SmogRank / History / City race

Cities in Australia, worst air first, day by day

Each measured city's average over the 30 days to every day since January 2023, worst first. Find your own city to follow it through the race, or keep to one country.

The 30 days to22 Apr 2024 That day's board

The worst cities in Australia for PM2.5 over the 30 days to 22 Apr 2024: Tuggeranong 8.3 µg/m³, Canberra 8.2 µg/m³ and Cairns 5.0 µg/m³.

  1. 1TuggeranongAustralian Capital Territory8.3
  2. 2CanberraAustralian Capital Territory8.2
  3. 3CairnsQueensland5.0
  4. 4TownsvilleQueensland4.9
  5. 5MackayQueensland4.8
  6. 6MaryboroughQueensland4.7
  7. 7GladstoneQueensland4.4
  8. 8MoranbahQueensland4.4
  9. 9BrisbaneQueensland4.3
  10. 10AyrQueensland4.3
  11. 11CoomeraQueensland4.1
  12. 12NarangbaQueensland4.0
  13. 13BlackwaterQueensland4.0
  14. 14Logan CityQueensland4.0
  15. 15Sunshine CoastQueensland4.0
  16. 16EmeraldQueensland3.9
  17. 17Mango HillQueensland3.9
  18. 18Tannum SandsQueensland3.9
  19. 19ToowoombaQueensland3.4
  20. 20Gold CoastQueensland3.4

+ 1 more city, at 3.1 µg/m³

Not counted on this day, too few days measured: Sydney since 3 Apr 2024.

GoodModerateSensitive groupsUnhealthyVery unhealthyHazardousWHO 24-hour guideline, 15 µg/m³Fades where it stood: not counted that day

A city's number is its average over the 30 days, shown only when 21 of them were measured (5 of 7 on the 7-day race), the same minimum as the 30- and 7-day boards. A city whose monitors go quiet fades out where it stood rather than sliding down, so a gap never reads as cleaner air. Some large countries are thin or missing because their monitors' licences don't allow reuse. How we rank.

Not covered: the government monitoring networks of China and Turkey, which publish only on their own websites; we are building the readers for them. Most cities there are missing from this board, not clean. Why.