Air quality comparison · Venezuela, 1016 km apart
Ciudad Guayana vs Maracaibo Air quality index (AQI) today
Ciudad Guayana has cleaner air than Maracaibo right now: AQI 14 (Good) against 64 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. Over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Ciudad Guayana averaged AQI 42 against 51, and it was the cleaner of the two on 4 of those days. Ciudad Guayana has lost more forest since 2001. Ciudad Guayana has more tree cover.
Venezuela
AQI 14
Good
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 2.6 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Model estimate
- Reading
- Nov 10, 09:00 local
Venezuela
AQI 64
Moderate
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 15.9 µg/m³1.1× WHO guideline
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Model estimate
- Reading
- Nov 10, 16:00 local
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Ciudad Guayana14Maracaibo64
Head to head
Ciudad Guayana vs Maracaibo at a glance
Ciudad Guayana is ahead on 5 of 6 measures, and Maracaibo on 1. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Ciudad Guayana | Maracaibo | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 14 (better) | 64 |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 2.6 (better) | 15.9 |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 7 days. | 42 (better) | 51 |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 1,320 ha | 18 ha (better) |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 16.1% (better) | 8.2% |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 43.7K (better) | 49.5K |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Ciudad Guayana and Maracaibo right now?
Ciudad Guayana has cleaner air than Maracaibo right now: AQI 14 (Good) against 64 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Maracaibo's PM2.5 is about 1.1× the WHO's 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³.
Both readings are model estimates, with no ground station close enough to either.
Ciudad GuayanaMaracaibo
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).
Ciudad Guayana: Model estimate · no ground station nearby. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index.
Maracaibo: Model estimate · no ground station nearby. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index.
The past week
Which had cleaner air over the past 7 days?
Over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Ciudad Guayana averaged AQI 42 against 51, and it was the cleaner of the two on 4 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
- Ciudad Guayana4Maracaibo2
- Average AQI
- Ciudad Guayana42Maracaibo51
- Worst day, AQI
- Ciudad Guayana67Maracaibo60
The daily numbers (7 days)
| Day | Ciudad Guayana | Maracaibo |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 4 | 38 | 45 |
| Nov 5 | 42 | 42 |
| Nov 6 | 46 | 60 |
| Nov 7 | 67 | 51 |
| Nov 8 | 54 | 47 |
| Nov 9 | 31 | 54 |
| Nov 10 | 16 | 60 |
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 Ciudad Guayana and Maracaibo today?
Ciudad Guayana (AQI 14, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Maracaibo (AQI 64, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Exercise outdoors
- Ciudad Guayana
- A good day to be active outside.
- Maracaibo
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
Windows
- Ciudad Guayana
- Open them to air the house.
- Maracaibo
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
Masks
- Ciudad Guayana
- Not needed.
- Maracaibo
- Not needed for most people.
Air purifier
- Ciudad Guayana
- Not needed.
- Maracaibo
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
Against everywhere else
How do Ciudad Guayana and Maracaibo compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Ciudad Guayana's air is cleaner than 94% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Maracaibo's is cleaner than 44%. Within Venezuela, that is 88% and 9% of its 57 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Ciudad Guayana
- Beats 94%
- Maracaibo
- Beats 44%
More tree cover than…
- Ciudad Guayana
- Beats 37%
- Maracaibo
- Beats 17%
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, Ciudad Guayana or Maracaibo?
Ciudad Guayana has lost more: about 1,320 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 18 ha around Maracaibo. 1,290 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 128 ha lost.
Worst year: 2017, with 15 ha lost.
| Ciudad Guayana | Maracaibo | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 1,320 ha | 18 ha (better) |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 1,290 ha | 2 ha (better) |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Slowing down | Too little to call |
| Main known cause | Farms, pasture and plantations (95%) | Storms, floods and other natural causes (80%) |
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.
Ciudad Guayana
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km east of the city center.
Maracaibo
2017: satellite photo from February 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Ciudad Guayana or Maracaibo?
Ciudad Guayana has more tree cover: 16.1% of the land within 2 km of its center against 8.2% around Maracaibo, or about 50,580 trees against 18,625.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Ciudad Guayana | Maracaibo | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 50.6K (better) | 18.6K |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 43.7K (better) | 49.5K |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 1.1M kg (better) | 410K 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
Ciudad Guayana vs Maracaibo: your questions answered
Is Ciudad Guayana cleaner than Maracaibo?
On air quality, yes, right now: Ciudad Guayana reads AQI 14 against 64, a gap of 50 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, Ciudad Guayana averaged AQI 42 against 51, and it was the cleaner of the two on 4 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Ciudad Guayana and Maracaibo today?
In Ciudad Guayana, at AQI 14: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone. In Maracaibo, at AQI 64: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Which has lost more forest, Ciudad Guayana or Maracaibo?
Ciudad Guayana has lost more: about 1,320 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 18 ha around Maracaibo. 1,290 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Ciudad Guayana or Maracaibo?
Ciudad Guayana has more tree cover: 16.1% of the land within 2 km of its center against 8.2% around Maracaibo, or about 50,580 trees against 18,625. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Ciudad Guayana and Maracaibo need?
Ciudad Guayana needs about 43,668 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Maracaibo about 49,516 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Ciudad Guayana and Maracaibo 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 are model estimates, with no ground station close enough to either. Nothing is adjusted for population, city limits or climate.
How often does the Ciudad Guayana vs Maracaibo 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 14, 2026 and Sep 6, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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