SmogRank / World / Europe / United Kingdom / England
Most polluted cities in England, United Kingdom
3 measured cities, last 30 days; 0 above the WHO 24-hour guideline. Worst: London at 7.2 µg/m³, #1,243 in the world.
About 0 people in these 2 cities breathed unhealthy air on an average day over the last 30 days.
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.
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.
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
England 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 |
|---|---|
| Manchester | ≈ 7 µg/m³ |
| Sheffield | ≈ 6 µg/m³ |
| Leeds | ≈ 7 µg/m³ |
| Liverpool | ≈ 6 µg/m³ |
| Bristol | ≈ 5 µg/m³ |
| Leicester | ≈ 5 µg/m³ |
| Bradford | ≈ 5 µg/m³ |
| Coventry | ≈ 5 µg/m³ |
| Birkenhead | ≈ 5 µg/m³ |
| Nottingham | ≈ 7 µg/m³ |
| Islington | ≈ 10 µg/m³ |
| Kingston upon Hull | ≈ 7 µg/m³ |
| Preston | ≈ 6 µg/m³ |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | ≈ 6 µg/m³ |
| Southend-on-Sea | ≈ 7 µg/m³ |
| Derby | ≈ 7 µg/m³ |
| Southampton | ≈ 6 µg/m³ |
| Wolverhampton | ≈ 6 µg/m³ |
| Plymouth | ≈ 8 µg/m³ |
| Stoke-on-Trent | ≈ 6 µg/m³ |
| Milton Keynes | ≈ 5 µg/m³ |
| City of Westminster | ≈ 10 µg/m³ |
| Northampton | ≈ 5 µg/m³ |
| Oldham | ≈ 7 µg/m³ |
| Luton | ≈ 6 µg/m³ |
| Barking | ≈ 10 µg/m³ |
| Archway | ≈ 10 µg/m³ |
| Swindon | ≈ 5 µg/m³ |
| Dudley | ≈ 5 µg/m³ |
| Sutton | ≈ 9 µg/m³ |
| St Helens | ≈ 6 µg/m³ |
| Ipswich | ≈ 6 µg/m³ |
| Wigan | ≈ 6 µg/m³ |
| Croydon | ≈ 9 µg/m³ |
| Warrington | ≈ 6 µg/m³ |
| Walsall | ≈ 5 µg/m³ |
| Mansfield | ≈ 7 µg/m³ |
| Sunderland | ≈ 6 µg/m³ |
| Ilford | ≈ 10 µg/m³ |
| Slough | ≈ 7 µg/m³ |
Bad-air episodes in England
- Europe, 18 to 25 March 20268 days430 cities136 µg/m³peak, Łask
- Europe, 1 to 12 March 202612 days532 cities109 µg/m³peak, Radomsko
- Europe, January and February 202612 January to 12 February 2026, 32 days625 cities252 µg/m³peak, Travnik
- Belgium, France and 2 more countries, October 202511 to 12 October 2025, 2 days12 cities31 µg/m³peak, Roeselare
- United Kingdom and The Netherlands, May 20251 to 2 May 2025, 2 days11 cities38 µg/m³peak, Clacton-on-Sea
- United Kingdom, Belgium and 2 more countries, April 202512 to 13 April 2025, 2 days24 cities31 µg/m³peak, Zelzate
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 England, United Kingdom, PM2.5, last 30 days to 6 Oct 2026, 22:00 UTC, smogrank.com/gb/region/england?w=30d.
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 22:07 UTC. Values are PM2.5 (fine particles), the median of each city's monitors, as the US AQI PM2.5 sub-index.