What figures do you use to get the AQI results?

On the IQAir AirVisual platform, we publish two types of U.S. AQI results: individual station data and city averages. The city average is calculated by averaging the AQI values from all monitoring stations within that city.

We source data from two types of monitoring sources: reference sensors (typically used in regulatory stations) and low-cost sensors, which measure PM2.5 concentrations. AQI values are calculated based on pollutant concentrations for each station, with the highest AQI value across all pollutants —referred to as the "dominant" pollutant—reported. You can also view the contributors for each station or city on the platform.

For more information about how AQI is calculated, please refer to our detailed article What is the air quality index (AQI)?