SmogRank / World / Mexico / January 2026

Most people breathing unhealthy air in Mexico, January 2026

12 cities in Mexico measured at 2 or more places, ranked by how many people breathed unhealthy air on an average day over the 31 days. The most people breathing unhealthy air: Mexico City, Mexico, about 946K on an average day. A city needs measurements on 70% of the days to be ranked.

About 2.56M people in these 12 cities breathed unhealthy air on an average day of January 2026.

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.

← Mexico City 946K 900K0
Every city in Mexico ranked for January 2026 with monitors in two or more places, one column each, ranked by people breathing unhealthy air: height is people on an average day, colour its average. Point at it to read a city; tap to open it.
  1. 1Mexico CityMexico City
    946K
  2. 2GuadalajaraJalisco
    447K
  3. 3TlaquepaqueJalisco
    377K
  4. 4AguascalientesAguascalientes
    326K
  5. 5León de los AldamaGuanajuato
    126K
  6. 6PueblaPuebla
    109K
  7. 7Santiago de QuerétaroQuerétaro
    103K
  8. 8Ciudad JuárezChihuahua
    48.8K
  9. 9ZapopanJalisco
    47.6K
  10. 10Ciudad General EscobedoNuevo León
    29.4K
  11. 11MexicaliBaja California
    0
  12. 12MonterreyNuevo León
    0
Good0–50
Moderate51–100
Sensitive groups101–150
Unhealthy151–200
Very unhealthy201–300
Hazardous301+

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

All cities in the world, January 2026 · Mexico now

Regions

Aguascalientes 1Baja California 2Baja California Sur 1Chihuahua 1Guanajuato 5Hidalgo 3Jalisco 5México 2Mexico City 1Morelos 3Nuevo León 6Puebla 3Querétaro 2San Luis Potosí 1Sonora 1Tamaulipas 1Yucatán 1

Ranked cities in each region, January 2026.

Use this board

SmogRank, most polluted cities in Mexico, by people breathing unhealthy air, PM2.5, January 2026, smogrank.com/mx/history/2026-01?by=people (accessed 7 Oct 2026).

Download top 10 by average (PNG)

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.