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 to16 Sep 2024 That day's board

The worst cities in Australia for PM2.5 over the 30 days to 16 Sep 2024: Logan City 11.5 µg/m³, Toowoomba 10.6 µg/m³ and Brisbane 10.0 µg/m³.

  1. 1Logan CityQueensland11.5
  2. 2ToowoombaQueensland10.6
  3. 3BrisbaneQueensland10.0
  4. 4CoomeraQueensland9.6
  5. 5MoranbahQueensland9.2
  6. 6Gold CoastQueensland9.1
  7. 7NarangbaQueensland9.0
  8. 8Mango HillQueensland8.8
  9. 9EmeraldQueensland8.4
  10. 10Mount IsaQueensland7.4
  11. 11MaryboroughQueensland7.4
  12. 12TownsvilleQueensland7.2
  13. 13Sunshine CoastQueensland7.2
  14. 14CairnsQueensland7.1
  15. 15MackayQueensland7.0
  16. 16Tannum SandsQueensland7.0
  17. 17GladstoneQueensland6.5
  18. 18TraralgonVictoria6.4
  19. 19CanberraAustralian Capital Territory6.1
  20. 20AyrQueensland6.0

+ 14 more cities, 5.6 µg/m³ and below

Not counted on this day, too few days measured: Blackwater since 30 Jul 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.