Throughout the continental United States, people of color are more likely to be exposed to air pollution than white people, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Researchers from the University of Washington explored racial and ethnic disparities by comparing air-pollution levels to census data from 1990, 2000 and 2010. That data included information about income status. Focusing on six major air pollutants, the team’s findings revealed that people of color are, on average, more likely to breathe in polluted air, regardless of income.

While lower-income groups generally faced greater exposure than their wealthier counterparts, those differences were not as pronounced as the racial and ethnic disparities, senior author Julian Marshall told Grist.

“Even if you account for differences in income, you still see disparities,” he said.

The study dovetails with a large body of research showing that decades of segregation and racist housing policies have resulted in people of color being more likely to live near highways, power plants and other sources of pollution.

“This paper is a chance to recognize that, while every community is unique, there are some factors that play out over and over again consistently across our country,” said Marshall, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at UW, in a press release. “If we go state by state, there’s no place where there are no environmental justice concerns.”

Read the full article about air pollution by Mark Armao at Grist.