My house downwind of a freeway and a wilderness area, lots of nasty black tire dust mixed with allergens. It did not come with A/C. I had HEPA air purifiers around the house that I would leave in auto mode and they would run for a few hours a day based on the air quality.
Then I got central A/C installed with a standard 1" MERV 10 rated filter on the intake. Just running the blower for 10 minutes every hour is enough to keep the air quality in every room below the level where the air purifiers would kick on. I've given most of them away.
i have to do a major upgrade next month (30 year old gas furnace!) and i will need to do some research, but i would like to even ascend to true HEPA if it's feasible
Also, in new homes, beware of undersized heating systems that will fail prematurely.