Air quality comparison · Russia, 635 km apart
Moscow vs Saint Petersburg Air quality index (AQI) today
Moscow has cleaner air than Saint Petersburg right now: AQI 48 (Good) against 88 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. But over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Saint Petersburg averaged AQI 43 against 83, and it was the cleaner of the two on 7 of those days. Saint Petersburg has lost more forest since 2001. Moscow 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 88
Moderate
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 31.1 µg/m³2.1× WHO guideline
- 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.
Moscow48Saint Petersburg88
Head to head
Moscow vs Saint Petersburg at a glance
Moscow is ahead on 4 of 6 measures, and Saint Petersburg on 2. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Moscow | Saint Petersburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 48 (better) | 88 |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 8.7 (better) | 31.1 |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 7 days. | 83 | 43 (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 243 ha (better) | 324 ha |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 15.4% (better) | 14.5% |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 42.5K | 36.2K (better) |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Moscow and Saint Petersburg right now?
Moscow has cleaner air than Saint Petersburg right now: AQI 48 (Good) against 88 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Saint Petersburg's PM2.5 is about 2.1× the WHO's 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³.
Moscow is read from a nearby ground station and Saint Petersburg is a model estimate, so the two are not quite like for like.
MoscowSaint Petersburg
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).
Saint Petersburg: 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, Saint Petersburg 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
- Moscow0Saint Petersburg7
- Average AQI
- Moscow83Saint Petersburg43
- Worst day, AQI
- Moscow98Saint Petersburg65
The daily numbers (7 days)
| Day | Moscow | Saint Petersburg |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 5 | 82 | 39 |
| Nov 6 | 75 | 40 |
| Nov 7 | 74 | 41 |
| Nov 8 | 80 | 29 |
| Nov 9 | 82 | 38 |
| Nov 10 | 98 | 52 |
| Nov 11 | 87 | 65 |
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 Saint Petersburg today?
Moscow (AQI 48, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Saint Petersburg (AQI 88, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Exercise outdoors
- Moscow
- A good day to be active outside.
- Saint Petersburg
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
Windows
- Moscow
- Open them to air the house.
- Saint Petersburg
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
Masks
- Moscow
- Not needed.
- Saint Petersburg
- Not needed for most people.
Air purifier
- Moscow
- Not needed.
- Saint Petersburg
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
Against everywhere else
How do Moscow and Saint Petersburg compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Moscow's air is cleaner than 64% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Saint Petersburg's is cleaner than 26%. Within Russia, that is 19% and 2% of its 168 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Moscow
- Beats 64%
- Saint Petersburg
- Beats 26%
More tree cover than…
- Moscow
- Beats 35%
- Saint Petersburg
- Beats 33%
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 Saint Petersburg?
Saint Petersburg has lost more: about 324 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 243 ha around Moscow. 312 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: 2012, with 36 ha lost.
| Moscow | Saint Petersburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 243 ha (better) | 324 ha |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 4.5% (better) | 7.8% |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 231 ha (better) | 312 ha |
| 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 (95%) |
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.
Saint Petersburg
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km northwest of the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Moscow or Saint Petersburg?
Moscow has more tree cover: 15.4% of the land within 2 km of its center against 14.5% around Saint Petersburg, or about 44,849 trees against 33,846.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Moscow | Saint Petersburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 44.8K (better) | 33.8K |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 42.5K | 36.2K (better) |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 987K kg (better) | 745K 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
Moscow vs Saint Petersburg: your questions answered
Is Moscow cleaner than Saint Petersburg?
On air quality, yes, right now: Moscow reads AQI 48 against 88, a gap of 40 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, Saint Petersburg 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 Saint Petersburg today?
In Moscow, at AQI 48: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone. In Saint Petersburg, at AQI 88: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Which has lost more forest, Moscow or Saint Petersburg?
Saint Petersburg has lost more: about 324 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 243 ha around Moscow. 312 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Moscow or Saint Petersburg?
Moscow has more tree cover: 15.4% of the land within 2 km of its center against 14.5% around Saint Petersburg, or about 44,849 trees against 33,846. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Moscow and Saint Petersburg need?
Moscow needs about 42,519 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Saint Petersburg about 36,180 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Moscow and Saint Petersburg 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 Saint Petersburg 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 Saint Petersburg 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 14, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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