City report · El Salvador
San Salvador Air quality today
Air quality in San Salvador currently reads AQI 17 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
AQI 17
Air quality right now
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 3.0
- tree cover
- 36.9%
- trees in this area
- 116K
- more trees needed
- 0
Measured across a 2 km radius around San Salvador, El Salvador (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 12, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
San Salvador · AQI 17 (Good)
San Salvador's tree count comes to 115,925 trees across 12.57 km², already at or above the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area.
Air quality detail
Air quality in San Salvador today: AQI 17, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 10, 13:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 7 ground-station cities within 245 km, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Estimate · model corrected with 7 station cities within 245 km, e.g. Villa Nueva and Guatemala City
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
3.0
PM10
6.7
NO₂
1.0
O₃
103.0
SO₂
2.1
CO
178.0
- 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 San Salvador's daily AQI at 57 on average, from 46 on Nov 5 to an hourly peak of 93 on Nov 7.
Where San Salvador stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in San Salvador: Healthy tree cover
36.9% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.57 km².
Trees in this area
115,925
Target trees
115,925
More trees needed
0
CO₂ if planted / yr
0 kg
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has San Salvador lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of San Salvador has lost about 869 hectares of forest (about 1,200 football pitches): 5.2% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (98%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for towns and roads.
2017: satellite photo from January 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km north of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 869 haabout 1,200 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 5.2%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 849 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
The worst year was 2017, when about 61 hectares of forest were lost.
San Salvador's full deforestation reportHectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 48 ha | 1 ha | 49 ha |
| 2002 | 37 ha | under 1 ha | 38 ha |
| 2003 | 60 ha | under 1 ha | 61 ha |
| 2004 | 42 ha | under 1 ha | 43 ha |
| 2005 | 43 ha | under 1 ha | 43 ha |
| 2006 | 47 ha | under 1 ha | 48 ha |
| 2007 | 45 ha | under 1 ha | 45 ha |
| 2008 | 17 ha | 1 ha | 18 ha |
| 2009 | 39 ha | under 1 ha | 39 ha |
| 2010 | 16 ha | 1 ha | 17 ha |
| 2011 | 22 ha | 2 ha | 24 ha |
| 2012 | 43 ha | 3 ha | 46 ha |
| 2013 | 20 ha | under 1 ha | 21 ha |
| 2014 | 15 ha | under 1 ha | 15 ha |
| 2015 | 33 ha | under 1 ha | 33 ha |
| 2016 | 35 ha | 2 ha | 37 ha |
| 2017 | 60 ha | 1 ha | 61 ha |
| 2018 | 39 ha | 2 ha | 41 ha |
| 2019 | 29 ha | under 1 ha | 29 ha |
| 2020 | 25 ha | under 1 ha | 25 ha |
| 2021 | 23 ha | under 1 ha | 23 ha |
| 2022 | 21 ha | under 1 ha | 21 ha |
| 2023 | 15 ha | under 1 ha | 15 ha |
| 2024 | 33 ha | under 1 ha | 33 ha |
| 2025 | 44 ha | 2 ha | 46 ha |
What is causing deforestation around San Salvador?
- Towns and roadscleared for good70% · 612 ha
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good26% · 229 ha
- Unknown causescause unknown2% · 17 ha
Also: mining and energy, shifting farming, logging.
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
- 20,900 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 20,600 ha
- Overall change
- −315 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around San Salvador stayed about the same size, at about 20,600 hectares: new forest grew on about 114 hectares, and about 429 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 San Salvador
What is the air quality (AQI) in San Salvador right now?
The latest reading for San Salvador shows an AQI of 17 (Good), observed Nov 10, 13:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 7 ground-station cities within 245 km, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in San Salvador today?
At AQI 17 (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 San Salvador been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put San Salvador's daily AQI at 57 on average, from 46 on Nov 5 to an hourly peak of 93 on Nov 7. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around San Salvador lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of San Salvador has lost about 869 hectares of forest (about 1,200 football pitches): 5.2% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (98%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for towns and roads. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around San Salvador stayed about the same size, at about 20,600 hectares: new forest grew on about 114 hectares, and about 429 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in San Salvador?
San Salvador has an estimated 115,925 trees across the 12.57 km² measured — 36.9% tree cover, already past the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does San Salvador need?
San Salvador has already reached its tree-cover target, so no additional trees are needed to close the gap.
How are San Salvador's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality comes from ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ where one reports nearby, and otherwise, as here, from the Open-Meteo / CAMS model, which may differ from street-level monitors. 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 San Salvador; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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