Air Quality in Cedar Rapids, Iowa — Live

Live readings from PurpleAir sensors across Cedar Rapids — with free alerts the moment the air actually turns.

Live Cedar Rapids AQI from nearby PurpleAir sensors loads when this page opens in a browser, along with a live sensor map covering Cedar Rapids and Marion, Hiawatha, Robins, Fairfax.

Most days, Cedar Rapids's air is fine by the numbers — but the city has two distinct air stories, and they aren't the same thing. One is a nose-level nuisance: Cedar Rapids has been needled for a century about its smell, thanks to the grain-processing plants that line the Cedar River, and locals still half-joke about the "City of Five Smells." The other is a real health event: on June 27, 2023, smoke drifting down from Canadian wildfires pushed the city's measured AQI to 264, the worst air quality on record here and briefly the highest reading anywhere in Iowa.

Canairy watches the sensors around your home, your kids' school, and everywhere else you care about, and tells you in plain English when the air changes enough to matter.

Cedar Rapids has smelled like breakfast for a century

The nickname "City of Five Smells" dates to the 1970s, when residents started tallying the combination drifting through downtown: the Quaker Oats and Penford grain-processing plants, a hog slaughterhouse, and the city's sewage plant and landfill. The Quaker plant, now run by PepsiCo, is still operating on the same bank of the Cedar River it has occupied since 1873 — the World Record Academy has recognized it as the largest cereal plant on Earth, with roughly 1,000 workers turning corn and oats into cereal, grits, and snacks around the clock.

That smell is real, but it's worth separating from the AQI number this page tracks. Grain dust and cooking odors are mostly volatile compounds that your nose catches long before a PM2.5 sensor would call the air unhealthy. On a still, humid summer evening, the smell can hang heaviest over downtown and the near southwest side closest to the mills, even on a day the AQI reads Good. Cargill, ADM, and General Mills all still run processing plants in the metro too, so the city's grain-belt economy is baked into its air, for better and worse.

The worst air Cedar Rapids has ever measured came from Canada

On June 27, 2023, smoke from Canadian wildfires poured into eastern Iowa and pushed Cedar Rapids's AQI to 264 — very unhealthy, and the highest reading recorded anywhere in the state that day. Linn County Public Health issued an alert warning that fine particles were dangerous for people with heart or lung disease, and visibility dropped to about two miles as the haze settled over downtown.

It wasn't a one-time fluke. Iowa had already gotten a preview in the summer of 2021, when smoke from wildfires burning in the western US and Canada pushed air quality alerts across the state in late July and early August. Cedar Rapids sits on flat land with no mountains or valley walls to trap that smoke, so once a plume moves through it usually clears faster than in a basin city — but while it's overhead, the reading can spike further and faster than almost anything the city's own industry produces.

Telling a smell day from a smoke day matters

A funky evening near the Quaker plant and a genuine wildfire-smoke alert call for different responses, and the difference is worth knowing before either one hits. Grain-plant odor is unpleasant but usually a Good or Moderate AQI day; a Canadian smoke plume like the one in June 2023 is a real spike into Unhealthy or worse, and that's when closing windows and moving workouts indoors actually matters for your lungs, not just your nose.

Because Cedar Rapids does not sit in a valley or bowl, bad air here tends to be a passing event rather than a multi-day trap — but a passing spike can still be severe while it's overhead. Checking the number before you commit to an afternoon outside, especially for kids, older adults, or anyone with asthma, is the difference between guessing from the smell and actually knowing.

Cedar Rapids air quality FAQ

What is the air quality in Cedar Rapids right now?

This page shows the current AQI for Cedar Rapids, calculated from PurpleAir sensors across the city and updated continuously. The map below shows every live sensor, so you can check the reading closest to your own neighborhood.

Why does Cedar Rapids smell like cereal?

The Quaker Oats plant on the Cedar River, now owned by PepsiCo, is recognized by the World Record Academy as the largest cereal plant in the world, and it has been running since 1873. Combined with other grain-processing plants nearby, the smell is real enough that locals have called Cedar Rapids the "City of Five Smells" since the 1970s — though the odor mostly reflects volatile compounds your nose catches, not necessarily a high PM2.5 reading.

What caused Cedar Rapids's worst air quality day on record?

On June 27, 2023, smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted into eastern Iowa and pushed Cedar Rapids's AQI to 264, the highest recorded in the city's history and the worst in Iowa that day. Linn County Public Health urged residents with heart or lung conditions to stay indoors until the smoke cleared.

What AQI level is unhealthy?

Under the US EPA scale, AQI 0-50 is Good and 51-100 is Moderate. From 101 the air is Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups - kids, older adults, and people with asthma or heart conditions - and above 150 it's Unhealthy for everyone. Canairy translates these numbers into a plain-English verdict, like whether to close the windows or move a workout indoors.

Where does Canairy's Cedar Rapids data come from?

Readings come from PurpleAir's network of laser particle sensors across Cedar Rapids and surrounding towns, cross-referenced with government monitors and the Google Air Quality API. You can see every sensor behind your numbers on the live map - there's no black box.

Is Canairy free?

Yes. The Canairy app is free to download and includes live air quality for all your saved places, plain-English verdicts, and free push alerts when the air crosses your threshold. A paid plan adds extras like SMS text alerts.

Get Canairy free on Google Play.