Air quality comparison · Thailand, 750 km apart
Bangkok vs Hat Yai Air quality index (AQI) today
Hat Yai has cleaner air than Bangkok right now: AQI 14 (Good) against 58 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. Over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Hat Yai averaged AQI 23 against 68, and it was the cleaner of the two on 7 of those days. Hat Yai has lost more forest since 2001. Hat Yai has more tree cover.
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Bangkok58Hat Yai14
Head to head
Bangkok vs Hat Yai at a glance
Hat Yai is ahead on 5 of 6 measures, and Bangkok on 1. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Bangkok | Hat Yai | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 58 | 14 (better) |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 13.1 | 2.6 (better) |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 7 days. | 68 | 23 (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 236 ha (better) | 4,770 ha |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 11.7% | 15.0% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 52.1K | 47.1K (better) |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Bangkok and Hat Yai right now?
Hat Yai has cleaner air than Bangkok right now: AQI 14 (Good) against 58 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Bangkok is read from a nearby ground station and Hat Yai is a model estimate, so the two are not quite like for like.
BangkokHat Yai
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).
Bangkok: Ground station · National Economic and Social Development Council Office, 1.4 km away · median of 32 stations. Data: OpenAQ · Air4Thai, Pollution Control Department, Thailand · Air4Thai.
Hat Yai: Estimate · model corrected with 2 station cities within 165 km, e.g. Alor Setar and Kota Kuala Muda. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 2 ground-station cities within 165 km, US EPA index.
The past week
Which had cleaner air over the past 7 days?
Over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Hat Yai averaged AQI 23 against 68, and it was the cleaner of the two on 7 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
- Bangkok0Hat Yai7
- Average AQI
- Bangkok68Hat Yai23
- Worst day, AQI
- Bangkok80Hat Yai32
The daily numbers (7 days)
| Day | Bangkok | Hat Yai |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 4 | 80 | 24 |
| Nov 5 | 68 | 32 |
| Nov 6 | 67 | 31 |
| Nov 7 | 75 | 19 |
| Nov 8 | 75 | 19 |
| Nov 9 | 64 | 17 |
| Nov 10 | 46 | 21 |
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 Bangkok and Hat Yai today?
Bangkok (AQI 58, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Hat Yai (AQI 14, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Exercise outdoors
- Bangkok
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
- Hat Yai
- A good day to be active outside.
Windows
- Bangkok
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
- Hat Yai
- Open them to air the house.
Masks
- Bangkok
- Not needed for most people.
- Hat Yai
- Not needed.
Air purifier
- Bangkok
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
- Hat Yai
- Not needed.
Against everywhere else
How do Bangkok and Hat Yai compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Bangkok's air is cleaner than 49% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Hat Yai's is cleaner than 94%. Within Thailand, that is 43% and 100% of its 31 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Bangkok
- Beats 49%
- Hat Yai
- Beats 94%
More tree cover than…
- Bangkok
- Beats 26%
- Hat Yai
- Beats 34%
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, Bangkok or Hat Yai?
Hat Yai has lost more: about 4,770 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 236 ha around Bangkok. 4,760 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: 2010, with 50 ha lost.
Worst year: 2017, with 409 ha lost.
| Bangkok | Hat Yai | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 236 ha (better) | 4,770 ha |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 13% (better) | 41% |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 232 ha (better) | 4,760 ha |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Too little to call | Slowing down |
| Main known cause | Towns and roads (98%) | Farms, pasture and plantations (82%) |
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.
Bangkok
2017: satellite photo from February 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Hat Yai
2017: satellite photo from April 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km southeast of the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Bangkok or Hat Yai?
Hat Yai has more tree cover: 15.0% of the land within 2 km of its center against 11.7% around Bangkok, or about 47,124 trees against 33,302.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Bangkok | Hat Yai | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 33.3K | 47.1K (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 52.1K | 47.1K (better) |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 733K kg | 1.0M kg (better) |
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
Bangkok vs Hat Yai: your questions answered
Is Hat Yai cleaner than Bangkok?
On air quality, yes, right now: Hat Yai reads AQI 14 against 58, a gap of 44 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, Hat Yai averaged AQI 23 against 68, and it was the cleaner of the two on 7 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Bangkok and Hat Yai today?
In Bangkok, at AQI 58: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion. In Hat Yai, at AQI 14: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Which has lost more forest, Bangkok or Hat Yai?
Hat Yai has lost more: about 4,770 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 236 ha around Bangkok. 4,760 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Bangkok or Hat Yai?
Hat Yai has more tree cover: 15.0% of the land within 2 km of its center against 11.7% around Bangkok, or about 47,124 trees against 33,302. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Bangkok and Hat Yai need?
Bangkok needs about 52,087 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Hat Yai about 47,124 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Bangkok and Hat Yai 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. Bangkok is read from a nearby ground station and Hat Yai is a model estimate, so the two are not quite like for like. Nothing is adjusted for population, city limits or climate.
How often does the Bangkok vs Hat Yai 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 (Aug 3, 2026 and Aug 3, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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