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.
- =401SaijōEhime, Japan 0
- =401New Taipei CityTaipei, Taiwan 0
- 403ShenzhenTaiwan, Taiwan 0
- =404SofiaSofia-Capital, Bulgaria 0
- =404ComptonCalifornia, United States 0
- =404Los AngelesCalifornia, United States 0
- 407KurashikiOkayama, Japan 0
- =408CampinasSão Paulo, Brazil 0
- =408Little RockArkansas, United States 0
- =408AustinTexas, United States 0
- 411ShikokuchūōEhime, Japan 0
- 412FukuokaFukuoka, Japan 0
- 413TakamatsuKagawa, Japan 0
- 414Kakogawachō-honmachiHyōgo, Japan 0
- 415HayashimaOkayama, Japan 0
- =416HigashinozoeHyōgo, Japan 0
- =416AmstettenLower Austria, Austria 0
- =418MiyakonojōMiyazaki, Japan 0
- =418Kitakyushulast full day 11 OctFukuoka, Japan 0
- =418Attnang-PuchheimUpper Austria, Austria 0
- =421MinatoWakayama, Japan 0
- =421KureHiroshima, Japan 0
- =423SōjaOkayama, Japan 0
- =423KariyaAichi, Japan 0
- =423KotōKumamoto, Japan 0
- =426KumamotoKumamoto, Japan 0
- =426Kandalast full day 11 OctFukuoka, Japan 0
- =426MatsuyamaEhime, Japan 0
- =426ValenciaValencia, Spain 0
- =426Santa MonicaCalifornia, United States 0
- =431ShimonosekiYamaguchi, Japan 0
- =431InglewoodCalifornia, United States 0
- =433YokkaichiMie, Japan 0
- =433HonmachiKumamoto, Japan 0
- =433OsakaOsaka, Japan 0
- =433HiroshimaHiroshima, Japan 0
- =433Imizulast full day 22 SeptToyama, Japan 0
- =438AkashiHyōgo, Japan 0
- =438KishiwadaOsaka, Japan 0
- =440Takaokalast full day 22 SeptToyama, Japan 0
- =440La Línea de la ConcepciónAndalusia, Spain 0
- =440MercedCalifornia, United States 0
- =440TōkaiAichi, Japan 0
- =444UbeYamaguchi, Japan 0
- =444SakaiOsaka, Japan 0
- =444OkazakiAichi, Japan 0
- =444OkayamaOkayama, Japan 0
- =444ŌitaOita, Japan 0
- =444KyotoKyoto, Japan 0
- =444KainanWakayama, Japan 0
- =444IwakuniYamaguchi, Japan 0
- =444BilbaoBasque Country, Spain 0
- =444Fort WorthTexas, United States 0
- =454SuzukaMie, Japan 0
- =454SandachōHyōgo, Japan 0
- =454OyamaTochigi, Japan 0
- =454BayonneNew Aquitaine, France 0
- =454ShūnanYamaguchi, Japan 0
- =459MontpellierOccitanie, France 0
- =459JacksonMississippi, United States 0
- =461MenumaSaitama, Japan 0
- =461AtlantaGeorgia, United States 0
- =461LouisvilleKentucky, United States 0
- =464SakadoSaitama, Japan 0
- =464NagoyaAichi, Japan 0
- =464KukichūōSaitama, Japan 0
- =464KofuYamanashi, Japan 0
- =464HimejiHyōgo, Japan 0
- =469KobeHyōgo, Japan 0
- =469AiharaKanagawa, Japan 0
- =469MarseilleProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France 0
- =469OriaBasque Country, Spain 0
- =469CincinnatiOhio, United States 0
- =474UjiKyoto, Japan 0
- =474TokyoTokyo, Japan 0
- =474MiyazakiMiyazaki, Japan 0
- =474KōnosuSaitama, Japan 0
- =474KawaguchiSaitama, Japan 0
- =474Kashihara-shiNara, Japan 0
- =474ZaragozaAragon, Spain 0
- =474EvansvilleIndiana, United States 0
- =474AshlandKentucky, United States 0
- =474MorrisvilleNorth Carolina, United States 0
- =474KuwanaMie, Japan 0
- =485TakarazukaHyōgo, Japan 0
- =485KusatsuShiga, Japan 0
- =485KoshigayaSaitama, Japan 0
- =485KanbaraShizuoka, Japan 0
- =485GifuGifu, Japan 0
- =485GamagōriAichi, Japan 0
- =485ChristchurchCanterbury, New Zealand 0
- =485CharlotteNorth Carolina, United States 0
- =485JōyōKyoto, Japan 0
- =494SendaiKagoshima, Japan 0
- =494IwakiFukushima, Japan 0
- =494KosaiShizuoka, Japan 0
- =497TsuMie, Japan 0
- =497ToyohashiAichi, Japan 0
- =497KurihamaKanagawa, Japan 0
- =497IchinomiyaAichi, Japan 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.
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).