SmogRank / Australia / New South Wales / Sydney
Sydney, month by month
Sydney has a measured daily mean on 1,381 days since 1 January 2023. Its worst month was September 2023, at 58 US AQI (12.9 µg/m³), 262nd of 2,176 cities on that month's world ranking. Its cleanest was August 2025, at 26 US AQI (4.7 µg/m³). 2025 averaged 37 US AQI (6.6 µg/m³), against 38 US AQI (6.9 µg/m³) in 2024.
Every month since 2023
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
Sydney's worst months
| Month | US AQI | World rank |
|---|---|---|
| September 2023 | 5812.9 µg/m³ | 262ndof 2,176 |
| December 2025 | 519.1 µg/m³ | 1,555thof 3,006 |
| June 2025 | 468.3 µg/m³ | 1,760thof 2,508 |
| February 2026 | 437.7 µg/m³ | 2,049thof 2,866 |
| March 2024 | 427.6 µg/m³ | 859thof 1,698 |
| August 2024 | 427.6 µg/m³ | 1,373rdof 2,010 |
Monthly means over the days measured; finished months only. World rank: its place on that month's world ranking of every city with enough days. Each month opens that ranking.
Sydney's worst days
| Day | US AQI |
|---|---|
| 12 Sept 2023 | 15358.8 µg/m³ |
| 14 Sept 2023 | 12344.4 µg/m³ |
| 11 Sept 2023 | 9432.0 µg/m³ |
| 6 Dec 2025 | 8828.8 µg/m³ |
| 13 Sept 2023 | 8628.1 µg/m³ |
| 19 Dec 2023 | 8024.5 µg/m³ |
| 9 Dec 2025 | 7522.0 µg/m³ |
| 15 Sept 2023 | 6918.8 µg/m³ |
| 12 Jun 2023 | 6818.3 µg/m³ |
| 31 Jan 2026 | 6818.3 µg/m³ |
Daily means, the highest since 1 Jan 2023; the WHO's daily guideline is 15 µg/m³. Each date opens that day's world ranking, and each episode the bad-air spell it was part of.
Use this history
SmogRank, PM2.5 monthly and daily means, Sydney, Australia, 1 Jan 2023 – 12 Oct 2026. Monitor data from NSW DCCEEW, read from the publisher; sources listed at smogrank.com/sources. smogrank.com/au/sydney/history (accessed 12 Oct 2026).
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.
Sydney now: the last 24 hours, its ranks today and the last 12 months day by day.
Updated 2026-10-12 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 low-cost readings: Sensor.Community, ODbL (data and licence). Some readings: Uzhydromet (Uzbekistan's Hydrometeorological Service); Department of Environment, Nepal; Vietnam's government monitors; Aurassure; Umhverfisstofnun (Environment Agency of Iceland); RMCAB (Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente, Bogotá); Love My Air (City and County of Denver), no reuse terms published (why we use them).