SmogRank / Rankings

622 cities by people breathing unhealthy air, this year

Every city with enough measurements in this window, worst first.

CPCB in India: no readings since 12 Oct (488 monitors). EEA in Spain: no readings since 13 Oct (310 monitors). Their cities show older figures or are missing from this board, not clean.

About 106M people in these 622 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.

  1. 301FukuyamaHiroshima, Japan 1.66K
  2. 302WenatcheeWashington, United States 1.65K
  3. 303GwangyangJeollanam-do, South Korea 1.64K
  4. 304RouenNormandy, France 1.63K
  5. 305MaconGeorgia, United States 1.61K
  6. 306KwangyangJeollanam-do, South Korea 1.58K
  7. 307Lübecklast full day 10 OctSchleswig-Holstein, Germany 1.56K
  8. 308ChangsuJeollabuk-do, South Korea 1.55K
  9. 309SinhyeonGyeongsangnam-do, South Korea 1.54K
  10. 310Barra da TijucaRio de Janeiro, Brazil 1.52K
  11. 311DunkirkHauts-de-France, France 1.51K
  12. 312Celayalast full day 11 OctGuanajuato, Mexico 1.51K
  13. 313Des MoinesIowa, United States 1.5K
  14. 314Fort McMurrayAlberta, Canada 1.4K
  15. 315CharleroiWallonia, Belgium 1.4K
  16. 316EvanstonIllinois, United States 1.33K
  17. 317VenloLimburg, The Netherlands 1.33K
  18. 318CanberraAustralian Capital Territory, Australia 1.3K
  19. 319Wittenberglast full day 10 OctSaxony-Anhalt, Germany 1.28K
  20. 320SouthamptonEngland, United Kingdom 1.26K
  21. 321SalemOregon, United States 1.23K
  22. 322Taesal-liChungcheongnam-do, South Korea 1.22K
  23. 323NiceProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France 1.2K
  24. 324Voluntarilast full day 10 OctIlfov, Romania 1.18K
  25. 325NottinghamEngland, United Kingdom 1.18K
  26. 326Corpus ChristiTexas, United States 1.11K
  27. 327ImsilJeollabuk-do, South Korea 1.11K
  28. 328Bernau bei BerlinBrandenburg, Germany 1.11K
  29. 329SintansinDaejeon, South Korea 1.08K
  30. 330Trierlast full day 10 OctRheinland-Pfalz, Germany 1.07K
  31. 331Yongsan-dongSeoul, South Korea 1.01K
  32. 332HakodateHokkaido, Japan 981
  33. 333ZnojmoSouth Moravian, Czechia 941
  34. 334MetzGrand Est, France 939
  35. 335Cartagenalast full day 11 OctMurcia, Spain 918
  36. 336Kiellast full day 10 OctSchleswig-Holstein, Germany 912
  37. 337NitraNitra Region, Slovakia 906
  38. 338ArrecifeCanary Islands, Spain 867
  39. 339NaesŏGyeongsangnam-do, South Korea 855
  40. 340HartfordConnecticut, United States 847
  41. 341GabrovoGabrovo, Bulgaria 844
  42. 342GlendaleArizona, United States 840
  43. 343ArvadaColorado, United States 812
  44. 344RichmondVirginia, United States 792
  45. 345PortsmouthEngland, United Kingdom 759
  46. 346WilmingtonDelaware, United States 744
  47. 347SeogwipoJeju-do, South Korea 703
  48. 348LiègeWallonia, Belgium 683
  49. 349SidonSouth Governorate, Lebanon 627
  50. 350BaselBasel-City, Switzerland 621
  51. 351PendletonOregon, United States 590
  52. 352BarneveldGelderland, The Netherlands 580
  53. 353LewistonIdaho, United States 569
  54. 354Jilavalast full day 10 OctIlfov, Romania 554
  55. 355CasertaCampania, Italy 550
  56. 356Fort Leelast full day 11 OctNew Jersey, United States 517
  57. 357BeverenFlanders, Belgium 477
  58. 358ErlinTaiwan, Taiwan 468
  59. 359PulheimNorth Rhine-Westphalia, Germany 456
  60. 360PuchuncavíValparaiso, Chile 454
  61. 361CandelariaCanary Islands, Spain 428
  62. 362NeiliTaiwan, Taiwan 402
  63. 363OlpeNorth Rhine-Westphalia, Germany 362
  64. 364NewarkDelaware, United States 355
  65. 365NeuenhagenBrandenburg, Germany 348
  66. 366MiddletownOhio, United States 343
  67. 367OconomowocWisconsin, United States 343
  68. 368MuanJeollanam-do, South Korea 329
  69. 369LynnMassachusetts, United States 323
  70. 370MiddletonWisconsin, United States 316
  71. 371MeadWashington, United States 306
  72. 372JülichNorth Rhine-Westphalia, Germany 296
  73. 373West MifflinPennsylvania, United States 281
  74. 374Weirtonlast full day 10 OctWest Virginia, United States 273
  75. 375TatsunoHyōgo, Japan 264
  76. 376TimaruCanterbury, New Zealand 209
  77. 377Burghausenlast full day 10 OctBavaria, Germany 202
  78. 378TullnLower Austria, Austria 174
  79. 379Fürstenfeldlast full day 24 SeptStyria, Austria 166
  80. 380VoitsbergStyria, Austria 165
  81. 381Chalon-sur-SaôneBourgogne-Franche-Comté, France 165
  82. 382ToppenishWashington, United States 157
  83. 383Wake ForestNorth Carolina, United States 134
  84. 384ZelzateFlanders, Belgium 125
  85. 385MelseleFlanders, Belgium 123
  86. 386Hood RiverOregon, United States 118
  87. 387TsushimaNagasaki, Japan 101
  88. 388GaigeturiJeju-do, South Korea 93
  89. 389Groß-EnzersdorfLower Austria, Austria 93
  90. 390ClintonIowa, United States 92
  91. 391CotaCundinamarca, Colombia 78
  92. 392BendorfRheinland-Pfalz, Germany 78
  93. 393StabroekFlanders, Belgium 61
  94. 394Sunland ParkNew Mexico, United States 57
  95. 395Knittelfeldlast full day 24 SeptStyria, Austria 43
  96. 396Kalaburagilast full day 11 OctKarnataka, India 0
  97. =397DurgChhattisgarh, India 0
  98. =397KaohsiungTakao, Taiwan 0
  99. 399TaichungTaiwan, Taiwan 0
  100. 400TaipeiTaiwan, Taiwan 0

What stands behind each figure: Checked at 2+ sites One reference monitor Low-cost sensors About these marks

Low-cost sensors: consumer units, counted only in cities with no government-grade monitor; they read close to reference monitors on the whole, but 15 to 25% high in humid air. How we use them.

Good0–50
Moderate51–100
Unhealthy for 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

Not covered: the government monitoring networks of China, Turkey and Iran, which publish only on their own websites. We are building the reader for China's network. The networks of Turkey and Iran don't answer requests from outside their countries, so we can't read them. Most cities there are missing from this board, not clean. Why.

Use this board

SmogRank, all cities ranked by people breathing unhealthy air (PM2.5), this year to 14 Oct 2026, 07:00 UTC: each city's population times its share of measured days with a daily mean over 35.4 µg/m³ (only cities with 2 or more monitoring places 3 km or more apart), cities measured on 70% or more of the days since 1 January (at least 14). Monitor data from national networks via OpenAQ and the publishers listed at smogrank.com/sources. smogrank.com/rankings?w=year&by=people. Ranked on low-cost sensors, with no reference monitor in the city: #1 Lahore, #3 Dhaka, #4 Lagos, #5 Peshawar, #6 Karachi and #7 Faisalabad. Some values from Sensor.Community, ODbL. Some readings from Aurassure; Vietnam's government monitors; Department of Environment, Nepal; RMCAB (Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente, Bogotá); Umhverfisstofnun (Environment Agency of Iceland), no reuse terms published.

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.

Updated 2026-10-14 07:07 UTC. Values are PM2.5 (fine particles), the median of each city's monitors, as the US AQI PM2.5 sub-index. Some low-cost readings: Sensor.Community, ODbL (data and licence). Some readings: Aurassure; Vietnam's government monitors; Department of Environment, Nepal; RMCAB (Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente, Bogotá); Umhverfisstofnun (Environment Agency of Iceland), no reuse terms published (why we use them).