Air pollution exposure calculator
Air Pollution Exposure Calculator by AQI, PM2.5 & Time
Add home, work, commute or other segments to see which part of your recorded day contributes the most ambient PM2.5 exposure.
Map home, work and commute exposure
Use a PM2.5-specific US AQI or a direct PM2.5 reading for every segment. Recorded time may be less than, but never more than, 24 hours.
Your recorded exposure
Recorded time
24 h
Total concentration-hours
398.8 µg/m³·h
Time-weighted PM2.5
16.6 µg/m³
Cigarette-equivalent estimate
≈ 0.76 cigarette-equivalents
Largest source
Home
Contribution breakdown
Where a change matters most
Home contributes the largest share. Improving that segment first would have the biggest effect on this recorded-day comparison.
This estimate scales Berkeley Earth’s rough population-level health-impact equivalence for long-term PM2.5 and cigarette-smoking risks. It is not a direct particle-mass equivalence, cigarettes actually smoked, an inhaled dose, a personal risk score, diagnosis, or medical advice.
Turn this exposure result into a cleaner-air decision
How this PM2.5 exposure calculation works
- AQI entries are first converted to estimated PM2.5 with the site’s reviewed EPA breakpoint logic.
- Each concentration is multiplied by time to produce concentration-hours, then divided by recorded hours for the time-weighted PM2.5 average.
- The cigarette-equivalent estimate scales Berkeley Earth’s rough population-level health-impact framing for long-term PM2.5 and smoking risks using 22 µg/m³ across 24 hours.
- The result is not a direct particle-mass equivalence, cigarettes actually smoked, an inhaled dose, a personal risk prediction, or a medical diagnosis.
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Trust Signals
How to interpret a multi-place day
Review policy
August 8, 2026. We update supporting pages when calculator logic, live data behavior, or source framing changes.
Primary sources
AQI uses EPA / AirNow breakpoint logic. Cigarette-equivalent framing follows Berkeley Earth’s PM2.5 interpretation.
Live data layer
City pages use EPA AirNow where supported, with cached fallbacks and planning baselines if the API fails or coverage is unavailable.
Daily exposure planner questions
Can I mix AQI and PM2.5 readings?
Yes. AQI entries must specifically represent PM2.5; the tool converts them before combining every segment in one concentration-time calculation.
Why can the total be less than 24 hours?
You may only know part of your day. Results cover the recorded hours and do not invent values for missing time.
Is this my inhaled dose?
No. Actual dose depends on breathing rate, building filtration, masks and personal physiology. This is an ambient-exposure comparison.