Air pollution in urban areas is a major concern as it negatively affects the health of a large number of people. This study aimed to assess people exposure and the inhalation health risk for exposure to BTEX compounds (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylene) in Ahwaz city of Iran. In the during years 2017 one central region of Ahwaz were selected and monitored for ambient BTEX concentrations. Concentrations of BTEX were analyzed using a gas chromatograph with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID). Average concentrations of BTEX compounds were obtained 0.80±0.04, 2.55±0.10, 0.54±0.03 and 1.26±0.07 μg/m3 , respectively. Also, an inhalation risk analysis for exposure to BTEX compounds was performed by applying the standard United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) methodology. The risk assessment for exposure of Ahvaz people with benzene showed the average cancer risk values for benzene exposure is 0.89×10−6 and was lower than the unit cancer risk value (i.e., 1×10-6 ). Moreover, the Hazard Quotient (HQ) method of risk characterization was used to estimate the non-cancer effects for exposure to BTEX compounds. The average of noncarcinogenic risk values for exposure to BTEX compounds was 3.84, 0.074, 0.077 and 1.76, respectively that the HQ value for benzene and Xylene was higher than the limit of acceptability (HQ = 1) and also was higher than the safety threshold concentration (RfC) detected by toxicological studies but for exposure to toluene and Ethyelbenzene were lower than (RFC). The average value of hazard index (HI) for exposure to BTEX compounds was 5.75, which is appreciably higher than the unit value of 1 and this shows a great concern in terms of peoples exposure to BTEX compounds at Ahvaz city. The main causes of the concern are benzene and xylene, which have HQs considerably higher than the unit value. Based on other results obtained from this study, significant correlation coefficients between benzene and other BTEX compounds revealed th
