City report · Shaanxi, China
Xi’an Air quality today
Air quality in Xi’an currently reads AQI 173 (Unhealthy): Everyone should limit long outdoor exertion; sensitive groups more so.
Air quality right now
AQI 173
Unhealthy
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 86.5
- tree cover
- 16.6%
- trees in this area
- 52.1K
- more trees needed
- 73.4K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Lianhu District, Xi'An, Shaanxi, China (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Aug 30, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Xi’an · AQI 173 (Unhealthy)
Xi’an's tree count comes to 52,098 trees across 12.56 km² of land, 23 points below the 40% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 73,440 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Xi’an today: AQI 173, Unhealthy
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 22:00 local time via World Air Quality Index Project ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · City People Stadium, Xian (西安市人民体育场), 2.7 km away · median of 5 stations
Health signal
Everyone should limit long outdoor exertion; sensitive groups more so.
PM2.5
86.5
PM10
115.6
NO₂
—
O₃
—
SO₂
—
CO
—
Data: World Air Quality Index Project, Shaanxi Provincial Environmental Protection Office (陕西省环保厅), Xi'an Environmental Protection Agency (西安市环境保护局)
- Outdoor exercise
- Everyone should cut down long or hard exercise; sensitive groups should avoid it
- Windows
- Keep them closed
- Mask
- Wear an N95 outdoors
- Air purifier
- Run one
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Xi’an's daily AQI at 141 on average, from 86 on Nov 8 to an hourly peak of 207 on Nov 5.
Where Xi’an stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Xi’an: Critically low
16.6% tree cover against a 40% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.56 km² of land.
Trees in this area
52,098
Target trees
125,538
More trees needed
73,440
CO₂ if planted / yr
1,616 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Xi’an lost?
There was almost no forest around Xi’an 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 August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Forest gained and lost, 2000–2020
- Forest in 2000
- 538 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 1,230 ha
- Overall change
- +696 hamore forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Xi’an grew from about 538 hectares to 1,230 hectares, a net gain of about 696 hectares (+129%). New forest grew on about 696 hectares, while under 1 hectare was 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 Xi’an
What is the air quality (AQI) in Xi’an right now?
The latest reading for Xi’an shows an AQI of 173 (Unhealthy), measured Nov 11, 22:00 local time by 5 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is City People Stadium, Xian (西安市人民体育场), 2.7 km away). The main pollutant is PM2.5. Everyone should limit long outdoor exertion; sensitive groups more so.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Xi’an today?
At AQI 173 (Unhealthy): everyone should cut down long or hard exercise; sensitive groups should avoid it. Windows: keep them closed. Masks: wear an N95 outdoors. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Xi’an been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Xi’an's daily AQI at 141 on average, from 86 on Nov 8 to an hourly peak of 207 on Nov 5. On 6 of those days the average was above 100, unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Xi’an lost since 2001?
There was almost no forest around Xi’an 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. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Xi’an grew from about 538 hectares to 1,230 hectares, a net gain of about 696 hectares (+129%). New forest grew on about 696 hectares, while under 1 hectare was lost.
What is the tree count in Xi’an?
Xi’an has an estimated 52,098 trees across the 12.56 km² of land measured — 16.6% tree cover, 23 percentage points short of the 40% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Xi’an need?
Xi’an needs roughly 73,440 more trees to close a 23-point shortfall against its 40% tree-cover target — about 1,616 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Xi’an's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Lianhu District, 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 Lianhu District; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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