Air quality comparison · Spain, 255 km apart
Barcelona vs Zaragoza Air quality index (AQI) today
Zaragoza has cleaner air than Barcelona right now: AQI 19 (Good) against 31 (Good).
Both sit in the same EPA band, so the health advice is the same for each today. Over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Zaragoza averaged AQI 52 against 69, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 of those days. Zaragoza has lost more forest since 2001. Zaragoza has more tree cover.
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Barcelona31Zaragoza19
Head to head
Barcelona vs Zaragoza at a glance
Zaragoza is ahead on 5 of 6 measures, and Barcelona on 1. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Barcelona | Zaragoza | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 31 | 19 (better) |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 5.6 | 3.2 (better) |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 6 days. | 69 | 52 (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 48 ha (better) | 69 ha |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 9.6% | 13.5% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 64.1K | 50.3K (better) |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Barcelona and Zaragoza right now?
Zaragoza has cleaner air than Barcelona right now: AQI 19 (Good) against 31 (Good). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Barcelona is read from a nearby ground station and Zaragoza is a model estimate, so the two are not quite like for like.
BarcelonaZaragoza
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).
Barcelona: Ground station · Barcelona - Camp d'en Grassot, 1.6 km away · median of 13 stations. Data: OpenAQ · AirGradient, EEA, Elías P., Timea Kiss, gonsalwy, J.BCN.
Zaragoza: Estimate · model corrected with 8 station cities within 250 km, e.g. Castelló de la Plana and Vitoria-Gasteiz. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 8 ground-station cities within 250 km, US EPA index.
The past week
Which had cleaner air over the past 6 days?
Over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Zaragoza averaged AQI 52 against 69, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 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
- Barcelona0Zaragoza6
- Average AQI
- Barcelona69Zaragoza52
- Worst day, AQI
- Barcelona78Zaragoza63
The daily numbers (6 days)
| Day | Barcelona | Zaragoza |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 5 | 67 | 55 |
| Nov 6 | 61 | 57 |
| Nov 7 | 78 | 63 |
| Nov 8 | 77 | 60 |
| Nov 9 | 66 | 43 |
| Nov 10 | 64 | 32 |
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 Barcelona and Zaragoza today?
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone. Both are in the same EPA band today (Good), so the advice is the same.
Exercise outdoors
A good day to be active outside.
Windows
Open them to air the house.
Masks
Not needed.
Air purifier
Not needed.
Against everywhere else
How do Barcelona and Zaragoza compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Barcelona's air is cleaner than 78% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Zaragoza's is cleaner than 89%. Within Spain, that is 43% and 80% of its 57 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Barcelona
- Beats 78%
- Zaragoza
- Beats 89%
More tree cover than…
- Barcelona
- Beats 20%
- Zaragoza
- Beats 31%
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, Barcelona or Zaragoza?
Zaragoza has lost more: about 69 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 48 ha around Barcelona. 49 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: 2023, with 6 ha lost.
Worst year: 2001, with 16 ha lost.
| Barcelona | Zaragoza | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 48 ha (better) | 69 ha |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 1.1% (better) | 12% |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 26 ha (better) | 49 ha |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Too little to call | Too little to call |
| Main known cause | Towns and roads (53%) | Farms, pasture and plantations (59%) |
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.
Barcelona
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Zaragoza
2017: satellite photo from July 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Barcelona or Zaragoza?
Zaragoza has more tree cover: 13.5% of the land within 2 km of its center against 9.6% around Barcelona, or about 41,139 trees against 30,159.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Barcelona | Zaragoza | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 30.2K | 41.1K (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 64.1K | 50.3K (better) |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 663K kg | 905K 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
Barcelona vs Zaragoza: your questions answered
Is Zaragoza cleaner than Barcelona?
On air quality, yes, right now: Zaragoza reads AQI 19 against 31, a gap of 12 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 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Zaragoza averaged AQI 52 against 69, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Barcelona and Zaragoza today?
The advice is the same for both today. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone. Barcelona reads AQI 31 and Zaragoza reads AQI 19.
Which has lost more forest, Barcelona or Zaragoza?
Zaragoza has lost more: about 69 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 48 ha around Barcelona. 49 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Barcelona or Zaragoza?
Zaragoza has more tree cover: 13.5% of the land within 2 km of its center against 9.6% around Barcelona, or about 41,139 trees against 30,159. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Barcelona and Zaragoza need?
Barcelona needs about 64,088 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Zaragoza about 50,281 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Barcelona and Zaragoza 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. Barcelona is read from a nearby ground station and Zaragoza 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 Barcelona vs Zaragoza 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 15, 2026 and Sep 19, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
Keep going
Compare them with somewhere else
Build your own
Compare Barcelona with somewhere else
This place
Barcelona