Air quality comparison · Russia, 402 km apart
Moscow vs Nizhniy Novgorod Air quality index (AQI) today
Moscow has cleaner air than Nizhniy Novgorod right now: AQI 48 (Good) against 57 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. But over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Nizhniy Novgorod averaged AQI 43 against 83, and it was the cleaner of the two on 7 of those days. Moscow has lost more forest since 2001. Nizhniy Novgorod has more tree cover.
Russia
AQI 48
Good
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 8.7 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Ground station
- Reading
- Nov 11, 18:00 local
Russia
AQI 57
Moderate
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 11.1 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Model estimate
- Reading
- Nov 11, 11:00 local
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Moscow48Nizhniy Novgorod57
Head to head
Moscow vs Nizhniy Novgorod at a glance
Nizhniy Novgorod is ahead on 4 of 6 measures, and Moscow on 2. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Moscow | Nizhniy Novgorod | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 48 (better) | 57 |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 8.7 (better) | 11.1 |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 7 days. | 83 | 43 (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 243 ha | 159 ha (better) |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 15.4% | 34.3% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 42.5K | 0 (better) |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Moscow and Nizhniy Novgorod right now?
Moscow has cleaner air than Nizhniy Novgorod right now: AQI 48 (Good) against 57 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Moscow is read from a nearby ground station and Nizhniy Novgorod is a model estimate, so the two are not quite like for like.
MoscowNizhniy Novgorod
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).
Moscow: Ground station · Suhar, Moscow, Moscow, Russia (Сухаревка, Москва), 2.5 km away · median of 2 stations. Data: World Air Quality Index Project, Moscow State environmental monitoring (Государственный экологический мониторинг в Москве).
Nizhniy Novgorod: 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?
But over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Nizhniy Novgorod averaged AQI 43 against 83, and it was the cleaner of the two on 7 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
- Moscow0Nizhniy Novgorod7
- Average AQI
- Moscow83Nizhniy Novgorod43
- Worst day, AQI
- Moscow98Nizhniy Novgorod54
The daily numbers (7 days)
| Day | Moscow | Nizhniy Novgorod |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 5 | 82 | 45 |
| Nov 6 | 75 | 37 |
| Nov 7 | 74 | 36 |
| Nov 8 | 80 | 47 |
| Nov 9 | 82 | 45 |
| Nov 10 | 98 | 40 |
| Nov 11 | 87 | 54 |
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 Moscow and Nizhniy Novgorod today?
Moscow (AQI 48, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Nizhniy Novgorod (AQI 57, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Exercise outdoors
- Moscow
- A good day to be active outside.
- Nizhniy Novgorod
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
Windows
- Moscow
- Open them to air the house.
- Nizhniy Novgorod
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
Masks
- Moscow
- Not needed.
- Nizhniy Novgorod
- Not needed for most people.
Air purifier
- Moscow
- Not needed.
- Nizhniy Novgorod
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
Against everywhere else
How do Moscow and Nizhniy Novgorod compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Moscow's air is cleaner than 64% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Nizhniy Novgorod's is cleaner than 51%. Within Russia, that is 19% and 11% of its 168 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Moscow
- Beats 64%
- Nizhniy Novgorod
- Beats 51%
More tree cover than…
- Moscow
- Beats 35%
- Nizhniy Novgorod
- Beats 76%
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, Moscow or Nizhniy Novgorod?
Moscow has lost more: about 243 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 159 ha around Nizhniy Novgorod. 231 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: 2018, with 24 ha lost.
Worst year: 2014, with 20 ha lost.
| Moscow | Nizhniy Novgorod | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 243 ha | 159 ha (better) |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 4.5% | 2.7% (better) |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 231 ha | 127 ha (better) |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Too little to call | Too little to call |
| Main known cause | Towns and roads (95%) | Towns and roads (78%) |
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.
Moscow
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km west of the city center.
Nizhniy Novgorod
2017: satellite photo from June 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Moscow or Nizhniy Novgorod?
Nizhniy Novgorod has more tree cover: 34.3% of the land within 2 km of its center against 15.4% around Moscow, or about 68,641 trees against 44,849.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Moscow | Nizhniy Novgorod | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 44.8K | 68.6K (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 42.5K | 0 (better) |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 987K kg | 1.5M 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
Moscow vs Nizhniy Novgorod: your questions answered
Is Moscow cleaner than Nizhniy Novgorod?
On air quality, yes, right now: Moscow reads AQI 48 against 57, a gap of 9 points on the US EPA index. This is a live reading rather than an annual average, so it can reverse within a day. But over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Nizhniy Novgorod averaged AQI 43 against 83, and it was the cleaner of the two on 7 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Moscow and Nizhniy Novgorod today?
In Moscow, at AQI 48: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone. In Nizhniy Novgorod, at AQI 57: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Which has lost more forest, Moscow or Nizhniy Novgorod?
Moscow has lost more: about 243 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 159 ha around Nizhniy Novgorod. 231 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Moscow or Nizhniy Novgorod?
Nizhniy Novgorod has more tree cover: 34.3% of the land within 2 km of its center against 15.4% around Moscow, or about 68,641 trees against 44,849. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Moscow and Nizhniy Novgorod need?
Moscow needs about 42,519 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Nizhniy Novgorod about 0 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Moscow and Nizhniy Novgorod 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. Moscow is read from a nearby ground station and Nizhniy Novgorod 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 Moscow vs Nizhniy Novgorod 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 Aug 10, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
Keep going
Compare them with somewhere else
Build your own
Compare Moscow with somewhere else
This place
Moscow