City AQI Comparison

Los Angeles vs San Francisco: AQI comparison and planning guide

Compare Los Angeles and San Francisco by current-or-fallback AQI, cigarette-equivalent exposure, and practical next steps.

Uses live AirNow readings where supported and falls back to each city's planning baseline when the API is unavailable or unsupported.

Los Angeles

Southern California

Using live AQI

Current or fallback AQI

AQI 43

Category

Good

24-hour equivalent

0.47

Updated Jun 23, 2:44 AM UTC

Proceed with normal outdoor activity.
Use the day to ventilate and prepare before worse conditions arrive.
Check tomorrow's forecast if wildfire smoke or inversion is developing.

San Francisco

Bay Area

Using live AQI

Current or fallback AQI

AQI 16

Category

Good

24-hour equivalent

0.17

Updated Jun 23, 2:44 AM UTC

Proceed with normal outdoor activity.
Use the day to ventilate and prepare before worse conditions arrive.
Check tomorrow's forecast if wildfire smoke or inversion is developing.

What changes for planning

Cleaner right now

San Francisco

Heavier 24h exposure

Los Angeles

Daily cigarette-equivalent gap

0.3

Los Angeles: Forecast planning snapshot

2026-06-23

AQI 151

Unhealthy

San Francisco: Forecast planning snapshot

2026-06-23

AQI 53

Moderate

2026-06-24

AQI -1

Moderate