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North America · air quality report · 59 cities

Canada air quality today The AQI right now, city by city

Right now the 59 cities Airleaf measures in Canada average AQI 30 (good). The worst air is in Windsor, at AQI 66, and the cleanest in Nepean, at AQI 6.

At ground stations alone, which measure rather than estimate, the average is AQI 31 across 55 cities. None of the 59 measured cities is over AQI 100 today, and 85% have Good air.

Average right now

AQI 30

Good

US EPA index, across 59 cities
cities measured
59
worst air: Windsor
66
cleanest air: Nepean
6
average tree cover
33.1%

Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.

Canada · average AQI 30

Air quality right now in the 8 largest cities in Canada

Toronto

2 km around Yonge-Bay Corridor

Moderate

Air quality now

AQI 56

15.6%
tree cover

42.5K more trees would reach 30% tree cover

Satellite image Aug 18, 2026

Vancouver

2 km around Downtown Vancouver

Good

Air quality now

AQI 27

23.8%
tree cover

12.8K more trees would reach 30% tree cover

Satellite image Sep 6, 2026

Ottawa

2 km around Centretown

Good

Air quality now

AQI 14

22.4%
tree cover

22.2K more trees would reach 30% tree cover

Satellite image Sep 11, 2026

Montréal

2 km around Ville-Marie

Good

Air quality now

AQI 14

44.4%
tree cover

Healthy tree cover

Satellite image Sep 11, 2026

Calgary

2 km around Hillhurst

Moderate

Air quality now

AQI 51

19.8%
tree cover

31.1K more trees would reach 30% tree cover

Satellite image Aug 18, 2026

Edmonton

2 km around River Valley Kinnaird

Good

Air quality now

AQI 28

35.5%
tree cover

Healthy tree cover

Satellite image Aug 28, 2026

Winnipeg

2 km around Legislature

Good

Air quality now

AQI 16

31.1%
tree cover

Healthy tree cover

Satellite image Sep 8, 2026

Mississauga

2 km around Mississauga

Good

Air quality now

AQI 36

22.8%
tree cover

22.6K more trees would reach 30% tree cover

Satellite image Aug 25, 2026

Across the country

How clean is the air across Canada today?

None of the 59 measured cities is over AQI 100 today, and 85% have Good air. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.

59 measured cities

  • Good50 (85%)
  • Moderate9 (15%)

Every measured city, including model estimates where no ground station is near.

In aggregate

Canada in numbers

Every figure below is read the same way over the same 2 km area per city, so they add up and compare like for like. Averaged across the 59 of 59 cities measured so far in Canada.

Average air quality
AQI 30Mean of the latest reading per city
Average tree cover
33.1%24 of 59 below their target
Trees counted
5.8MAcross every measured area
More trees needed
447KTo bring each area to its target

Worst air quality right now

  1. 1Windsor49m ago66
  2. 2Milton1h ago60
  3. 3Cambridge1h ago58
  4. 4Brantford1h ago58
  5. 5Toronto1h ago56
  6. 6London1h ago55
  7. 7Kitchener49m ago54
  8. 8Guelph49m ago53
  9. 9Calgary1h ago51
  10. 10Kelowna49m ago44

Cleanest air right now

  1. 1Nepean49m ago6
  2. 2Trois-Rivières49m ago11
  3. 3Québec49m ago13
  4. 4Laval49m ago14
  5. 5Longueuil49m ago14
  6. 6Montréal49m ago14
  7. 7Orléans49m ago14
  8. 8Ottawa49m ago14
  9. 9Terrebonne49m ago14
  10. 10Winnipeg2h ago16

Greenest cities in Canada

  1. 1Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne68.1%
  2. 2Abbotsford54.8%
  3. 3Guelph51.7%
  4. 4St. John's47.4%
  5. 5Saanich46.7%
  6. 6Greater Sudbury45.1%
  7. 7Oakville44.4%
  8. 8Montréal44.4%
  9. 9Cambridge42.4%
  10. 10Coquitlam42.1%

Least tree cover in Canada

Excludes barren and desert sites

  1. 1Delta10.3%
  2. 2Toronto15.6%
  3. 3Kamloops18.0%
  4. 4Vaughan19.3%
  5. 5Calgary19.8%
  6. 6Québec21.6%
  7. 7Kelowna22.4%
  8. 8Ottawa22.4%
  9. 9Mississauga22.8%
  10. 10Richmond22.9%

Against everywhere else

How does Canada compare with other countries?

Right now the cities of Canada average cleaner air than 88% of the 171 countries Airleaf has enough cities to average, and more tree cover than 74%.

Cleaner air than…

Canada
Beats 88%

More tree cover than…

Canada
Beats 74%

See the most polluted and cleanest air rankings for every country.

Is this the same as Canada's AQHI?

No. Airleaf shows the US EPA Air Quality Index (AQI), the scale used by IQAir and most air-quality apps. Canada's Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), from Environment and Climate Change Canada, runs from 1 to 10 and above: 1–3 low risk, 4–6 moderate, 7–10 high and over 10 very high. It combines ozone, nitrogen dioxide and fine particles into one health-risk number, so it isn't a converted AQI, and the two can move differently, especially in wildfire smoke.

Deforestation · 2001–2025

How much forest has Canada lost?

Since 2001, Canada has lost about 65.6 million hectares of forest (about 660,000 km²): 17% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it was lost to wildfires, so much of it can grow back. About 899,000 hectares (1.4%) was deforestation: forest cleared for good for farms, mines or towns.

Forest lost since 2001
65.6 million haabout 660,000 km²
Share of its forest
17%of what there was in 2000
Cleared for good
899,000 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Forest lost each year in Canada, 2001–2025

Hectares of forest lost each year

Forest lost each year in Canada, 2001–2025. Use the left and right arrow keys to read each year.8.38M

Show the figures as a table
Forest lost each year in Canada, 2001–2025
YearCleared for goodCan grow backTotal
200124,200 ha1.31 million ha1.34 million ha
200226,400 ha2.26 million ha2.29 million ha
200318,700 ha1.56 million ha1.58 million ha
200436,800 ha2.22 million ha2.26 million ha
200535,100 ha2.29 million ha2.33 million ha
200642,000 ha2.22 million ha2.27 million ha
200734,400 ha1.99 million ha2.03 million ha
200835,100 ha1.89 million ha1.93 million ha
200934,100 ha1.48 million ha1.52 million ha
201035,800 ha1.89 million ha1.93 million ha
201132,600 ha2.08 million ha2.11 million ha
201259,000 ha2.43 million ha2.49 million ha
201330,600 ha2.64 million ha2.67 million ha
201440,000 ha2.58 million ha2.62 million ha
201535,300 ha2.61 million ha2.65 million ha
201650,800 ha1.99 million ha2.04 million ha
201744,800 ha2.32 million ha2.37 million ha
201841,400 ha2.05 million ha2.09 million ha
201932,900 ha1.98 million ha2.02 million ha
202031,200 ha1.08 million ha1.11 million ha
202132,600 ha2.43 million ha2.46 million ha
202225,700 ha2.1 million ha2.13 million ha
202321,400 ha8.36 million ha8.38 million ha
202423,600 ha4.96 million ha4.98 million ha
202574,600 ha5.99 million ha6.06 million ha

Forest loss is speeding up: about 4.8 million hectares a year in 2021–2025, up from 1.92 million hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2023, when about 8.38 million hectares of forest were lost, mostly to wildfires.

What is causing deforestation in Canada?

  • Wildfirescan grow back60% · 39.2 million ha
  • Loggingcan grow back30% · 19.9 million ha
  • Storms, floods and other natural causescan grow back2.7% · 1.79 million ha

Also: farms, pasture and plantations, mining and energy, towns and roads, unknown causes.

Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.

Canada's full deforestation report

Source: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, Global Forest Change (GFC-2025-v1.13); causes: WRI/Google DeepMind drivers of forest loss; both CC BY 4.0, summed by Airleaf for each area. How it's measured

Canada as a whole

42.0% of Canada was forested as of 2024, against a 30% benchmark. That already clears the benchmark — the city reports above show where cover is still thin locally. Source: World Bank (FAO).

Browse by province

Full directory

Every city we track in Canada

59 cities, A–Z

Clean-air buying guides

Cleaner air at home in Canada

Picked by tested clean-air delivery rate (CADR), noise and running cost, from independent test labels. No brand pays to be listed.

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Frequently asked

Air quality in Canada: your questions answered

What is the air quality in Canada today?

Right now the 59 cities Airleaf measures in Canada average AQI 30 (good). The worst air is in Windsor, at AQI 66, and the cleanest in Nepean, at AQI 6. At ground stations alone, which measure rather than estimate, the average is AQI 31 across 55 cities. None of the 59 measured cities is over AQI 100 today, and 85% have Good air.

Which city in Canada has the worst air right now?

Windsor, at AQI 66 (Moderate) on the US EPA index. Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.

Which city in Canada has the cleanest air right now?

Nepean, at AQI 6 (Good). Both lists rank current readings, from ground stations wherever Canada has at least three cities with one.

Is the air in Canada safe to breathe today?

It depends on the city. 50 cities are Good, 9 cities are Moderate. At the national average of AQI 30: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.

How much forest has Canada lost since 2001?

About 65.6 million ha from 2001 to 2025, 17% of the forest it had in 2000, from the University of Maryland's yearly satellite maps of forest loss. 899,000 ha of it was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.

Which city in Canada has the most trees?

Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne, with 68.1% tree cover within 2 km of its center, measured from Sentinel-2 satellite images.

How does Airleaf measure air quality in Canada?

Each city's reading is the US EPA air quality index, from ground monitoring stations where one has reported recently nearby, and from the CAMS atmospheric model elsewhere; each city's report says which. Canada's AQHI is a different scale, explained on this page. Tree cover is measured over the same 2 km radius in every city, so the cities compare like for like.

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