La Vega vs Punta Cana
Tree cover and air quality for both, measured the same way: Sentinel-2 imagery at 10 m detail over a 2 km radius from each city centre, and the live US EPA air quality index. Same radius and same index, so the two numbers compare directly.
Punta Cana has more tree cover — 55.1% against 28.9%.
Punta Cana has cleaner air right now — AQI 30 against 76.
- Tree cover gap
- 26.2 points
- Punta Cana is ahead.
- Air quality gap
- 46 AQI
- Punta Cana is cleaner.
- Trees between them
- 82.3K
- Punta Cana has more standing.
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
Tree cover
Share of the 2 km radius under canopy.
28.9%
55.1%
Air quality index
US EPA index, live, with its band. Lower is better.
76 · Moderate
30 · Good
Trees standing
Estimated from the measured canopy area.
90.8K
173K
Trees still needed
To reach the same canopy target. Fewer is better.
3.5K
0
CO₂ absorbed each year
By the trees already standing.
2.0M kg
3.8M kg
Air quality in detail
What each city is breathing
Concentrations in µg/m³, measured at the same moment as the index above. Lower is better in every row. Both are modelled, with no ground station close enough to either.
PM2.5
Fine particles, the pollutant that usually sets the index.
24.2 µg/m³
7.3 µg/m³
PM10
Coarser particles — dust, pollen, road grit.
27.5 µg/m³
12.2 µg/m³
Nitrogen dioxide
Mostly traffic and combustion.
24.5 µg/m³
0.8 µg/m³
Ozone
Forms in sunlight; peaks on hot, still afternoons.
11 µg/m³
44 µg/m³
The last week, day by day
A single reading can catch a city on a bad afternoon. The week says whether it was the weather or the place.
| Day | La Vega | Punta Cana |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Sept | 44 | 24 |
| 23 Sept | 43 | 22 |
| 24 Sept | 44 | 21 |
| 25 Sept | 44 | 32 |
| 26 Sept | 54 | 65 |
| 27 Sept | 67 | 49 |
| 28 Sept | 76 | 30 |
Reading these numbers
What is actually being measured
Tree cover
The share of ground under canopy inside a 2 km radius of each city centre, read from Sentinel-2 satellite imagery at 10 m detail. It is a measurement of that circle, not of the whole municipality — which is exactly what makes the two comparable, since city boundaries are drawn to wildly different rules around the world. Punta Cana leads here at 55.1%.
Air quality index
The live US EPA index, computed from current pollutant concentrations — ground stations where a city has them nearby, and a model everywhere else. It moves hour to hour, so this is a snapshot rather than a verdict on either place: La Vega reads 76 (moderate) and Punta Cana reads 30 (good) right now.
Frequently asked
La Vega and Punta Cana, answered
Which has more trees, La Vega or Punta Cana?
Punta Cana, with roughly 173,102 trees inside its 2 km radius against 90,792. Tree cover tells a slightly different story from raw count: Punta Cana has the denser canopy at 55.1%.
Which has better air quality, La Vega or Punta Cana?
Punta Cana right now, at AQI 30 against 76 — a gap of 46 points. This is a live reading rather than an annual average, so it can reverse within a day.
How many more trees does each city need?
La Vega needs about 3,456 more to reach its canopy target, and Punta Cana about 0. The target is the same share of ground for both, so the figures are directly comparable.
Are these two measured the same way?
Yes — that is the point of the page. Identical radius, identical satellite source at 10 m detail, and the same US EPA index for air. Nothing here is adjusted for population, city limits or climate, so the numbers describe the same-sized circle of ground in each place.
Keep going
Other comparisons nearby
- La Vega vs San Francisco de Macorís30% tree cover · AQI 77Compare
- La Vega vs Santiago de los Caballeros24% tree cover · AQI 56Compare
- La Vega vs Puerto Plata18% tree cover · AQI 56Compare
- La Vega vs Santo Domingo Oeste27% tree cover · AQI 71Compare
- La Vega vs Salvaleón de Higüey37% tree cover · AQI 30Compare
- La Vega vs La Romana28% tree cover · AQI 35Compare
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