SmogRank / World / Oceania / Australia / New South Wales
Most polluted cities in New South Wales, Australia
1 measured city, this year; 1 above the WHO annual guideline. The most people breathing unhealthy air: Sydney, Australia, about 0 on an average day.
About 0 people in this city breathed unhealthy air on an average day so far this year.
Ranked by people: each city's population times its share of unhealthy days, those with a daily mean over 35.4 µg/m³ (US AQI 101+). That is how many people living there breathed unhealthy air on an average day. Only cities measured at 2 or more places at least 3 km apart are ranked: one monitor shouldn't speak for a whole city. Population is the city itself, not its wider metro area.
Now: cities by their PM2.5 over the last 24 hours; fires, smoke and ash from Oct 7, the newest day mapped.
- 1Sydney 0
The US EPA's Air Quality Index for PM2.5 (2024 breakpoints). Show values as: µg/m³ · US AQI · India AQI · China AQI · European AQI · UK DAQI · Canada AQHI+. About the scales
Estimated: cities without a monitor
New South Wales cities we can't measure, with model estimates for the last 7 days. Listed by population, not ranked: estimates aren't precise enough to rank. Model estimates from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), adjusted to measured cities nearby where there are any. Adjusted, a single day lands within ×1.5 of what a monitor would read about two times in three; unadjusted, it can be off by half or double. Treat them as a guide, not a measurement.
| City | 7-day estimate |
|---|---|
| Central Coast | ≈ 8 µg/m³ |
| Dubbo | ≈ 3 µg/m³ |
| Cessnock | ≈ 7 µg/m³ |
| Hornsby | ≈ 8 µg/m³ |
| Griffith | ≈ 5 µg/m³ |
| Grafton | ≈ 6 µg/m³ |
| Batemans Bay | ≈ 4 µg/m³ |
| Broken Hill | ≈ 3 µg/m³ |
| Taree | ≈ 5 µg/m³ |
Use this board
SmogRank, most polluted cities in New South Wales, Australia, by people breathing unhealthy air, PM2.5, this year to 8 Oct 2026, 22:00 UTC, smogrank.com/au/region/new-south-wales?w=year&by=people. Some readings from Uzhydromet (Uzbekistan's Hydrometeorological Service); Department of Environment, Nepal; Vietnam's government monitors; Aurassure; Umhverfisstofnun (Environment Agency of Iceland); Love My Air (City and County of Denver), no reuse terms published.
Download top 10 by average (PNG)
You're welcome to reuse a single chart, image or figure with this citation and a link. Terms. Raw monitor readings in bulk are published by OpenAQ, under each provider's licence.
Updated 2026-10-08 22:07 UTC. Values are PM2.5 (fine particles), the median of each city's monitors, as the US AQI PM2.5 sub-index. Some readings: Uzhydromet (Uzbekistan's Hydrometeorological Service); Department of Environment, Nepal; Vietnam's government monitors; Aurassure; Umhverfisstofnun (Environment Agency of Iceland); Love My Air (City and County of Denver), no reuse terms published (why we use them).