Cities With the Highest US AQI Right Now

Riyadh has the highest PM2.5-based US Air Quality Index in our major-city sample right now, at about 220.

Updated hourly. Last updated Aug 1, 2026, 6:05:08 AM UTC.

Cities with at least 200,000 residents; 100 cities shown.

Top Cities Ranked by US AQI

#	City	Country	Category	PM2.5	US AQI
🥇	Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	Very Unhealthy	144.4 µg/m³	220
🥈	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	Unhealthy	84.8 µg/m³	172
🥉	Kuwait City	Kuwait	Unhealthy	78.2 µg/m³	167
4	Cape Town	South Africa	Unhealthy	77.5 µg/m³	166
5	Dammam	Saudi Arabia	Unhealthy	71.5 µg/m³	162
=6	Al Başrah al Qadīmah	Iraq	Unhealthy	70.3 µg/m³	161
=6	Basrah	Iraq	Unhealthy	70.3 µg/m³	161
7	Doha	Qatar	Unhealthy	67.8 µg/m³	160
=8	Abu Dhabi	United Arab Emirates	Unhealthy	59.1 µg/m³	154
=8	Sharjah	United Arab Emirates	Unhealthy	59.8 µg/m³	154
9	Soweto	South Africa	Unhealthy	55.6 µg/m³	151
10	Johannesburg	South Africa	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	52.6 µg/m³	143
11	Cixi	China	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	51.1 µg/m³	139
=12	Mexico City	Mexico	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	47.5 µg/m³	131
=12	Ecatepec de Morelos	Mexico	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	47.5 µg/m³	131
13	Ordos	China	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	47.4 µg/m³	130
14	Hyderabad	Pakistan	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	46.8 µg/m³	129
=15	Beijing	China	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	45.9 µg/m³	127
=15	Yinchuan	China	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	46.1 µg/m³	127
16	Depok	Indonesia	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	42.7 µg/m³	119
=17	Tokyo	Japan	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	42.6 µg/m³	118
=17	Yokohama	Japan	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	42.6 µg/m³	118
=17	Kawasaki	Japan	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	42.6 µg/m³	118
=18	Jakarta	Indonesia	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	41.4 µg/m³	116
=18	Bekasi	Indonesia	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	41.4 µg/m³	116
=18	South Tangerang	Indonesia	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	41.4 µg/m³	116
19	Shanghai	China	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	41.2 µg/m³	115
=20	Suzhou	China	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	39.8 µg/m³	112
=20	Baotou	China	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	39.8 µg/m³	112
21	Qingdao	China	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	39.6 µg/m³	111
=22	Karachi	Pakistan	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	38.6 µg/m³	109
=22	Muscat	Oman	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	38.9 µg/m³	109
=23	Nantong	China	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	38.2 µg/m³	108
=23	Zhangjiagang	China	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	38.2 µg/m³	108
=24	Changshu	China	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	37.4 µg/m³	106
=24	Semarang	Indonesia	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	37.5 µg/m³	106
25	Kano	Nigeria	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	37.0 µg/m³	105
26	Dalian	China	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	36.8 µg/m³	104
=27	Moscow	Russia	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	36.0 µg/m³	102
=27	New York City	United States	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	36.1 µg/m³	102
=27	Ürümqi	China	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	36.0 µg/m³	102
=27	Ürümqi	China	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	36.0 µg/m³	102
=27	Brooklyn	United States	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	36.1 µg/m³	102
=27	Manhattan	United States	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	36.1 µg/m³	102
=27	The Bronx	United States	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	36.1 µg/m³	102
=28	Hanoi	Vietnam	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	35.6 µg/m³	101
=28	Kunshan	China	Unhealthy (Sensitive)	35.6 µg/m³	101
29	Bandung	Indonesia	Moderate	35.2 µg/m³	100
=30	Taipei	Taiwan	Moderate	34.8 µg/m³	99
=30	Hohhot	China	Moderate	34.7 µg/m³	99
=30	Najafgarh	India	Moderate	34.6 µg/m³	99
31	Faridabad	India	Moderate	34.3 µg/m³	98
32	Tangerang	Indonesia	Moderate	33.8 µg/m³	97
=33	Lahore	Pakistan	Moderate	33.4 µg/m³	96
=33	Sana'a	Yemen	Moderate	33.4 µg/m³	96
=33	Sanaa	Yemen	Moderate	33.4 µg/m³	96
=33	Peshawar	Pakistan	Moderate	33.2 µg/m³	96
34	Tianjin	China	Moderate	32.7 µg/m³	95
=35	Delhi	India	Moderate	31.0 µg/m³	92
=35	Ningbo	China	Moderate	31.0 µg/m³	92
=36	Tangshan	China	Moderate	29.9 µg/m³	90
=36	Queens	United States	Moderate	30.3 µg/m³	90
=37	Kinshasa	Democratic Republic of Congo	Moderate	29.6 µg/m³	89
=37	Brazzaville	Congo	Moderate	29.6 µg/m³	89
38	Jepara	Indonesia	Moderate	28.9 µg/m³	88
=39	Xiamen	China	Moderate	28.2 µg/m³	87
=39	Baoding	China	Moderate	28.2 µg/m³	87
=40	São Paulo	Brazil	Moderate	27.9 µg/m³	86
=40	Wuxi	China	Moderate	28.0 µg/m³	86
=40	Jiangyin	China	Moderate	27.9 µg/m³	86
=40	Quanzhou	China	Moderate	27.9 µg/m³	86
=40	Jinjiang	China	Moderate	27.9 µg/m³	86
=40	Gujranwala	Pakistan	Moderate	27.8 µg/m³	86
=40	Meerut	India	Moderate	27.8 µg/m³	86
=41	Luanda	Angola	Moderate	27.4 µg/m³	85
=41	Jeddah	Saudi Arabia	Moderate	27.2 µg/m³	85
=41	Kampala	Uganda	Moderate	27.6 µg/m³	85
=42	Faisalabad	Pakistan	Moderate	26.7 µg/m³	84
=42	Onitsha	Nigeria	Moderate	27.0 µg/m³	84
=43	Santiago	Chile	Moderate	26.4 µg/m³	83
=43	Lucknow	India	Moderate	26.1 µg/m³	83
=44	Casablanca	Morocco	Moderate	25.9 µg/m³	82
=44	Iztapalapa	Mexico	Moderate	25.6 µg/m³	82
=44	Kananga	Democratic Republic of Congo	Moderate	25.7 µg/m³	82
=45	Xi’an	China	Moderate	25.2 µg/m³	81
=45	Baghdad	Iraq	Moderate	25.2 µg/m³	81
=45	Ludhiāna	India	Moderate	25.4 µg/m³	81
=46	Seoul	South Korea	Moderate	24.6 µg/m³	80
=46	Incheon	South Korea	Moderate	24.6 µg/m³	80
=46	Manila	Philippines	Moderate	24.8 µg/m³	80
=46	Barcelona	Spain	Moderate	24.8 µg/m³	80
=46	Caloocan City	Philippines	Moderate	24.8 µg/m³	80
=46	Agra	India	Moderate	24.8 µg/m³	80
=46	Luoyang	China	Moderate	24.9 µg/m³	80
=47	Nairobi	Kenya	Moderate	24.2 µg/m³	79
=47	Beirut	Lebanon	Moderate	24.2 µg/m³	79
=47	Medellín	Colombia	Moderate	23.9 µg/m³	79
=47	Mecca	Saudi Arabia	Moderate	24.3 µg/m³	79
=47	Anshan	China	Moderate	24.2 µg/m³	79
=47	Ra’s Bayrūt	Lebanon	Moderate	24.2 µg/m³	79

Methodology: Current pollutant concentrations are sampled from WeatherAPI for up to 400 large cities; US AQI values are calculated from PM2.5 using EPA breakpoints.

Why Is the AQI So High in These Cities?

The US Air Quality Index translates pollutant concentration into a health scale from 0 to 500. This list uses the same PM2.5-based AQI calculation as Time.now's city air-quality pages so the score and health category remain consistent.

Frequently Asked Questions: Cities With the Highest US AQI Right Now

Which city has the highest AQI right now?

Among the major cities we track, Riyadh has the highest current PM2.5-based US AQI at about 220 (as of August 1, 2026).

How is the AQI calculated here?

We convert the current PM2.5 concentration through the US EPA breakpoint scale to produce a comparable 0-to-500 score.

Cities With the Highest US AQI Right Now

Top Cities Ranked by US AQI

Why Is the AQI So High in These Cities?

Frequently Asked Questions: Cities With the Highest US AQI Right Now

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