SmogRank / World / Canada / Alberta / 2023

Most polluted cities in Alberta, Canada, 2023

13 cities in Alberta, Canada ranked by their average PM2.5 over the 365 days; 13 above the WHO annual guideline (5.0 µg/m³). Worst: Grande Prairie at 26.9 µg/m³, #44 of 1,302 cities in the world. Cleanest: Lethbridge at 8.0. A city needs measurements on 70% of the days to be ranked.

OpenAQ's archive, where our readings come from, has almost none for 56 of these 365 days. Cities in the United States and Europe have them from the EPA's and the European Environment Agency's own records of the same monitors; elsewhere a city's average is over its other days. Why.

About 240K people in these 3 cities breathed unhealthy air on an average day of 2023.

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.

← Edmonton 154K 100K0
Every city in Alberta, Canada ranked for 2023 with monitors in two or more places, one column each, ranked by people breathing unhealthy air: height is people on an average day, colour its average. Point at it to read a city; tap to open it.
  1. 1Edmonton
    154K
  2. 2Calgary
    73.1K
  3. 3Fort McMurray
    12.8K
Good0–50
Moderate51–100
Sensitive groups101–150
Unhealthy151–200
Very unhealthy201–300
Hazardous301+

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

All cities in the world, 2023 · All cities in Canada, 2023 · Alberta now

Use this board

SmogRank, most polluted cities in Alberta, Canada, PM2.5, 2023, smogrank.com/ca/region/alberta/history/2023 (accessed 6 Oct 2026).

Download top 10 (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.