In 2005, Wyatt Mason of The New York Times called the book "one of the most highly acclaimed debuts for a poet in recent memory." In conversation with Mason, Billy Collins said the poems of Actual Air "are full of complex turns and tricks and conceptual hijinks, and yet there's this surface clarity. You're welcomed into the poem."

In her 2009 book Slanted and Enchanted: The Evolution of Indie Culture, Kaya Oakes wrote, "In many ways, just as indie rock was nudging its way toward the mainstream, Actual Air helped to open the doors for independent publishing to do the same."