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 250.
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 | 175.1 µg/m³ | 250 |
| 🥈 | Palembang | Indonesia | Unhealthy | 99.7 µg/m³ | 182 |
| 🥉 | Surat | India | Unhealthy | 87.8 µg/m³ | 174 |
| 4 | Faridabad | India | Unhealthy | 85.0 µg/m³ | 172 |
| =5 | Kano | Nigeria | Unhealthy | 84.1 µg/m³ | 171 |
| =5 | Kuwait City | Kuwait | Unhealthy | 83.8 µg/m³ | 171 |
| 6 | Khartoum | Sudan | Unhealthy | 81.3 µg/m³ | 169 |
| =7 | Mumbai | India | Unhealthy | 77.1 µg/m³ | 166 |
| =7 | Thāne | India | Unhealthy | 77.1 µg/m³ | 166 |
| 8 | Agra | India | Unhealthy | 75.7 µg/m³ | 165 |
| 9 | Faisalabad | Pakistan | Unhealthy | 69.2 µg/m³ | 161 |
| 10 | Najafgarh | India | Unhealthy | 63.8 µg/m³ | 157 |
| =11 | Lahore | Pakistan | Unhealthy | 63.3 µg/m³ | 156 |
| =11 | Changde | China | Unhealthy | 62.4 µg/m³ | 156 |
| =12 | Vadodara | India | Unhealthy | 61.2 µg/m³ | 155 |
| =12 | Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia | Unhealthy | 61.2 µg/m³ | 155 |
| =12 | Semarang | Indonesia | Unhealthy | 61.5 µg/m³ | 155 |
| 13 | Kaduna | Nigeria | Unhealthy | 57.7 µg/m³ | 153 |
| =14 | Delhi | India | Unhealthy | 56.9 µg/m³ | 152 |
| =14 | Ahmedabad | India | Unhealthy | 57.2 µg/m³ | 152 |
| =14 | Gujranwala | Pakistan | Unhealthy | 56.6 µg/m³ | 152 |
| =15 | Moscow | Russia | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 53.6 µg/m³ | 146 |
| =15 | Meerut | India | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 53.9 µg/m³ | 146 |
| 16 | Yiyang | China | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 51.8 µg/m³ | 141 |
| 17 | Bayan Nur | China | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 51.2 µg/m³ | 140 |
| 18 | Changsha | China | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 50.8 µg/m³ | 139 |
| =19 | Xi’an | China | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 49.9 µg/m³ | 136 |
| =19 | Nashik | India | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 49.6 µg/m³ | 136 |
| 20 | N'Djamena | Chad | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 48.3 µg/m³ | 133 |
| =21 | Jakarta | Indonesia | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 47.6 µg/m³ | 131 |
| =21 | Bekasi | Indonesia | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 47.6 µg/m³ | 131 |
| =21 | Depok | Indonesia | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 47.6 µg/m³ | 131 |
| =21 | South Tangerang | Indonesia | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 47.6 µg/m³ | 131 |
| 22 | Lucknow | India | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 47.3 µg/m³ | 130 |
| 23 | Kanpur | India | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 47.0 µg/m³ | 129 |
| =24 | Dhaka | Bangladesh | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 45.9 µg/m³ | 127 |
| =24 | Doha | Qatar | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 46.2 µg/m³ | 127 |
| 25 | N'Djamena | Chad | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 45.5 µg/m³ | 126 |
| 26 | Mecca | Saudi Arabia | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 45.1 µg/m³ | 125 |
| 27 | Kolkata | India | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 44.9 µg/m³ | 124 |
| 28 | Multan | Pakistan | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 44.5 µg/m³ | 123 |
| =29 | Yichang | China | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 43.1 µg/m³ | 120 |
| =29 | Jamshedpur | India | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 43.2 µg/m³ | 120 |
| =30 | Wuhan | China | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 42.8 µg/m³ | 119 |
| =30 | Dubai | United Arab Emirates | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 43.0 µg/m³ | 119 |
| 31 | Indore | India | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 42.6 µg/m³ | 118 |
| =32 | Chicago | United States | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 40.5 µg/m³ | 113 |
| =32 | Al Başrah al Qadīmah | Iraq | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 40.2 µg/m³ | 113 |
| =32 | Ganzhou | China | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 40.5 µg/m³ | 113 |
| =32 | Dammam | Saudi Arabia | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 40.5 µg/m³ | 113 |
| 33 | Kalyān | India | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 39.7 µg/m³ | 111 |
| 34 | Nowrangapur | India | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 39.3 µg/m³ | 110 |
| =35 | Beijing | China | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 38.9 µg/m³ | 109 |
| =35 | Basrah | Iraq | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 38.8 µg/m³ | 109 |
| =35 | Sharjah | United Arab Emirates | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 38.8 µg/m³ | 109 |
| =36 | Bangkok | Thailand | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 38.5 µg/m³ | 108 |
| =36 | Ankara | Türkiye | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 38.2 µg/m³ | 108 |
| =36 | Jepara | Indonesia | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 38.3 µg/m³ | 108 |
| =37 | Hanoi | Vietnam | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 37.8 µg/m³ | 107 |
| =37 | Guankou | China | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 38.1 µg/m³ | 107 |
| 38 | Abuja | Nigeria | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 37.6 µg/m³ | 106 |
| 39 | Nizhniy Novgorod | Russia | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 37.2 µg/m³ | 105 |
| 40 | Montréal | Canada | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 36.9 µg/m³ | 104 |
| =41 | Baghdad | Iraq | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 36.3 µg/m³ | 103 |
| =41 | Saint Petersburg | Russia | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 36.4 µg/m³ | 103 |
| =41 | Shijiazhuang | China | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 36.4 µg/m³ | 103 |
| 42 | Navi Mumbai | India | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 36.0 µg/m³ | 102 |
| 43 | Medan | Indonesia | Unhealthy (Sensitive) | 35.7 µg/m³ | 101 |
| 44 | Ra’s Bayrūt | Lebanon | Moderate | 35.3 µg/m³ | 100 |
| =45 | Shenzhen | China | Moderate | 34.8 µg/m³ | 99 |
| =45 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong | Moderate | 34.8 µg/m³ | 99 |
| =45 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong | Moderate | 34.8 µg/m³ | 99 |
| =45 | Jaipur | India | Moderate | 34.8 µg/m³ | 99 |
| =45 | Kowloon | Hong Kong | Moderate | 34.8 µg/m³ | 99 |
| =45 | Nanchong | China | Moderate | 34.9 µg/m³ | 99 |
| =45 | Niamey | Niger | Moderate | 34.6 µg/m³ | 99 |
| =45 | Pimpri | India | Moderate | 34.8 µg/m³ | 99 |
| =45 | Neijiang | China | Moderate | 34.8 µg/m³ | 99 |
| =46 | Zhongshan | China | Moderate | 34.2 µg/m³ | 98 |
| =46 | Houston | United States | Moderate | 34.2 µg/m³ | 98 |
| =46 | Zhuhai | China | Moderate | 34.1 µg/m³ | 98 |
| =46 | Jiangmen | China | Moderate | 34.2 µg/m³ | 98 |
| =47 | Nagpur | India | Moderate | 34.0 µg/m³ | 97 |
| =47 | Patna | India | Moderate | 33.9 µg/m³ | 97 |
| =47 | Ludhiāna | India | Moderate | 34.0 µg/m³ | 97 |
| =48 | Ho Chi Minh City | Vietnam | Moderate | 33.3 µg/m³ | 96 |
| =48 | Singapore | Singapore | Moderate | 33.2 µg/m³ | 96 |
| =48 | Singapore | Singapore | Moderate | 33.2 µg/m³ | 96 |
| =48 | Beirut | Lebanon | Moderate | 33.5 µg/m³ | 96 |
| =49 | Nanchang | China | Moderate | 32.6 µg/m³ | 95 |
| =49 | Khulna | Bangladesh | Moderate | 32.7 µg/m³ | 95 |
| =49 | Xiangyang | China | Moderate | 32.8 µg/m³ | 95 |
| =50 | Lagos | Nigeria | Moderate | 32.4 µg/m³ | 94 |
| =50 | Medina | Saudi Arabia | Moderate | 32.4 µg/m³ | 94 |
| =50 | Karbala | Iraq | Moderate | 32.4 µg/m³ | 94 |
| =51 | Ouagadougou | Burkina Faso | Moderate | 31.8 µg/m³ | 93 |
| =51 | Bandung | Indonesia | Moderate | 31.9 µg/m³ | 93 |
| =52 | Nanyang | China | Moderate | 31.0 µg/m³ | 92 |
| =52 | Abu Dhabi | United Arab Emirates | Moderate | 31.1 µg/m³ | 92 |
| =52 | Sofia | Bulgaria | Moderate | 31.2 µg/m³ | 92 |
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 250 (as of October 22, 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.