Air quality comparison · Ecuador, 266 km apart
Guayaquil vs Quito Air quality index (AQI) today
Guayaquil has cleaner air than Quito right now: AQI 16 (Good) against 52 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. Over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Guayaquil averaged AQI 30 against 37, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 of those days. Quito has lost more forest since 2001. Quito has more tree cover.
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Guayaquil16Quito52
Head to head
Guayaquil vs Quito at a glance
Guayaquil is ahead on 4 of 6 measures, and Quito on 2. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Guayaquil | Quito | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 16 (better) | 52 |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 3.3 (better) | 9.7 |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 7 days. | 30 (better) | 37 |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 30 ha (better) | 430 ha |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 6.6% | 23.1% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 52.0K | 21.7K (better) |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Guayaquil and Quito right now?
Guayaquil has cleaner air than Quito right now: AQI 16 (Good) against 52 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Quito is read from a nearby ground station and Guayaquil is a model estimate, so the two are not quite like for like.
GuayaquilQuito
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).
Guayaquil: Model estimate · no ground station nearby. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index.
Quito: Ground station · Centro, Quito, Ecuador, 1.5 km away · median of 2 stations. Data: World Air Quality Index Project, Metropolitan Air Monitoring Network of Quito managed by Secretaria de Ambiente DMQ..
The past week
Which had cleaner air over the past 7 days?
Over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Guayaquil averaged AQI 30 against 37, 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
- Guayaquil5Quito2
- Average AQI
- Guayaquil30Quito37
- Worst day, AQI
- Guayaquil41Quito53
The daily numbers (7 days)
| Day | Guayaquil | Quito |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 4 | 29 | 44 |
| Nov 5 | 19 | 39 |
| Nov 6 | 40 | 53 |
| Nov 7 | 25 | 40 |
| Nov 8 | 41 | 29 |
| Nov 9 | 24 | 31 |
| Nov 10 | 29 | 24 |
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 Guayaquil and Quito today?
Guayaquil (AQI 16, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Quito (AQI 52, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Exercise outdoors
- Guayaquil
- A good day to be active outside.
- Quito
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
Windows
- Guayaquil
- Open them to air the house.
- Quito
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
Masks
- Guayaquil
- Not needed.
- Quito
- Not needed for most people.
Air purifier
- Guayaquil
- Not needed.
- Quito
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
Against everywhere else
How do Guayaquil and Quito compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Guayaquil's air is cleaner than 92% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Quito's is cleaner than 59%. Within Ecuador, that is 73% and 0% of its 16 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Guayaquil
- Beats 92%
- Quito
- Beats 59%
More tree cover than…
- Guayaquil
- Beats 13%
- Quito
- Beats 54%
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, Guayaquil or Quito?
Quito has lost more: about 430 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 30 ha around Guayaquil. 278 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: 2005, with 8 ha lost.
Worst year: 2004, with 54 ha lost.
| Guayaquil | Quito | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 30 ha (better) | 430 ha |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | under 1% (better) | 4% |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 21 ha (better) | 278 ha |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Too little to call | Too little to call |
| Main known cause | Towns and roads (60%) | Towns and roads (44%) |
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.
Guayaquil
2017: satellite photo from April 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Quito
2017: satellite photo from July 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km southwest of the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Guayaquil or Quito?
Quito has more tree cover: 23.1% of the land within 2 km of its center against 6.6% around Guayaquil, or about 72,571 trees against 14,680.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Guayaquil | Quito | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 14.7K | 72.6K (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 52.0K | 21.7K (better) |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 323K kg | 1.6M 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
Guayaquil vs Quito: your questions answered
Is Guayaquil cleaner than Quito?
On air quality, yes, right now: Guayaquil reads AQI 16 against 52, a gap of 36 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, Guayaquil averaged AQI 30 against 37, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Guayaquil and Quito today?
In Guayaquil, at AQI 16: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone. In Quito, at AQI 52: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Which has lost more forest, Guayaquil or Quito?
Quito has lost more: about 430 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 30 ha around Guayaquil. 278 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Guayaquil or Quito?
Quito has more tree cover: 23.1% of the land within 2 km of its center against 6.6% around Guayaquil, or about 72,571 trees against 14,680. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Guayaquil and Quito need?
Guayaquil needs about 52,047 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Quito about 21,677 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Guayaquil and Quito 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. Quito is read from a nearby ground station and Guayaquil 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 Guayaquil vs Quito 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 (Jan 5, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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