Air quality comparison · Greece, 215 km apart
Athens vs Lárisa Air quality index (AQI) today
Athens has cleaner air than Lárisa right now: AQI 42 (Good) against 69 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. Over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Athens averaged AQI 50 against 51, and it was the cleaner of the two on 3 of those days. Athens has lost more forest since 2001. Athens has more tree cover.
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Athens42Lárisa69
Head to head
Athens vs Lárisa at a glance
Athens is ahead on 5 of 6 measures, and Lárisa on 1. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Athens | Lárisa | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 42 (better) | 69 |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 7.5 (better) | 18.5 |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 7 days. | 50 (better) | 51 |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 116 ha | 23 ha (better) |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 16.2% (better) | 8.0% |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 43.4K (better) | 69.1K |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Athens and Lárisa right now?
Athens has cleaner air than Lárisa right now: AQI 42 (Good) against 69 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Lárisa's PM2.5 is about 1.2× the WHO's 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³.
Both readings come from nearby ground stations.
AthensLárisa
Concentrations at the same moment as the index above, for the pollutants both places report. Lower is better. The dark marks on the PM2.5 and PM10 rows show the WHO's 24-hour guidelines (15 and 45 µg/m³).
The past week
Which had cleaner air over the past 7 days?
Over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Athens averaged AQI 50 against 51, and it was the cleaner of the two on 3 of those days. A single reading can catch a city on a bad afternoon; the week says whether it was the weather or the place.
- Cleaner days
- Athens3Lárisa4
- Average AQI
- Athens50Lárisa51
- Worst day, AQI
- Athens61Lárisa64
The daily numbers (7 days)
| Day | Athens | Lárisa |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 4 | 48 | 46 |
| Nov 5 | 46 | 43 |
| Nov 6 | 49 | 52 |
| Nov 7 | 53 | 64 |
| Nov 8 | 38 | 51 |
| Nov 9 | 54 | 46 |
| Nov 10 | 61 | 58 |
Daily averages from the CAMS atmospheric model for both places, so the week compares like with like. They can differ from today's reading at the top of the page wherever that comes from a ground station.
What it means today
Is it safe to go outside in Athens and Lárisa today?
Athens (AQI 42, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Lárisa (AQI 69, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Exercise outdoors
- Athens
- A good day to be active outside.
- Lárisa
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
Windows
- Athens
- Open them to air the house.
- Lárisa
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
Masks
- Athens
- Not needed.
- Lárisa
- Not needed for most people.
Air purifier
- Athens
- Not needed.
- Lárisa
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
Against everywhere else
How do Athens and Lárisa compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Athens's air is cleaner than 68% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Lárisa's is cleaner than 39%. Within Greece, that is 80% and 20% of its 6 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Athens
- Beats 68%
- Lárisa
- Beats 39%
More tree cover than…
- Athens
- Beats 37%
- Lárisa
- Beats 16%
Includes model estimates as well as station readings, so it can differ from our most polluted and cleanest air rankings, which use station readings only.
Deforestation · 2001–2025
Which has lost more forest, Athens or Lárisa?
Athens has lost more: about 116 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 23 ha around Lárisa. 5 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Measured within 10 km of each center, from the yearly satellite maps of forest loss: a wider circle than the one for tree cover, because forest is usually lost at a city's edges.
Worst year: 2008, with 44 ha lost.
Worst year: 2002, with 8 ha lost.
| Athens | Lárisa | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 116 ha | 23 ha (better) |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 9.4% | 6.1% (better) |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 5 ha (better) | 13 ha |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Too little to call | Too little to call |
| Main known cause | Wildfires (92%) | Farms, pasture and plantations (38%) |
Satellite timelapses
Watch both change, year by year
A clear satellite photo a year of the land around each city. Press play, turn on the forest cleared since the first year, or drag the before and after.
Athens
2017: satellite photo from July 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Lárisa
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Athens or Lárisa?
Athens has more tree cover: 16.2% of the land within 2 km of its center against 8.0% around Lárisa, or about 50,894 trees against 25,133.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Athens | Lárisa | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 50.9K (better) | 25.1K |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 43.4K (better) | 69.1K |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 1.1M kg (better) | 553K kg |
Tree cover on the satellite image
The same 2 km radius around each center, with the tree cover the satellite found marked on it.
Reading these numbers
How this comparison is made
Air quality index
The US EPA index, computed from current pollutant concentrations: ground stations where a place has them nearby, and the CAMS atmospheric model everywhere else. It moves hour to hour, so it is a snapshot rather than a verdict on either place. The guideline marks are from the WHO's 2021 air quality guidelines.
Trees and forest
Tree cover is the share of ground under canopy within 2 km of each center, read from Sentinel-2 satellite imagery at 10 m detail. It measures that circle, not the whole municipality, which is what makes the two comparable. Forest loss comes from the University of Maryland's Global Forest Change maps.
More on the method on the About Airleaf page.
Frequently asked
Athens vs Lárisa: your questions answered
Is Athens cleaner than Lárisa?
On air quality, yes, right now: Athens reads AQI 42 against 69, a gap of 27 points on the US EPA index. This is a live reading rather than an annual average, so it can reverse within a day. Over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Athens averaged AQI 50 against 51, and it was the cleaner of the two on 3 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Athens and Lárisa today?
In Athens, at AQI 42: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone. In Lárisa, at AQI 69: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Which has lost more forest, Athens or Lárisa?
Athens has lost more: about 116 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 23 ha around Lárisa. 5 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Athens or Lárisa?
Athens has more tree cover: 16.2% of the land within 2 km of its center against 8.0% around Lárisa, or about 50,894 trees against 25,133. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Athens and Lárisa need?
Athens needs about 43,354 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Lárisa about 69,115 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Athens and Lárisa measured the same way?
The method is the same: the US EPA index for air, and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery at 10 m detail over an identical radius for trees. Both readings come from nearby ground stations. Nothing is adjusted for population, city limits or climate.
How often does the Athens vs Lárisa comparison update?
The air readings refresh about once an hour, and each reading's local time is shown at the top of the page. Tree cover comes from the latest clear satellite image of each area (Sep 18, 2026 and Sep 14, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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