SmogRank / World / Europe / Germany / North Rhine-Westphalia

Most polluted cities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

34 measured cities, this year; 34 above the WHO annual guideline. Worst: Unna at 12.9 µg/m³, #665 in the world.

About 31K people in these 6 cities 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.

Thuringia: 15 measured citiesBavaria: 21 measured citiesRheinland-Pfalz: 10 measured citiesLower Saxony: 27 measured citiesNorth Rhine-Westphalia: 34 measured citiesHesse: 24 measured cities#34 Roetgen: 5.9 µg/m³#33 Lüdenscheid: 7.2 µg/m³#32 Olpe: 8.0 µg/m³#28 Sinnersdorf: 8.4 µg/m³#29 Ratingen: 8.4 µg/m³#30 Hattingen: 8.4 µg/m³#31 Aachen: 8.4 µg/m³#27 Soest: 8.5 µg/m³#26 Bonn: 8.6 µg/m³#25 Leverkusen: 8.8 µg/m³#24 Wuppertal: 8.9 µg/m³#22 Niederzier: 9.0 µg/m³#23 Mönchengladbach: 9.0 µg/m³#21 Köln: 9.1 µg/m³#19 Wesel: 9.2 µg/m³#20 Kaldenkirchen: 9.2 µg/m³#17 Titz: 9.3 µg/m³#18 Schwerte: 9.3 µg/m³#16 Warstein: 9.4 µg/m³#15 Düsseldorf: 9.5 µg/m³#14 Borken: 9.7 µg/m³#12 Jüchen: 9.8 µg/m³#13 Bielefeld: 9.8 µg/m³#11 Essen: 10.1 µg/m³#8 Oberhausen: 10.2 µg/m³#9 Krefeld: 10.2 µg/m³#10 Duisburg: 10.2 µg/m³#7 Hagen: 10.3 µg/m³#6 Datteln: 10.4 µg/m³#5 Bottrop: 10.6 µg/m³#4 Münster: 10.7 µg/m³#3 Gelsenkirchen: 11.2 µg/m³#2 Dortmund: 11.3 µg/m³#1 Unna: 12.9 µg/m³
Each dot is a measured city, coloured by its PM2.5; tap a dot to open the city.
← Köln 8.5K 8K0
Every measured city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany 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. 1Köln 8.5K
  2. 2Essen 7.41K
  3. 3Duisburg 6.38K
  4. 4Düsseldorf 5.27K
  5. 5Wuppertal 3.05K
  6. 6Olpelow-cost sensors 371

Low-cost sensors: consumer units, counted only in cities with no government-grade monitor; they read close to reference monitors on the whole, but 15 to 25% high in humid air. How we use them.

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

Estimated: cities without a monitor

North Rhine-Westphalia 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.

City7-day estimateBand
Bochum≈ 11 µg/m³Moderate
Hamm≈ 9 µg/m³Good
Mülheim≈ 11 µg/m³Moderate
Herne≈ 11 µg/m³Moderate
Solingen≈ 10 µg/m³Moderate
Neuss≈ 12 µg/m³Moderate
Paderborn≈ 7 µg/m³Good
Recklinghausen≈ 11 µg/m³Moderate
Remscheid≈ 10 µg/m³Moderate
Siegen≈ 7 µg/m³Good
Bergisch Gladbach≈ 9 µg/m³Good
Moers≈ 11 µg/m³Moderate
Gütersloh≈ 10 µg/m³Moderate
Düren≈ 8 µg/m³Good
Iserlohn≈ 8 µg/m³Good
Witten≈ 11 µg/m³Moderate
Marl≈ 11 µg/m³Moderate
Velbert≈ 11 µg/m³Moderate
Minden≈ 10 µg/m³Moderate
Dorsten≈ 12 µg/m³Moderate
Castrop-Rauxel≈ 11 µg/m³Moderate
Rheine≈ 9 µg/m³Good
Viersen≈ 11 µg/m³Moderate
Gladbeck≈ 12 µg/m³Moderate
Arnsberg≈ 6 µg/m³Good
Troisdorf≈ 9 µg/m³Good
Wattenscheid≈ 11 µg/m³Moderate
Bocholt≈ 10 µg/m³Moderate
Detmold≈ 10 µg/m³Moderate
Lippstadt≈ 8 µg/m³Good
Dinslaken≈ 11 µg/m³Moderate
Herten≈ 11 µg/m³Moderate
Herford≈ 10 µg/m³Moderate
Grevenbroich≈ 11 µg/m³Moderate
Kerpen≈ 10 µg/m³Moderate
Dormagen≈ 12 µg/m³Moderate
Bergheim≈ 10 µg/m³Moderate
Langenfeld≈ 12 µg/m³Moderate
Stolberg≈ 9 µg/m³Good
Hilden≈ 12 µg/m³Moderate

Bad-air episodes in North Rhine-Westphalia

Times when many cities around here had PM2.5 at twice their usual or more on the same days.

Use this board

SmogRank, most polluted cities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, PM2.5, this year to 6 Oct 2026, 23:00 UTC, smogrank.com/de/region/north-rhine-westphalia?w=year.

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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 2026-10-06 23:07 UTC. Values are PM2.5 (fine particles), the median of each city's monitors, as the US AQI PM2.5 sub-index.