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.

CountriesCities
The 30 days to11 Oct 2025 That day's board

The worst cities in Australia for PM2.5 over the 30 days to 11 Oct 2025: Emerald 13.5 µg/m³, Blackwater 11.4 µg/m³ and Mackay 11.1 µg/m³.

  1. 1EmeraldQueensland13.5
  2. 2BlackwaterQueensland11.4
  3. 3MackayQueensland11.1
  4. 4TownsvilleQueensland10.5
  5. 5MoranbahQueensland10.2
  6. 6ToowoombaQueensland9.9
  7. 7AyrQueensland9.3
  8. 8CairnsQueensland9.2
  9. 9Gold CoastQueensland8.2
  10. 10MaryboroughQueensland7.8
  11. 11BrisbaneQueensland7.5
  12. 12NarangbaQueensland7.4
  13. 13Logan CityQueensland7.4
  14. 14CoomeraQueensland7.2
  15. 15Mango HillQueensland6.6
  16. 16GladstoneQueensland6.5
  17. 17TuggeranongAustralian Capital Territory5.8
  18. 18Tannum SandsQueensland5.8
  19. 19Sunshine CoastQueensland5.7
  20. 20CanberraAustralian Capital Territory5.5

+ 2 more cities, 5.1 µg/m³ and below

Not counted on this day, too few days measured: Mount Isa since 11 Oct 2025 and Adelaide since 15 Sep 2025.

30 days7 days
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.