SmogRank / World / United States / California / January 2026

Most polluted cities in California, United States, January 2026

126 cities in California, United States ranked by their average PM2.5 over the 31 days. Worst: Delano at 32.6 µg/m³, #151 of 2,593 cities in the world. Cleanest: Lompoc at 1.8. A city needs measurements on 70% of the days to be ranked.

About 196K people in these 23 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.

← Fresno 87.4K 80K0
Every city in California, United States 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. 1Fresno
    87.4K
  2. 2Bakersfield
    60.3K
  3. 3Elk Grovelow-cost sensors
    37.9K
  4. 4Fremontlow-cost sensors
    8.6K
  5. 5Palo Altolow-cost sensors
    2.16K
  6. 6Merced
    0
  7. 7Compton
    0
  8. 8Carsonlow-cost sensors
    0
  9. 8San Jose
    0
  10. 10Inglewoodlow-cost sensors
    0
  11. 11Sunnyvalelow-cost sensors
    0
  12. 11Torrancelow-cost sensors
    0
  13. 13Los Angeles
    0
  14. 14Watsonvillelow-cost sensors
    0
  15. 15Santa Monicalow-cost sensors
    0
  16. 16Prunedalelow-cost sensors
    0
  17. 17Live Oaklow-cost sensors
    0
  18. 18Agouralow-cost sensors
    0
  19. 19Windsorlow-cost sensors
    0
  20. 20La Crescenta-Montroselow-cost sensors
    0
  21. 21Seasidelow-cost sensors
    0
  22. 22Banning
    0
  23. 22Goletalow-cost sensors
    0

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
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 · All cities in United States, January 2026 · California now

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SmogRank, most polluted cities in California, United States, PM2.5, January 2026, smogrank.com/us/region/california/history/2026-01 (accessed 7 Oct 2026).

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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.