Environmental Health

White tabletop air-quality monitor with colored indicator lights beside a green-to-red color scale, overlooking a hazy city skyline through a large window.

PM2.5 vs AQI: The Measurement and the Communication Scale Are Not the Same Thing

by Max Data
October 13, 2026

PM2.5 is a pollutant concentration, while AQI is a health-communication index calculated from pollution data. Here is how the U.S. system connects them.