City report · British Columbia, Canada
Richmond Air quality today
Air quality in Richmond currently reads AQI 30 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Air quality right now
AQI 30
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 5.4
- tree cover
- 22.9%
- trees in this area
- 67.8K
- more trees needed
- 21.0K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Richmond, BC, Canada (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 21, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Richmond · AQI 30 (Good)
Richmond's tree count comes to 67,770 trees across 11.84 km² of land, 7 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 21,012 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Richmond today: AQI 30, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 07:00 local time via OpenAQ ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · Vancouver Airport, 2.1 km away · median of 2 stations
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
5.4
PM10
11.0
NO₂
7.0
O₃
51.0
SO₂
0.3
CO
229.1
Data: OpenAQ · AirNow
- Outdoor exercise
- A good day to be active outside
- Windows
- Open them to air the house
- Mask
- Not needed
- Air purifier
- Not needed
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Richmond's daily AQI at 55 on average, from 40 on Nov 6 to an hourly peak of 151 on Nov 4.
This is the US EPA AQI. How it differs from Canada's AQHI
Where Richmond stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Richmond: Below target
22.9% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 11.84 km² of land.
Trees in this area
67,770
Target trees
88,782
More trees needed
21,012
CO₂ if planted / yr
462.3 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Richmond lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Richmond has lost about 491 hectares of forest (about 690 football pitches): 11% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (95%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.
2017: satellite photo from July 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km east of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 491 haabout 690 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 11%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 467 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
The worst year was 2020, when about 71 hectares of forest were lost.
Hectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 8 ha | under 1 ha | 8 ha |
| 2002 | 14 ha | under 1 ha | 14 ha |
| 2003 | 14 ha | under 1 ha | 14 ha |
| 2004 | 27 ha | under 1 ha | 28 ha |
| 2005 | 9 ha | under 1 ha | 10 ha |
| 2006 | 17 ha | under 1 ha | 18 ha |
| 2007 | 8 ha | under 1 ha | 8 ha |
| 2008 | 11 ha | under 1 ha | 12 ha |
| 2009 | 14 ha | under 1 ha | 14 ha |
| 2010 | 16 ha | under 1 ha | 17 ha |
| 2011 | 6 ha | under 1 ha | 6 ha |
| 2012 | 15 ha | under 1 ha | 15 ha |
| 2013 | 18 ha | under 1 ha | 18 ha |
| 2014 | 16 ha | 1 ha | 17 ha |
| 2015 | 22 ha | under 1 ha | 22 ha |
| 2016 | 39 ha | 1 ha | 40 ha |
| 2017 | 19 ha | under 1 ha | 19 ha |
| 2018 | 44 ha | 11 ha | 55 ha |
| 2019 | 7 ha | 3 ha | 9 ha |
| 2020 | 71 ha | under 1 ha | 71 ha |
| 2021 | 21 ha | under 1 ha | 21 ha |
| 2022 | 12 ha | under 1 ha | 12 ha |
| 2023 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2024 | 24 ha | 2 ha | 26 ha |
| 2025 | 16 ha | under 1 ha | 16 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Richmond?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good56% · 277 ha
- Towns and roadscleared for good39% · 190 ha
- Wildfirescan grow back2.6% · 13 ha
Also: logging, storms, floods and other natural causes, unknown causes.
Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.
Forest gained and lost, 2000–2020
- Forest in 2000
- 9,310 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 9,190 ha
- Overall change
- −117 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Richmond stayed about the same size, at about 9,190 hectares: new forest grew on about 237 hectares, and about 354 hectares were lost.
These 2000 and 2020 maps, from the University of Maryland, count any land with trees taller than 5 m as forest, including plantations and orchards. Forest that was cut or burned and had grown back by 2020 counts in both years, so the loss here is smaller than the yearly figures.
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. Forest gained and lost 2000–2020: Potapov et al. 2022, UMD GLAD Global Land Cover and Land Use Change, CC BY 4.0. Images: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data. How it's measured
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Frequently asked
Questions about Richmond
What is the air quality (AQI) in Richmond right now?
The latest reading for Richmond shows an AQI of 30 (Good), measured Nov 11, 07:00 local time by 2 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is Vancouver Airport, 2.1 km away). The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Richmond today?
At AQI 30 (Good): a good day to be active outside. Windows: open them to air the house. Masks: not needed. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Richmond been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Richmond's daily AQI at 55 on average, from 40 on Nov 6 to an hourly peak of 151 on Nov 4. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Is Richmond's AQI 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.
How much forest has the area around Richmond lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Richmond has lost about 491 hectares of forest (about 690 football pitches): 11% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (95%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Richmond stayed about the same size, at about 9,190 hectares: new forest grew on about 237 hectares, and about 354 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Richmond?
Richmond has an estimated 67,770 trees across the 11.84 km² of land measured — 22.9% tree cover, 7 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Richmond need?
Richmond needs roughly 21,012 more trees to close a 7-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 462.3 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Richmond's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Richmond, 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 2 km radius around Richmond; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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