Air quality comparison · Jamaica, 65 km apart
Mandeville vs Montego Bay Air quality index (AQI) today
Montego Bay has cleaner air than Mandeville right now: AQI 42 (Good) against 53 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. Over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Montego Bay averaged AQI 34 against 41, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 of those days. Montego Bay has lost more forest since 2001. Mandeville has more tree cover.
Jamaica
AQI 53
Moderate
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 8.7 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Model estimate
- Reading
- Nov 10, 18:00 local
Jamaica
AQI 42
Good
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 7.8 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Model estimate
- Reading
- Nov 10, 18:00 local
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Mandeville53Montego Bay42
Head to head
Mandeville vs Montego Bay at a glance
Montego Bay is ahead on 3 of 6 measures, and Mandeville on 2. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Mandeville | Montego Bay | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 53 | 42 (better) |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 8.7 | 7.8 (better) |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 7 days. | 41 | 34 (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 1,840 ha (better) | 1,890 ha |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 45.0% (better) | 44.0% |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 0 | 0 |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Mandeville and Montego Bay right now?
Montego Bay has cleaner air than Mandeville right now: AQI 42 (Good) against 53 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Both readings are model estimates, with no ground station close enough to either.
MandevilleMontego Bay
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).
Mandeville: Model estimate · no ground station nearby. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index.
Montego Bay: 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, Montego Bay averaged AQI 34 against 41, 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
- Mandeville2Montego Bay5
- Average AQI
- Mandeville41Montego Bay34
- Worst day, AQI
- Mandeville54Montego Bay44
The daily numbers (7 days)
| Day | Mandeville | Montego Bay |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 4 | 41 | 36 |
| Nov 5 | 22 | 31 |
| Nov 6 | 43 | 44 |
| Nov 7 | 51 | 29 |
| Nov 8 | 36 | 27 |
| Nov 9 | 39 | 30 |
| Nov 10 | 54 | 39 |
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 Mandeville and Montego Bay today?
Mandeville (AQI 53, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Montego Bay (AQI 42, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Exercise outdoors
- Mandeville
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
- Montego Bay
- A good day to be active outside.
Windows
- Mandeville
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
- Montego Bay
- Open them to air the house.
Masks
- Mandeville
- Not needed for most people.
- Montego Bay
- Not needed.
Air purifier
- Mandeville
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
- Montego Bay
- Not needed.
Against everywhere else
How do Mandeville and Montego Bay compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Mandeville's air is cleaner than 56% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Montego Bay's is cleaner than 67%. Within Jamaica, that is 0% and 60% of its 6 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Mandeville
- Beats 56%
- Montego Bay
- Beats 67%
More tree cover than…
- Mandeville
- Beats 89%
- Montego Bay
- Beats 88%
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, Mandeville or Montego Bay?
Montego Bay has lost more: about 1,890 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 1,840 ha around Mandeville. 1,530 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 371 ha lost.
Worst year: 2025, with 624 ha lost.
| Mandeville | Montego Bay | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 1,840 ha (better) | 1,890 ha |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 12% (better) | 15% |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 1,840 ha | 1,530 ha (better) |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Too little to call | Speeding up |
| Main known cause | Farms, pasture and plantations (76%) | Towns and roads (56%) |
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.
Mandeville
2017: satellite photo from January 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km east of the city center.
Montego Bay
2017: satellite photo from March 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 5 km southeast of the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Mandeville or Montego Bay?
Mandeville has more tree cover: 45.0% of the land within 2 km of its center against 44.0% around Montego Bay, or about 141,372 trees against 114,455.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Mandeville | Montego Bay | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 141K (better) | 114K |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 0 | 0 |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 3.1M kg (better) | 2.5M 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
Mandeville vs Montego Bay: your questions answered
Is Montego Bay cleaner than Mandeville?
On air quality, yes, right now: Montego Bay reads AQI 42 against 53, a gap of 11 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, Montego Bay averaged AQI 34 against 41, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Mandeville and Montego Bay today?
In Mandeville, at AQI 53: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion. In Montego Bay, at AQI 42: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Which has lost more forest, Mandeville or Montego Bay?
Montego Bay has lost more: about 1,890 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 1,840 ha around Mandeville. 1,530 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Mandeville or Montego Bay?
Mandeville has more tree cover: 45.0% of the land within 2 km of its center against 44.0% around Montego Bay, or about 141,372 trees against 114,455. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Mandeville and Montego Bay need?
Mandeville needs about 0 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Montego Bay about 0 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Mandeville and Montego Bay 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 Mandeville vs Montego Bay 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 10, 2026 and Sep 13, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
Keep going
Compare them with somewhere else
Build your own
Compare Mandeville with somewhere else
This place
Mandeville