Kanpur vs Varanasi
Side-by-side air quality comparison between Kanpur and Varanasi.
Live AQI from Open-Meteo CAMS (~45 km global model, updated hourly). Multi-year history from CPCB station data via aqinow.co pipeline (2016–2024, station-level daily records).
AQI Comparison
CPCB Multi-Year History (2016–2024)
Summary
Overview
In 2024, Kanpur averaged an AQI of 109 while Varanasi averaged 56 — a 53-point (95%) gap, with Kanpur the more polluted and Varanasi the cleaner of the two. On 2243 days when both cities reported, Varanasi was cleaner on 1205 of them; the average daily gap was 57 AQI points.
Seasonality & days
Kanpur peaks in November, while Varanasi peaks in January. Kanpur logged 3.8% Severe days and 36.2% Good-or-Satisfactory days; Varanasi was 2.8% Severe and 36% Good-or-Satisfactory. Longest clean-air streaks: Kanpur 70 days, Varanasi 87 days.
Year-over-year progress
Kanpur has improved by 96 AQI points (46.8%) from 2016 to 2024; Varanasi has improved by 169 AQI points (75.1%) over the same window. The worst recorded day for Kanpur reached AQI 482 at Nehru Nagar (UPPCB) on 2017-12-29; Varanasi hit AQI 500 at Ardhali Bazar (UPPCB) on 2017-07-11.
Station-level disparity
Kanpur spans 4 CPCB stations with a 54-point spread (min 111, max 165); Varanasi spans 4 stations with a 94-point spread (min 71, max 165).