⁍ The least polluted areas are still faring the best, according to a study published on Thursday in the journal Science.

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⁍ Overall, pollution from fine particulate matter fell about 70% between 1981 and 2016.

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⁍ The study examined PM 2.5 data from 8.6 million U.S. census tracts from 1981 to 2016.

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– If you live in a neighborhood with some of the worst air pollution in the country, you’re not alone. According to a study published Thursday in Science, air pollution overall has dropped about 70% over the past three decades, but communities of color are still experiencing high levels of pollution, Reuters reports. “Disadvantaged communities remain persistently exposed to higher levels of air pollution,” says study co-author Jonathan Colmer, an economist at the University of Virginia. “This was true in 1980, it was true in 1990, 2000, 2010, and so on.” The study looked at levels of fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5, found in US census tracts from 1981 to 2016. Researchers found that communities of color saw PM 2.5 levels more than double from 1980 to 2016, and those in the least polluted areas saw a similar increase. Researchers say the findings suggest the US is falling short of its goal of reducing the disproportionate level of pollution faced by low-income communities of color. “If you’re unlucky enough to live near a busy road, a truck or bus depot, an industrial facility, or a power plant, you breathe more particulate air pollution,” says Howard Frumkin, a professor of environmental science at the University of Washington. “A transition to cleaner energy sources from fossil fuels would help ‘shrink the gap between the cleanest-air and the dirtiest-air neighborhoods.'”