Air quality comparison · Ecuador, 294 km apart
Cuenca vs Santo Domingo de los Colorados Air quality index (AQI) today
Santo Domingo de los Colorados has cleaner air than Cuenca right now: AQI 8 (Good) against 24 (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, Santo Domingo de los Colorados averaged AQI 18 against 30, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 of those days. Santo Domingo de los Colorados has lost more forest since 2001. Santo Domingo de los Colorados has more tree cover.
Ecuador
AQI 24
Good
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 4.1 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Model estimate
- Reading
- Nov 10, 13:00 local
Ecuador
AQI 8
Good
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 1 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Model estimate
- Reading
- Nov 11, 04:00 local
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Cuenca24Santo Domingo de los Colorados8
Head to head
Cuenca vs Santo Domingo de los Colorados at a glance
Santo Domingo de los Colorados is ahead on 5 of 6 measures, and Cuenca on 1. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Cuenca | Santo Domingo de los Colorados | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 24 | 8 (better) |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 4.1 | 1 (better) |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 6 days. | 30 | 18 (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 625 ha (better) | 1,690 ha |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 4.8% | 15.4% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 79.2K | 45.9K (better) |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Cuenca and Santo Domingo de los Colorados right now?
Santo Domingo de los Colorados has cleaner air than Cuenca right now: AQI 8 (Good) against 24 (Good). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Both readings are model estimates, with no ground station close enough to either.
CuencaSanto Domingo de los Colorados
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).
Cuenca: Model estimate · no ground station nearby. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index.
Santo Domingo de los Colorados: Model estimate · no ground station nearby. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index.
The past week
Which had cleaner air over the past 6 days?
Over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Santo Domingo de los Colorados averaged AQI 18 against 30, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 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
- Cuenca1Santo Domingo de los Colorados5
- Average AQI
- Cuenca30Santo Domingo de los Colorados18
- Worst day, AQI
- Cuenca36Santo Domingo de los Colorados23
The daily numbers (6 days)
| Day | Cuenca | Santo Domingo de los Colorados |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 5 | 34 | 7 |
| Nov 6 | 26 | 21 |
| Nov 7 | 22 | 23 |
| Nov 8 | 36 | 18 |
| Nov 9 | 30 | 18 |
| Nov 10 | 29 | 18 |
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 Cuenca and Santo Domingo de los Colorados 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 Cuenca and Santo Domingo de los Colorados compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Cuenca's air is cleaner than 85% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Santo Domingo de los Colorados's is cleaner than 97%. Within Ecuador, that is 27% and 100% of its 16 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Cuenca
- Beats 85%
- Santo Domingo de los Colorados
- Beats 97%
More tree cover than…
- Cuenca
- Beats 10%
- Santo Domingo de los Colorados
- Beats 35%
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, Cuenca or Santo Domingo de los Colorados?
Santo Domingo de los Colorados has lost more: about 1,690 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 625 ha around Cuenca. 1,680 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: 2009, with 109 ha lost.
Worst year: 2004, with 551 ha lost.
| Cuenca | Santo Domingo de los Colorados | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 625 ha (better) | 1,690 ha |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 7.9% (better) | 7.9% |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 448 ha (better) | 1,680 ha |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Too little to call | Too little to call |
| Main known cause | Farms, pasture and plantations (43%) | Farms, pasture and plantations (85%) |
Satellite timelapses
Watch Cuenca 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.
Cuenca
2017: satellite photo from November 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km northwest of the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Cuenca or Santo Domingo de los Colorados?
Santo Domingo de los Colorados has more tree cover: 15.4% of the land within 2 km of its center against 4.8% around Cuenca, or about 48,381 trees against 15,080.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Cuenca | Santo Domingo de los Colorados | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 15.1K | 48.4K (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 79.2K | 45.9K (better) |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 332K kg | 1.1M 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
Cuenca vs Santo Domingo de los Colorados: your questions answered
Is Santo Domingo de los Colorados cleaner than Cuenca?
On air quality, yes, right now: Santo Domingo de los Colorados reads AQI 8 against 24, a gap of 16 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, Santo Domingo de los Colorados averaged AQI 18 against 30, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Cuenca and Santo Domingo de los Colorados today?
The advice is the same for both today. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone. Cuenca reads AQI 24 and Santo Domingo de los Colorados reads AQI 8.
Which has lost more forest, Cuenca or Santo Domingo de los Colorados?
Santo Domingo de los Colorados has lost more: about 1,690 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 625 ha around Cuenca. 1,680 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Cuenca or Santo Domingo de los Colorados?
Santo Domingo de los Colorados has more tree cover: 15.4% of the land within 2 km of its center against 4.8% around Cuenca, or about 48,381 trees against 15,080. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Cuenca and Santo Domingo de los Colorados need?
Cuenca needs about 79,168 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Santo Domingo de los Colorados about 45,867 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Cuenca and Santo Domingo de los Colorados 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 Cuenca vs Santo Domingo de los Colorados 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 (Oct 7, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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