SmogRank / History / City race

Cities in United States, 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 to17 May 2025 That day's board

The worst cities in United States for PM2.5 over the 30 days to 17 May 2025: Sunland Park 22.6 µg/m³, El Paso 20.7 µg/m³ and Socorro 19.5 µg/m³.

  1. 1Sunland ParkNew Mexico22.6
  2. 2El PasoTexas20.7
  3. 3SocorroTexas19.5
  4. 4AnthonyNew Mexico19.4
  5. 5Port IsabelTexas17.6
  6. 6Corpus ChristiTexas14.6
  7. 7Santa MonicaCalifornia14.6
  8. 8HobbsNew Mexico14.6
  9. 9EdinburgTexas14.4
  10. 10LaredoTexas14.0
  11. 11MissionTexas13.4
  12. 12PaysonArizona12.8
  13. 13HelotesTexas12.6
  14. 14Eagle PassTexas12.5
  15. 15PasadenaCalifornia12.3
  16. 16HoustonTexas11.9
  17. 17San AntonioTexas11.7
  18. 18WindcrestTexas11.5
  19. 19OdessaTexas11.5
  20. 20GuadalupeCalifornia11.4

+ 831 more cities, the next at 11.4 µg/m³

Not counted on this day, too few days measured: Martinez since 27 Apr 2025.

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 reader for China's network. Turkey's network doesn't answer requests from outside the country, so we can't read it. Most cities there are missing from this board, not clean. Why.