People living in NYC with asthma: Could I live there?

I want to attend college for art; there are some great art schools in New York that I'd like to consider. The only question I have is my asthma. I have pretty light asthma so I don't use an inhaler except for when I run and the last time I went to New York the air was so thick I had to use my inhaler. If there are any New Yorkers out there with asthma, how did you adjust?