cities, where high-income and white individuals are more likely to live away from freeways and industrial areas, the rates are even higher. The study estimated that if pollution levels were lowered to the rate experienced by most high-income whites, 7,000 deaths from heart disease would be prevented each year. 

Last year, the American Lung Association released a report that cited Philadelphia as the 11th highest polluted city for particle pollution, and the 20th for ozone pollution.