Do Gas Stoves Pollute the Air in Your Home?

Yes. Burning gas or propane makes nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), and a stove used without a hood vented outdoors can push a kitchen’s NO₂ above health-based limits while it’s on. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lists unvented gas stoves among the main indoor sources of NO₂, and says homes with gas stoves often have more NO₂ indoors than outdoors, while homes without combustion appliances have about half the outdoor level. Gas cooking is linked to more childhood asthma, though how much is debated.

This article is general information, not medical advice.

Why NO₂ Matters

NO₂ is an irritant gas. The EPA lists, at low levels, increased airway reactivity in some people with asthma, lower lung function in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and a higher risk of respiratory infections, especially in young children.

Source	Long-term	Short-term
WHO air quality guidelines (2021)	10 µg/m³ (about 5 ppb), annual average	25 µg/m³ (about 13 ppb), 24-hour average
Health Canada, residential indoor air	20 µg/m³ (11 ppb), 24-hour average	170 µg/m³ (90 ppb), 1-hour average
US EPA outdoor standard	53 ppb, annual mean	100 ppb, 1-hour

NO₂ is measured in parts per billion (ppb) or micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³); at 25 °C, 1 ppb of NO₂ is about 1.88 µg/m³. Health Canada’s values are written for homes, the WHO’s apply indoors and outdoors alike, and the EPA’s standard is for outdoor air.

The Evidence on Asthma

• A 2013 meta-analysis of 41 studies by Lin and colleagues found that children in homes with gas cooking had higher odds of asthma (odds ratio 1.32) and that indoor NO₂ was associated with current wheeze.
• A 2022 estimate by Gruenwald and colleagues, using such odds ratios, attributed 12.7% of current childhood asthma in the US to gas stoves.
• A 2024 modelling study by Kashtan and colleagues, from measurements in more than 100 homes, estimated that gas and propane stoves raise long-term NO₂ exposure by 4.0 ppb on average across the US, about three-quarters of the WHO’s annual guideline, and that short-term exposure while cooking frequently exceeds WHO and EPA benchmarks. Small homes had about four times the exposure of large ones.

These are observational and modelling studies. An attributable fraction assumes the association is causal, and it is sensitive to the odds ratio used; that’s where the debate lies. What isn’t disputed is that a gas flame emits NO₂ and that ventilation reduces it.

Carbon Monoxide

Gas appliances also make carbon monoxide (CO). The EPA gives average levels of 0.5 to 5 ppm in homes without gas stoves, often 5 to 15 ppm near properly adjusted gas stoves, and 30 ppm or more near poorly adjusted ones. Health Canada’s residential limits are 10 ppm over 24 hours and 25 ppm over 1 hour; the WHO’s 2021 guideline is 4 mg/m³ over 24 hours. CO has no smell and can kill: an air quality monitor isn’t a CO alarm, and every home with fuel-burning appliances needs working CO alarms.

Reducing It

• Use a range hood vented outdoors every time you cook. The EPA calls venting combustion sources outdoors, with appliances correctly installed, used, and maintained, the most effective step, and advises an exhaust fan vented outdoors over gas stoves.
• Open a window when there’s no hood, or when it only recirculates the air.
• Keep gas appliances properly adjusted, as the EPA advises.
• Consider an induction or electric hob when replacing a stove, which removes the source.

Following It in Kaizora

Nitrogen Dioxide Concentration and Carbon Monoxide Concentration are air quality metrics on Air Quality. Readings from a monitor that measures them are logged by hand, each at a known position, since no importer brings them yet. Your exposure joins readings with your location history: at each of your location fixes, your value is the newest reading within 100 metres in the hour before. The page also shows outdoor NO₂ and CO from the nearest public monitoring station, from the EPA’s AirNow, labelled preliminary; outdoor air is never counted as your exposure. See Read the Air Quality Page and Your Exposure.

The Short Version

• Gas and propane stoves emit NO₂ and CO; homes with them often have more NO₂ indoors than out.
• WHO guidelines: 10 µg/m³ a year and 25 µg/m³ a day for NO₂; Health Canada’s indoor limit is 11 ppb over 24 hours.
• Gas cooking is linked to childhood asthma; how much is debated.
• Vent outdoors whenever you cook, and keep CO alarms working.

Sources

• US Environmental Protection Agency, Nitrogen Dioxide’s Impact on Indoor Air Quality and Carbon Monoxide’s Impact on Indoor Air Quality.
• US Environmental Protection Agency, NAAQS Table.
• World Health Organization, Types of pollutants, with the WHO global air quality guidelines (2021).
• Health Canada, Residential Indoor Air Quality Guidelines.
• Lin W, Brunekreef B, and Gehring U, “Meta-analysis of the effects of indoor nitrogen dioxide and gas cooking on asthma and wheeze in children,” International Journal of Epidemiology 42, no. 6 (2013): 1724–1737. doi:10.1093/ije/dyt150
• Gruenwald T et al., “Population attributable fraction of gas stoves and childhood asthma in the United States,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 20, no. 1 (2022): 75. doi:10.3390/ijerph20010075
• Kashtan Y et al., “Nitrogen dioxide exposure, health outcomes, and associated demographic disparities due to gas and propane combustion by U.S. stoves,” Science Advances 10, no. 18 (2024): eadm8680. doi:10.1126/sciadv.adm8680