SmogRank / World / North America / Mexico

Most polluted cities in Mexico

46 measured cities, this year; 46 above the WHO annual guideline. Worst: Tuxtla at 30.1 µg/m³, #186 in the world.

About 729K people in these 16 cities breathed unhealthy air on an average day so far this year.

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 181K 150K0

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

Estimated: cities without a monitor

Mexico cities we can't measure, with model estimates for the last 7 days. Listed by population, not ranked: estimates aren't precise enough to rank. Model estimates from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), adjusted to measured cities nearby where there are any. Adjusted, a single day lands within ×1.5 of what a monitor would read about two times in three; unadjusted, it can be off by half or double. Treat them as a guide, not a measurement.

City	7-day estimate	Band
Iztapalapa	≈ 11 µg/m³	Moderate
Gustavo Adolfo Madero	≈ 13 µg/m³	Moderate
Chihuahua	≈ 6 µg/m³	Good
Cancún	≈ 6 µg/m³	Good
Hermosillo	≈ 4 µg/m³	Good
Culiacán	≈ 11 µg/m³	Moderate
Morelia	≈ 8 µg/m³	Good
Torreón	≈ 14 µg/m³	Moderate
Guadalupe	≈ 9 µg/m³	Good
Acapulco de Juárez	≈ 6 µg/m³	Good
Tlalnepantla	≈ 13 µg/m³	Moderate
Coyoacán	≈ 11 µg/m³	Moderate
Reynosa	≈ 10 µg/m³	Moderate
Tlalpan	≈ 11 µg/m³	Moderate
Cuautitlán Izcalli	≈ 13 µg/m³	Moderate
Cuauhtémoc	≈ 13 µg/m³	Moderate
Toluca	≈ 7 µg/m³	Good
Ciudad López Mateos	≈ 13 µg/m³	Moderate
Ensenada	≈ 9 µg/m³	Good
Xochimilco	≈ 11 µg/m³	Moderate
Veracruz	≈ 11 µg/m³	Moderate
Xalapa de Enríquez	≈ 11 µg/m³	Moderate
Nuevo Laredo	≈ 8 µg/m³	Good
Azcapotzalco	≈ 13 µg/m³	Moderate
San Nicolás de los Garza	≈ 9 µg/m³	Good
Tonalá	≈ 19 µg/m³	Moderate
Ojo de Agua	≈ 13 µg/m³	Moderate
Xico	≈ 10 µg/m³	Moderate
Iztacalco	≈ 11 µg/m³	Moderate
Mazatlán	≈ 6 µg/m³	Good
Miguel Hidalgo	≈ 13 µg/m³	Moderate
Benito Juarez	≈ 11 µg/m³	Moderate
Tapachula	≈ 11 µg/m³	Moderate
Villahermosa	≈ 18 µg/m³	Moderate
Ciudad Victoria	≈ 5 µg/m³	Good
Soledad de Graciano Sánchez	≈ 8 µg/m³	Good
Ciudad Obregón	≈ 7 µg/m³	Good
Ixtapaluca	≈ 10 µg/m³	Moderate
Coatzacoalcos	≈ 11 µg/m³	Moderate
Tampico	≈ 7 µg/m³	Good

Bad-air episodes in Mexico

• Southern United States and Mexico, September 202615 September 2026, 1 day8 cities37 µg/m³peak, Port Isabel
• Southern United States and Mexico, April 202625 to 28 April 2026, 4 days29 cities39 µg/m³peak, Laredo
• Southern United States and Mexico, February 202619 to 20 February 2026, 2 days20 cities48 µg/m³peak, Laredo
• Mexico, January 20265 to 9 January 2026, 5 days13 cities128 µg/m³peak, Aguascalientes
• Southern Mexico, January 20261 January 2026, 1 day20 cities182 µg/m³peak, Tlaquepaque
• Western United States and Mexico, December 202513 to 22 December 2025, 10 days27 cities172 µg/m³peak, Tijuana

Times when many cities here had PM2.5 at twice their usual or more on the same days.

All 34 episodes in Mexico

Use this board

SmogRank, most polluted cities in Mexico, PM2.5, this year to 6 Oct 2026, 23:00 UTC, smogrank.com/mx?w=year.

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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.

Regions

Measured cities in each region, this year.

Updated 2026-10-06 23:07 UTC. Values are PM2.5 (fine particles), the median of each city's monitors, as the US AQI PM2.5 sub-index.