Air quality comparison · Morocco, 217 km apart
Rabat vs Tangier Air quality index (AQI) today
Rabat has cleaner air than Tangier right now: AQI 42 (Good) against 59 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. But over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Tangier averaged AQI 36 against 46, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 of those days. Tangier has lost more forest since 2001. Rabat has more tree cover.
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Rabat42Tangier59
Head to head
Rabat vs Tangier at a glance
Rabat is ahead on 5 of 6 measures, and Tangier on 1. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Rabat | Tangier | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 42 (better) | 59 |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 7.8 (better) | 14.1 |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 7 days. | 46 | 36 (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 169 ha (better) | 610 ha |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 16.1% (better) | 3.3% |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 43.1K (better) | 77.3K |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Rabat and Tangier right now?
Rabat has cleaner air than Tangier right now: AQI 42 (Good) against 59 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Both readings are model estimates, with no ground station close enough to either.
RabatTangier
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).
Rabat: Model estimate · no ground station nearby. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index.
Tangier: Estimate · model corrected with 5 station cities within 185 km, e.g. Algeciras and Gibraltar. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 5 ground-station cities within 185 km, 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, Tangier averaged AQI 36 against 46, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 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
- Rabat1Tangier6
- Average AQI
- Rabat46Tangier36
- Worst day, AQI
- Rabat60Tangier41
The daily numbers (7 days)
| Day | Rabat | Tangier |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 5 | 53 | 33 |
| Nov 6 | 54 | 41 |
| Nov 7 | 60 | 40 |
| Nov 8 | 50 | 41 |
| Nov 9 | 31 | 33 |
| Nov 10 | 34 | 31 |
| Nov 11 | 43 | 30 |
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 Rabat and Tangier today?
Rabat (AQI 42, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Tangier (AQI 59, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Exercise outdoors
- Rabat
- A good day to be active outside.
- Tangier
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
Windows
- Rabat
- Open them to air the house.
- Tangier
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
Masks
- Rabat
- Not needed.
- Tangier
- Not needed for most people.
Air purifier
- Rabat
- Not needed.
- Tangier
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
Against everywhere else
How do Rabat and Tangier compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Rabat's air is cleaner than 68% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Tangier's is cleaner than 48%. Within Morocco, that is 53% and 25% of its 37 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Rabat
- Beats 68%
- Tangier
- Beats 48%
More tree cover than…
- Rabat
- Beats 37%
- Tangier
- Beats 7%
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, Rabat or Tangier?
Tangier has lost more: about 610 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 169 ha around Rabat. 325 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: 2024, with 24 ha lost.
Worst year: 2016, with 79 ha lost.
| Rabat | Tangier | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 169 ha (better) | 610 ha |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 19% (better) | 23% |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 74 ha (better) | 325 ha |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Too little to call | Slowing down |
| Main known cause | Logging (55%) | Wildfires (45%) |
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.
Rabat
2017: satellite photo from July 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km northeast of the city center.
Tangier
2017: satellite photo from July 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km east of the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Rabat or Tangier?
Rabat has more tree cover: 16.1% of the land within 2 km of its center against 3.3% around Tangier, or about 49,872 trees against 9,559.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Rabat | Tangier | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 49.9K (better) | 9.6K |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 43.1K (better) | 77.3K |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 1.1M kg (better) | 210K 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
Rabat vs Tangier: your questions answered
Is Rabat cleaner than Tangier?
On air quality, yes, right now: Rabat reads AQI 42 against 59, a gap of 17 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, Tangier averaged AQI 36 against 46, and it was the cleaner of the two on 6 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Rabat and Tangier today?
In Rabat, at AQI 42: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone. In Tangier, at AQI 59: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Which has lost more forest, Rabat or Tangier?
Tangier has lost more: about 610 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 169 ha around Rabat. 325 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Rabat or Tangier?
Rabat has more tree cover: 16.1% of the land within 2 km of its center against 3.3% around Tangier, or about 49,872 trees against 9,559. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Rabat and Tangier need?
Rabat needs about 43,057 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Tangier about 77,338 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Rabat and Tangier 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 Rabat vs Tangier 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 14, 2026 and Sep 17, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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