Out of 33 major cities in the state, Mumbai ranks 26th, placing it in the lower half. Within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), its position is mixed, performing better than Navi Mumbai (22) and Virar (24), but worse than Mira Bhayandar (29) and Thane (33), which is the least polluted city in the state.

On a larger scale, Mumbai ranks 358th out of around 9500 cities globally and 150th in India, according to the IQAir World Air Quality Report 2025, which analysed data from 9446 cities across 143 countries.