Air quality by country

Air quality in South Africa today

Updated Sun, 25 Oct 2026 19:43:35 GMT

Moderate: average US AQI 60 across 50 cities Worst now: Johannesburg (81); cleanest: Wellington, Western Cape (30).

Live US AQI, PM2.5 and ozone for cities across South Africa, ranked from most polluted to cleanest.

Average US AQI: 60 Moderate
Most polluted now: Johannesburg AQI 81
Cleanest now: Wellington, Western Cape AQI 30
Cities above 100: 0 unhealthy for sensitive groups or worse

Air quality in South Africa today

Right now the modelled air quality in South Africa averages a US AQI of 60 (Moderate) across the 50 cities we track. By category: 13 Good, 37 Moderate (of 50).

That is 5 points better than the worldwide average of 65 across 3,909 cities.

Johannesburg has the worst air at 81 with PM2.5 at 47 µg/m³, while Wellington, Western Cape is cleanest at 30. No tracked city is above 100, the level where sensitive groups are advised to cut back outdoors.

South Africa cities by AQI (most polluted first)

City	Region	US AQI	Category	PM2.5 µg/m³	Ozone µg/m³
Johannesburg	Gauteng	81	Moderate	46.9	38
Soweto	Gauteng	81	Moderate	46.9	38
Evaton	Gauteng	81	Moderate	46.9	38
Roodepoort	Gauteng	81	Moderate	46.9	38
Westonaria	Gauteng	81	Moderate	46.9	38
Randfontein	Gauteng	81	Moderate	46.9	38
Alberton	Gauteng	81	Moderate	46.9	38
Vereeniging	Gauteng	74	Moderate	31.1	53
Emalahleni	Mpumalanga	74	Moderate	22.9	94
Benoni	Gauteng	73	Moderate	29.3	73
Thembisa	Gauteng	73	Moderate	29.3	73
Boksburg	Gauteng	73	Moderate	29.3	73
Brakpan	Gauteng	73	Moderate	29.3	73
Germiston	Gauteng	73	Moderate	29.3	73
Tokoza	Gauteng	73	Moderate	29.3	73
Tongaat	KwaZulu-Natal	70	Moderate	7.9	66
Randburg	Gauteng	69	Moderate	33.1	52
Pietermaritzburg	KwaZulu-Natal	68	Moderate	6.6	53
Polokwane	Limpopo	67	Moderate	14.9	67
Pretoria	Gauteng	62	Moderate	18.5	86
Soshanguve	Gauteng	62	Moderate	18.5	86
Centurion	Gauteng	62	Moderate	18.5	86
Mabopane	Gauteng	62	Moderate	18.5	86
Carolina, Mpumalanga	Mpumalanga	62	Moderate	14.9	76
Gqeberha	Eastern Cape	59	Moderate	24.6	38
Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal	KwaZulu-Natal	57	Moderate	15.9	56
Richmond, KwaZulu-Natal	KwaZulu-Natal	57	Moderate	5.3	65
Durban	KwaZulu-Natal	56	Moderate	8.5	69
Pinetown	KwaZulu-Natal	56	Moderate	8.5	69
Ntuzuma	KwaZulu-Natal	56	Moderate	8.5	69
Belfast, Mpumalanga	Mpumalanga	56	Moderate	15.4	85
Krugersdorp	Gauteng	53	Moderate	14.1	81
Cape Town	Western Cape	52	Moderate	7.7	51
Kariega	Eastern Cape	52	Moderate	12.6	43
Mthatha	Eastern Cape	52	Moderate	4	55
Motherwell	Eastern Cape	52	Moderate	12.6	43
East London	Eastern Cape	51	Moderate	9.5	67
Rustenburg	North West	50	Good	12.9	82
Carletonville	Gauteng	50	Good	11.7	70
Orkney	North West	49	Good	11.4	55
Welkom	Free State	48	Good	10	61
Virginia	Free State	48	Good	10	61
Botshabelo	Free State	43	Good	3.9	77
Bloemfontein	Free State	42	Good	4.5	79
George	Western Cape	42	Good	6.7	48
Kimberley	Northern Cape	41	Good	5	77
Worcester, Western Cape	Western Cape	33	Good	6.4	60
Queenstown	Eastern Cape	32	Good	2.7	56
Paarl	Western Cape	30	Good	7.6	37
Wellington, Western Cape	Western Cape	30	Good	7.6	37

What the US AQI numbers mean

US AQI	Category	What it means
0-50	Good	Air quality is satisfactory and poses little or no risk; a good time for outdoor activity.
51-100	Moderate	Acceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors.
101-150	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens should cut back on prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors.
151-200	Unhealthy	Everyone should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors; sensitive groups should avoid it and keep windows closed.
201-300	Very Unhealthy	Health alert: everyone should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors, and sensitive groups should stay indoors.
301-500	Hazardous	Emergency conditions: everyone should avoid all outdoor physical activity and stay indoors with filtered air if possible. The scale tops out at 500; heavier dust or smoke is shown as 500.

Modelled by CAMS (Copernicus) via Open-Meteo, refreshed twice a day; read hour by hour from the forecast.

Data: Open-Meteo Air Quality API, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS).

Air quality in South Africa today

Air quality in South Africa today

South Africa cities by AQI (most polluted first)

What the US AQI numbers mean

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