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Highest risk cities in California

Highest air quality risk cities in California

Ranked city list for poor air quality and smoke stress, based on 1592/1592 eligible cities evaluated. Open any city to view local risk details and live outlook context.

P85-based state reference

AQI score

28/100

Updated Mon, Sep 21, 2:54 PM.

1592/1592 eligible cities evaluated

Open air quality outlook Browse all CA cities

More state ranking pages

Highest overall weather risk cities Highest flood risk cities Highest wind risk cities Highest lightning risk cities Highest wildfire risk cities Highest tornado risk cities

National comparisons:

Which state has the highest hurricane risk? →Which states have the highest AQI risk? →Which states have the highest wildfire risk? →Safest states for severe weather →States with the lowest flood exposure →

Ranked cities

Top 25 cities by aqi score from 1592 evaluated locations.

Open any city for full details

#1

Alta, CA

72 points above the state reference

#2

Alta Sierra, CA

72 points above the state reference

#3

Colfax, CA

72 points above the state reference

#4

Dutch Flat, CA

72 points above the state reference

#5

Foresthill, CA

72 points above the state reference

#6

Georgetown, CA

72 points above the state reference

#7

Grass Valley, CA

72 points above the state reference

#8

Lake of the Pines, CA

72 points above the state reference

#9

Meadow Vista, CA

72 points above the state reference

#10

Nevada City, CA

72 points above the state reference

#11

Rough and Ready, CA

69 points above the state reference

#12

Pike, CA

68 points above the state reference

#13

Washington, CA

68 points above the state reference

#14

Cool, CA

67 points above the state reference

#15

Penn Valley, CA

65 points above the state reference

#16

Alleghany, CA

64 points above the state reference

#17

Camptonville, CA

64 points above the state reference

#18

North San Juan, CA

64 points above the state reference

#19

Coloma, CA

55 points above the state reference

#20

Graniteville, CA

54 points above the state reference

#21

Lake Wildwood, CA

54 points above the state reference

#22

Smartsville, CA

54 points above the state reference

#23

Dobbins, CA

50 points above the state reference

#24

Challenge-Brownsville, CA

39 points above the state reference

#25

Placerville, CA

36 points above the state reference

How this ranking works

Rankings use HomeRiskIQ weather risk data across1592/1592 eligible cities evaluated.

Scores are normalized to a 0-100 scale. The state benchmark is a p85-based state reference, not an arithmetic average.

City entries link to hazard-specific pages where available, otherwise to the city overview.