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California air quality today

Updated · LIVE · 7 metros tracked

Across the 7 California metros we measure, air is worst right now in Bakersfield at AQI 61 (Moderate) and cleanest in Sacramento at AQI 22. That is a 39-point spread inside one state — a state-level number would hide it, which is why this page does not publish one.

Every California metro we track

#MetroAQIUV nowDominant
1 Bakersfield 61Moderate 2.6 PM2.5
2 Fresno 56Moderate 2.5 PM2.5
3 Oakland 49Good 1.3 PM2.5
4 Long Beach 34Good 2.6 PM2.5
5 Los Angeles 28Good 2.7 PM2.5
6 Sacramento 22Good 2.1 PM2.5
— Irvine —no data 2.6 feed down

Sun over California today

The strongest UV in California today is 9.6 (Very High) in Los Angeles, arriving around 1pm local time. The mildest of the 7 metros we model here peaks at 7.8 in Oakland.

9.6 Los Angeles 1pm9.6 Irvine 1pm9.6 Long Beach 1pm9.4 Bakersfield 1pm9.1 Fresno 1pm8.4 Sacramento 1pm

UV is modelled, not measured — unlike the AQI above it, which comes off an instrument. Hour by hour in Los Angeles →

What stands behind these California numbers

6 of the 7 metros here report from a named regulatory monitor. 1 metro has no reading at all right now: Irvine. The dominant pollutant across California today is PM2.5.

We track 7 metropolitan areas in California, not the whole state, and 7 of them have a page of its own. There is no state-wide average here on purpose: averaging 7 metros into one figure would invent a value for all the ground between them. How we measure, and what we refuse to estimate →

Neighbouring states

Smoke and inversions do not stop at a state line, so when California looks wrong the answer is often next door.

ArizonaNevadaOregon
Worst air in the US right nowHow California compares against every metro we track What the number meansEPA bands, and where “unhealthy for everyone” starts

Updated