Air quality comparison · Russia, 1782 km apart
Saint Petersburg vs Yekaterinburg Air quality index (AQI) today
Yekaterinburg has cleaner air than Saint Petersburg right now: AQI 6 (Good) against 88 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. Over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Yekaterinburg averaged AQI 17 against 40, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 of those days. Yekaterinburg has lost more forest since 2001. Yekaterinburg has more tree cover.
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
Russia
AQI 6
Good
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 1 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Model estimate
- Reading
- Nov 10, 16:00 local
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Saint Petersburg88Yekaterinburg6
Head to head
Saint Petersburg vs Yekaterinburg at a glance
Yekaterinburg is ahead on 5 of 6 measures, and Saint Petersburg on 1. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Saint Petersburg | Yekaterinburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 88 | 6 (better) |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 31.1 | 1 (better) |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 6 days. | 40 | 17 (better) |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 324 ha (better) | 870 ha |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 14.5% | 28.4% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 36.2K | 4.9K (better) |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg right now?
Yekaterinburg has cleaner air than Saint Petersburg right now: AQI 6 (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.
Both readings are model estimates, with no ground station close enough to either.
Saint PetersburgYekaterinburg
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).
Saint Petersburg: Model estimate · no ground station nearby. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index.
Yekaterinburg: 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, Yekaterinburg averaged AQI 17 against 40, 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
- Saint Petersburg1Yekaterinburg5
- Average AQI
- Saint Petersburg40Yekaterinburg17
- Worst day, AQI
- Saint Petersburg52Yekaterinburg45
The daily numbers (6 days)
| Day | Saint Petersburg | Yekaterinburg |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 5 | 39 | 45 |
| Nov 6 | 40 | 9 |
| Nov 7 | 41 | 10 |
| Nov 8 | 29 | 17 |
| Nov 9 | 38 | 15 |
| Nov 10 | 52 | 7 |
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 Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg today?
Saint Petersburg (AQI 88, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Yekaterinburg (AQI 6, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Exercise outdoors
- Saint Petersburg
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
- Yekaterinburg
- A good day to be active outside.
Windows
- Saint Petersburg
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
- Yekaterinburg
- Open them to air the house.
Masks
- Saint Petersburg
- Not needed for most people.
- Yekaterinburg
- Not needed.
Air purifier
- Saint Petersburg
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
- Yekaterinburg
- Not needed.
Against everywhere else
How do Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Saint Petersburg's air is cleaner than 27% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Yekaterinburg's is cleaner than 99%. Within Russia, that is 1% and 82% of its 168 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Saint Petersburg
- Beats 27%
- Yekaterinburg
- Beats 99%
More tree cover than…
- Saint Petersburg
- Beats 33%
- Yekaterinburg
- Beats 65%
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, Saint Petersburg or Yekaterinburg?
Yekaterinburg has lost more: about 870 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 324 ha around Saint Petersburg. 716 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: 2012, with 36 ha lost.
Worst year: 2008, with 107 ha lost.
| Saint Petersburg | Yekaterinburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 324 ha (better) | 870 ha |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 7.8% | 7.5% (better) |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 312 ha (better) | 716 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 (68%) |
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.
Saint Petersburg
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km northwest of the city center.
Yekaterinburg
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km east of the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Saint Petersburg or Yekaterinburg?
Yekaterinburg has more tree cover: 28.4% of the land within 2 km of its center against 14.5% around Saint Petersburg, or about 86,098 trees against 33,846.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Saint Petersburg | Yekaterinburg | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 33.8K | 86.1K (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 36.2K | 4.9K (better) |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 745K kg | 1.9M 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
Saint Petersburg vs Yekaterinburg: your questions answered
Is Yekaterinburg cleaner than Saint Petersburg?
On air quality, yes, right now: Yekaterinburg reads AQI 6 against 88, a gap of 82 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, Yekaterinburg averaged AQI 17 against 40, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg today?
In Saint Petersburg, at AQI 88: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion. In Yekaterinburg, at AQI 6: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Which has lost more forest, Saint Petersburg or Yekaterinburg?
Yekaterinburg has lost more: about 870 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 324 ha around Saint Petersburg. 716 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Saint Petersburg or Yekaterinburg?
Yekaterinburg has more tree cover: 28.4% of the land within 2 km of its center against 14.5% around Saint Petersburg, or about 86,098 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 Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg need?
Saint Petersburg needs about 36,180 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Yekaterinburg about 4,851 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg 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 Saint Petersburg vs Yekaterinburg 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 18, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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