20 Least Polluted Cities in India (2023 Rankings)

Are you in search of a city in India with cleanest air to get a break from air pollution? Smart Air examined air quality data from 2022 for numerous Indian cities, resulting in the 2023 list of the ’20 Least Polluted Cities in India’ or ‘Best AQI Cities in India’.

Scroll down below for full overview of pollution free Indian city. It’s worth noting that the World Health Organization’s recommended annual limit is 5 micrograms.

List of Cities with Best Air Quality in India (2023)

1. Imphal (11.14 μg/m3)

Imphal city ranked number 1 least polluted city in India

2. Madikeri (17.04 μg/m3)

Madikeri city ranked number 2 least polluted city in India

3. Mysuru (19.10 μg/m3)

Mysuru city ranked number 3 least polluted city in India

4. Mangalore (20.07 μg/m3)

Mangalore city ranked number 4 least polluted city in India

5. Amaravati (20.78 μg/m3)

Amaravati city ranked number 5 least polluted city in India

6. Haldia (23.43 μg/m3)

Haldia city ranked number 5 least polluted city in India

7. Gorakhpur (24.83 μg/m3)

Gorakhpur city ranked number 7 least polluted city in India

8. Bagalkot (24.95 μg/m3)

Bagalkot city ranked number 8 least polluted city in India

9. Chennai (26.06 μg/m3)

Chennai city ranked number 9 least polluted city in India

10. Chikkaballapur (26.30 μg/m3)

Chikkaballapur city ranked number 10 least polluted city in India

11. Mandikhera (29.60 μg/m3)

Mandikhera city ranked number 11 least polluted city in India

12. Agartala (31.39 μg/m3)

Agartala city ranked number 12 least polluted city in India

13. Bengaluru (31.87 μg/m3)

Bengaluru city ranked number 13 least polluted city in India

14. Kolkata (32.00 μg/m3)

Kolkata city ranked number 14 least polluted city in India

15. Kollam (32.04 μg/m3)

Kollam city ranked number 15 least polluted city in India

16. Guwahati (32.36 μg/m3)

Guwahati city ranked number 16 least polluted city in India

17. Kannur (32.82 μg/m3)

Kannur city ranked number 17 least polluted city in India

18. Kozhikode (33.25 μg/m3)

Kozhikode city ranked number 18 least polluted city in India

19. Hyderabad (33.48 μg/m3)

Hyderabad city ranked number 19 least polluted city in India

20. Mandideep (33.50 μg/m3)

Mandideep city ranked number 20 least polluted city in India

Read More: The 25 Most Polluted Cities in the World for 2023?

Results: India’s Least Polluted Cities

Even though the above is a list of the least polluted cities in India, still none of the cities analyzed had pollution levels below the WHO recommended limit of 5 micrograms. The least polluted city in India, Imphal, had air pollution levels more than 2-times higher than the recommended limit. Six of the top twenty least polluted cities were located in Karnataka and the majority of the cities are in the South. Also, more monitoring devices are required to have adequate air quality data in a particular area, as most cities have limited monitoring stations in India which causes much of the pollution to go unreported. Furthermore, not all cities have equal monitoring stations. For example, Delhi has over 30 stations.

Top 20 least polluted cities in india graph

How Air Pollution Was Measured to Find Least Polluted Cities in India

There are various pollutants (both particles and gases) that can be found in the air. One of the most commonly tracked pollutants is very small, fine particles called PM2.5.

PM2.5 India

These small pollutants are under 2.5 micrograms in width and are considered to be one of the more dangerous pollutants due to their ability to enter deep into the lungs and bloodstream. The above rankings of the least polluted cities in India were ranked based on their 2022 average PM2.5 pollution levels. 

Recommended limits

The limit that is closely aligned with what studies show about the health effects of pollution is the annual limit of 5 micrograms/m3

Open Data

The raw PM2.5 AQI 2022 India pollution data used for the rankings of India’s most polluted cities are openly available on openaq.


Watch: Run Down of Top 5 Most Polluted Cities in the World
Top 5 Most Polluted Cities in the World (2020 Rankings)

Subscribe to Smart Air on YouTube Smart Air Youtube

How I Protect Myself

Smart Air is a certified B Corp committed to combating the myths big companies use to inflate the price of clean air.

Smart Air provides empirically backed, no-nonsense purifiers and masks, that remove the same particles as the big companies for a fraction of the cost. Only corporations benefit when clean air is a luxury.

For protection against air pollution, check out the Sqair!

Sqair Air Purifier

Free Guide to Breathing Safe

Want to learn more about breathing clean air? Join thousands more and stay up to date on protecting your health.

Subscribe
Notify of
4 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Smart Air low cost purifiers

Smart Air is a social enterprise and certified B-Corp that offers simple, no-nonsense air purifiers and provides free education to protect people from the harms of air pollution. We are proud to be the only certified B-Corp dedicated to fighting air pollution.

Certified B-Corp air purifier company