Air quality comparison · Jamaica, 17 km apart
Kingston vs Spanish Town Air quality index (AQI) today
Spanish Town has cleaner air than Kingston right now: AQI 26 (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, Spanish Town averaged AQI 41 against 42, and it was the cleaner of the two on 1 of those days. Spanish Town has lost more forest since 2001. Spanish Town has more tree cover.
Jamaica
AQI 52
Moderate
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 10.9 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Model estimate
- Reading
- Nov 10, 18:00 local
Jamaica
AQI 26
Good
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 4.4 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Model estimate
- Reading
- Nov 10, 15:00 local
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Kingston52Spanish Town26
Head to head
Kingston vs Spanish Town at a glance
Spanish Town is ahead on 5 of 6 measures, and Kingston on 1. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Kingston | Spanish Town | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 52 | 26 (better) |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 10.9 | 4.4 (better) |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 7 days. | 42 | 41 (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 466 ha (better) | 1,320 ha |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 14.5% | 36.9% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 48.7K | 0 (better) |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Kingston and Spanish Town right now?
Spanish Town has cleaner air than Kingston right now: AQI 26 (Good) against 52 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Both readings are model estimates, with no ground station close enough to either.
KingstonSpanish Town
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).
Kingston: Model estimate · no ground station nearby. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index.
Spanish Town: 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, Spanish Town averaged AQI 41 against 42, and it was the cleaner of the two on 1 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
- Kingston0Spanish Town1
- Average AQI
- Kingston42Spanish Town41
- Worst day, AQI
- Kingston52Spanish Town52
The daily numbers (7 days)
| Day | Kingston | Spanish Town |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 4 | 42 | 42 |
| Nov 5 | 31 | 31 |
| Nov 6 | 49 | 49 |
| Nov 7 | 52 | 52 |
| Nov 8 | 34 | 34 |
| Nov 9 | 40 | 40 |
| Nov 10 | 47 | 40 |
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 Kingston and Spanish Town today?
Kingston (AQI 52, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Spanish Town (AQI 26, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Exercise outdoors
- Kingston
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
- Spanish Town
- A good day to be active outside.
Windows
- Kingston
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
- Spanish Town
- Open them to air the house.
Masks
- Kingston
- Not needed for most people.
- Spanish Town
- Not needed.
Air purifier
- Kingston
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
- Spanish Town
- Not needed.
Against everywhere else
How do Kingston and Spanish Town compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Kingston's air is cleaner than 61% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Spanish Town's is cleaner than 83%. Within Jamaica, that is 40% and 100% of its 6 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Kingston
- Beats 61%
- Spanish Town
- Beats 83%
More tree cover than…
- Kingston
- Beats 33%
- Spanish Town
- Beats 80%
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, Kingston or Spanish Town?
Spanish Town has lost more: about 1,320 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 466 ha around Kingston. 1,040 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: 2016, with 54 ha lost.
Worst year: 2014, with 214 ha lost.
| Kingston | Spanish Town | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 466 ha (better) | 1,320 ha |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 5.6% (better) | 9.3% |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 388 ha (better) | 1,040 ha |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Too little to call | Slowing down |
| Main known cause | Towns and roads (52%) | Towns and roads (40%) |
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.
Kingston
2017: satellite photo from February 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km west of the city center.
Spanish Town
2017: satellite photo from January 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km west of the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Kingston or Spanish Town?
Spanish Town has more tree cover: 36.9% of the land within 2 km of its center against 14.5% around Kingston, or about 115,925 trees against 45,553.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Kingston | Spanish Town | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 45.6K | 116K (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 48.7K | 0 (better) |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 1.0M kg | 2.6M 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
Kingston vs Spanish Town: your questions answered
Is Spanish Town cleaner than Kingston?
On air quality, yes, right now: Spanish Town reads AQI 26 against 52, a gap of 26 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, Spanish Town averaged AQI 41 against 42, and it was the cleaner of the two on 1 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Kingston and Spanish Town today?
In Kingston, at AQI 52: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion. In Spanish Town, at AQI 26: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Which has lost more forest, Kingston or Spanish Town?
Spanish Town has lost more: about 1,320 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 466 ha around Kingston. 1,040 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Kingston or Spanish Town?
Spanish Town has more tree cover: 36.9% of the land within 2 km of its center against 14.5% around Kingston, or about 115,925 trees against 45,553. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Kingston and Spanish Town need?
Kingston needs about 48,695 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Spanish Town about 0 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Why can two places 17 km apart read differently?
Air changes over short distances with traffic, industry, wind and hills, and each reading comes from the nearest ground stations or, where there are none, from a regional model. A gap of a few points between neighbors is within normal variation, while a gap that crosses an EPA band is worth noticing.
Are Kingston and Spanish Town 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 Kingston vs Spanish Town 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 25, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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