Air quality comparison · Jamaica, 91 km apart
May Pen vs Montego Bay Air quality index (AQI) today
Montego Bay has cleaner air than May Pen right now: AQI 42 (Good) against 53 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. Over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Montego Bay averaged AQI 33 against 45, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 of those days. Montego Bay has lost more forest since 2001. May Pen has more tree cover.
Jamaica
AQI 53
Moderate
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 9.9 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Model estimate
- Reading
- Nov 11, 06:00 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.
May Pen53Montego Bay42
Head to head
May Pen vs Montego Bay at a glance
Montego Bay is ahead on 3 of 6 measures, and May Pen on 2. The better figure in each row is marked.
| May Pen | Montego Bay | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 53 | 42 (better) |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 9.9 | 7.8 (better) |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 6 days. | 45 | 33 (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 1,280 ha (better) | 1,890 ha |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 46.9% (better) | 44.0% |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 0 | 0 |
Air quality today
What is the air like in May Pen and Montego Bay right now?
Montego Bay has cleaner air than May Pen 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.
May PenMontego 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).
May Pen: 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 6 days?
Over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Montego Bay averaged AQI 33 against 45, 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
- May Pen1Montego Bay5
- Average AQI
- May Pen45Montego Bay33
- Worst day, AQI
- May Pen56Montego Bay44
The daily numbers (6 days)
| Day | May Pen | Montego Bay |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 5 | 30 | 31 |
| Nov 6 | 51 | 44 |
| Nov 7 | 53 | 29 |
| Nov 8 | 36 | 27 |
| Nov 9 | 44 | 30 |
| Nov 10 | 56 | 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 May Pen and Montego Bay today?
May Pen (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
- May Pen
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
- Montego Bay
- A good day to be active outside.
Windows
- May Pen
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
- Montego Bay
- Open them to air the house.
Masks
- May Pen
- Not needed for most people.
- Montego Bay
- Not needed.
Air purifier
- May Pen
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
- Montego Bay
- Not needed.
Against everywhere else
How do May Pen and Montego Bay compare with the rest of the world?
Right now May Pen's air is cleaner than 56% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Montego Bay's is cleaner than 68%. Within Jamaica, that is 0% and 60% of its 6 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- May Pen
- Beats 56%
- Montego Bay
- Beats 68%
More tree cover than…
- May Pen
- Beats 90%
- 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, May Pen 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 1,280 ha around May Pen. 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 227 ha lost.
Worst year: 2025, with 624 ha lost.
| May Pen | Montego Bay | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 1,280 ha (better) | 1,890 ha |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 8% (better) | 15% |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 724 ha (better) | 1,530 ha |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Too little to call | Speeding up |
| Main known cause | Shifting farming (40%) | 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.
May Pen
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, May Pen or Montego Bay?
May Pen has more tree cover: 46.9% of the land within 2 km of its center against 44.0% around Montego Bay, or about 147,341 trees against 114,455.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| May Pen | Montego Bay | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 147K (better) | 114K |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 0 | 0 |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 3.2M 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
May Pen vs Montego Bay: your questions answered
Is Montego Bay cleaner than May Pen?
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 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Montego Bay averaged AQI 33 against 45, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in May Pen and Montego Bay today?
In May Pen, 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, May Pen 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 1,280 ha around May Pen. 1,530 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, May Pen or Montego Bay?
May Pen has more tree cover: 46.9% of the land within 2 km of its center against 44.0% around Montego Bay, or about 147,341 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 May Pen and Montego Bay need?
May Pen 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 May Pen 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 May Pen 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 15, 2026 and Sep 13, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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