City report · Texas, United States
El Paso Air quality today
Air quality in El Paso currently reads AQI 66 (Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Air quality right now
AQI 66
Moderate
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 16.9
- tree cover
- 0.9%
- trees in this area
- 2.8K
- more trees needed
- 91.4K
Measured across a 1.2 mi (2 km) radius around Downtown El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA (4.9 sq mi), from a satellite image of Sep 9, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
El Paso · AQI 66 (Moderate)
El Paso's tree count comes to 2,827 trees across 4.9 sq mi (12.57 km²), 29 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 91,420 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in El Paso today: AQI 66, Moderate
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 08:00 local time via OpenAQ ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · Chamizal C41, 1.9 mi (3.1 km) away · median of 5 stations
Health signal
Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
PM2.5
16.9
PM10
74.0
NO₂
40.8
O₃
2.0
SO₂
8.1
CO
401.0
Data: OpenAQ · AirNow, Sinaica Mexico
- Outdoor exercise
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier
- Windows
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution
- Mask
- Not needed for most people
- Air purifier
- Worth running if you are sensitive
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put El Paso's daily AQI at 33 on average, from 9 on Nov 6 to an hourly peak of 78 on Nov 4.
Where El Paso stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in El Paso: Critically low
0.9% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 4.9 sq mi (12.57 km²).
Trees in this area
2,827
Target trees
94,247
More trees needed
91,420
CO₂ if planted / yr
2,011 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has El Paso lost?
There was almost no forest around El Paso in 2000, so there has been almost nothing to lose since. Only fairly dense woodland counts as forest in these maps, so scattered street and garden trees don't show up here.
2017: satellite photo from June 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
These figures cover everything within 10 km of the city center, a wider area than the report above, because forest is usually lost at a city's edges.
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. Images: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data. How it's measured
In the same region
Measured cities near El Paso
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Las Cruces67.4 km
United States
- Tree cover
- 2%
- Air quality
- 15
- Chihuahua349.4 km
Mexico
- Tree cover
- 4%
- Air quality
- 63
- Albuquerque370.1 km
United States
- Tree cover
- 10%
- Air quality
- 65
- Cuauhtémoc374.6 km
Mexico
- Tree cover
- 4%
- Air quality
- 29
- Odessa389.4 km
United States
- Tree cover
- 1%
- Air quality
- 9
- Ciudad Delicias408.7 km
Mexico
- Tree cover
- 3%
- Air quality
- 51
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Frequently asked
Questions about El Paso
What is the air quality (AQI) in El Paso right now?
The latest reading for El Paso shows an AQI of 66 (Moderate), measured Nov 11, 08:00 local time by 5 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is Chamizal C41, 1.9 mi (3.1 km) away). The main pollutant is PM2.5. Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Is it safe to exercise outside in El Paso today?
At AQI 66 (Moderate): fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier. Windows: fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution. Masks: not needed for most people. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in El Paso been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put El Paso's daily AQI at 33 on average, from 9 on Nov 6 to an hourly peak of 78 on Nov 4. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around El Paso lost since 2001?
There was almost no forest around El Paso in 2000, so there has been almost nothing to lose since. Only fairly dense woodland counts as forest in these maps, so scattered street and garden trees don't show up here.
What is the tree count in El Paso?
El Paso has an estimated 2,827 trees across the 4.9 sq mi (12.57 km²) measured — 0.9% tree cover, 29 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does El Paso need?
El Paso needs roughly 91,420 more trees to close a 29-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 2,011 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are El Paso's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Downtown El Paso, via OpenAQ; the 7-day trend is the Open-Meteo / CAMS model's estimate. Tree cover is measured from Sentinel-2 L2A (ESA Copernicus) via Earth Search satellite imagery at 10 m detail across a 1.2 mi (2 km) radius around Downtown El Paso; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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