Vallejo Real-Time AQI Tracker
Get Alerts For Unhealthy AQI In Your Area
When air quality in your area reaches unhealthy levels, we'll send you a quick alert, along with expert tips on how to reduce your exposure.
What's Actually In Vallejo Air Today?
What High AQI Means for Your Lungs in Vallejo
How to Read AQI
The Air Quality Index (AQI) measures how polluted the air is and how it may affect your health.
0–50 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory.
51–100 (Moderate): Acceptable, but some pollutants may pose minor concerns.
101–150 (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups)
151–200 (Unhealthy)
201–300 (Very Unhealthy)
301+ (Hazardous)
Moderate
Still okay for most, but if you have asthma or allergies, take it easy and avoid long outdoor workouts.
Shop MERV 11 filters→What's the Right Filter for Your AQI Level?
Check Today's Live Real Time Air Quality Index AQI Map in Vallejo, CA Now
TL;DR
The live map above shows Vallejo's current air quality index from EPA AirNow, fed by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District station on Tuolumne Street. Summer marine air through the Carquinez Strait keeps most days clean; winter wood smoke and wildfire smoke bring the hard ones. Filterbuy's action line is AQI 100: close up the house, set the thermostat fan to On, run a MERV 13 filter and add a portable HEPA air cleaner in each occupied room.
Reading Vallejo's Live AQI Map in Under a Minute
Vallejo's live AQI map turns hourly monitor readings into a single number from 0 to 500 and a color. The map also names the pollutant behind the number, and that detail decides what you do inside.
Read the color first, then the pollutant. Ozone peaks in the afternoon, so shift workouts to the morning. PM2.5, the fine particles in smoke and exhaust, calls for filtration.
Compare the time stamp with the sky. If the haze arrived first, trust the haze.
If fire smoke is in the forecast, open Filterbuy's Vallejo wildfire smoke map.
Key Takeaways
Vallejo's official reading comes from one station at 304 Tuolumne Street.
Winter is particle season, when wood smoke and easterly Central Valley air raise PM2.5 on calm nights.
A Spare the Air burn ban can start while the map still reads yellow, at about AQI 81.
What Each AQI Color Asks of a Vallejo Household
The AQI scale runs from 0 to 500. EPA splits it into six categories; find the live map's color, then read across.
Categories per EPA AirNow.
Why the Vallejo Number Can Lag the Haze
When the sky looks smoky but the map still reads yellow, timing is usually the reason. EPA's NowCast weights up to 12 hours of data, so evening smoke can take hours to show fully. Vallejo also relies on a single station. The Vallejo community air monitoring plan, approved by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in September 2025, says the Tuolumne Street site reflects regional conditions rather than block-by-block differences.
If you smell smoke, act first, then check nearby sensors on the AirNow Fire and Smoke Map. Its low-cost sensors can differ from the official station.
Is It Safe to Be Outside in Vallejo Right Now?
Up to 100, yes for most people. Above 100, children, adults over 65 and people with asthma, COPD or heart disease should limit time outdoors, and above 150, everyone should cut back. With a diagnosed condition, follow your doctor's plan.
Who Issues Vallejo's Spare the Air Alerts and Forecasts
Vallejo sits inside the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (the Air District), which covers only the southwestern part of Solano County, per its Solano County profile. Northeastern Solano belongs to a separate district, so a Vacaville forecast is not a Vallejo forecast.
The Air District issues Spare the Air Alerts whenever ozone or fine particles are forecast to reach unhealthy levels, and burning wood is illegal year-round on any alert called for particle pollution. Spare the Air also posts a five-day forecast. Get text or email alerts at Spare the Air and report smoke or odors at 1-800-334-ODOR.
The Air District now calls a no-burn day when it forecasts 24-hour PM2.5 at 25 µg/m³. Filterbuy ran that figure through EPA's 2024 AQI scale. It works out to about AQI 81, still yellow, so a burn ban can begin while the live map reads Moderate.
One Tuolumne Street Monitor, Many Vallejo Neighborhoods
The Tuolumne Street station measures six pollutant groups, including ozone, PM2.5 and air toxics, but no single station can see every block. Of the areas residents flag in that plan, all three sit beside traffic or industry:
Southwest Vallejo, south of Tennessee Street and west of I-80.
The Highway 29 and 37 corridor, with diesel traffic and dust.
St. Vincent Hill, across the channel from Mare Island ship repair.
CARB's Statewide Mobile Monitoring Initiative drove sensor cars across Vallejo from June 2025 through March 2026. A 2020–2021 Air District study found pollution varied most near I-80 and Highway 37. The Vallejo air monitoring plan reports asthma emergency visits in South and Central Vallejo at more than three times the California rate.
What's in Vallejo's Air, Season by Season
Wind mostly decides whether particles or ozone lead. Filterbuy built this calendar from Air District climate notes.
Sources: Air District; Spare the Air.
PM2.5 comes from wood smoke, I-80 diesel exhaust, industry and wildfires. In winter, the Air District notes, easterly winds can carry Central Valley pollution into the area and push PM2.5 above health standards. Valero also stopped refining in Benicia in April 2026.
Ozone forms when sunlight works on vehicle and industrial emissions. Marine air keeps most Vallejo summer days clean, and the county's occasional exceedances land mainly east of Suisun City.
Indoors, the two part ways. Ozone breaks down quickly inside, so closing the windows handles much of it, while PM2.5 lingers until filtration reduces it.
How Vallejo Air Quality Compares Across the Bay Area
The American Lung Association's 2026 State of the Air ranked the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose area 14th worst for ozone even as particle levels hit a record low.
Filterbuy's read is that marine air gives Vallejo an ozone edge over inland Solano County, while calm winter nights let wood smoke build. Compare the Fairfield live AQI map, Napa live AQI map, Concord live AQI map and Oakland live AQI map, or the statewide California live AQI map.
Vallejo's Smoke Years, and What an Alert Changes for Your Day
Vallejo's worst air in recent years came from distant wildfires.
November 2018. During the Camp Fire, KQED reported that Vallejo's station averaged 197 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter on November 16, a daily AQI of 247 on the scale then in use.
September 2020. The orange-sky day of September 9 fell in the middle of 25 straight Spare the Air Alerts.
When the map reaches 100 or a smoke advisory covers Vallejo, check AirNow and Air District guidance first. Then follow Filterbuy's four steps:
Run a MERV 13 filter in your HVAC system.
Set the thermostat fan to On so it filters continuously, and close any fresh-air intake.
Run a portable HEPA air cleaner in each occupied room, bedrooms first. EPA sizes these at a smoke CADR of at least two-thirds of the room's square footage. A 300 sq ft bedroom needs about 200.
Close up: windows shut, fireplaces cold, no candles or frying.
Check the filter during smoke and replace it when it looks dirty, which can be well before its normal interval. EPA advises keeping extra filters on hand and using only cleaners that make little or no ozone, so skip ionizers and ozone generators. See Filterbuy's guide to wildfire smoke and the AQI.
No Central Air? Options for Older Vallejo Homes and Apartments
Only about half of San Francisco metro households had air conditioning in 2023, per Census data reported by ABC7. If a wall or floor furnace heats your home, there is no filter slot, so the MERV advice below does not apply. Filterbuy would rather tell you that than sell you a filter that fits nothing. Portable HEPA air cleaners become your main defense, not a backup:
Put one in each occupied bedroom, sized by the two-thirds rule above.
Close windows during smoke, but never seal yourself into a hot house without cooling.
Filterbuy's Take: Vallejo's Air Turns with the Wind
Filterbuy makes HVAC filters in the U.S., so we read Vallejo's AQI from the return grille outward. Three patterns stand out.
1. Wind direction is the forecast. A westerly breeze through the strait usually means clean air, while a still or easterly winter night means wood smoke.
2. Winter is the season people skip. In Vallejo, wood smoke makes November through February a second particle season.
3. Filter for your block, not just the map. Homes near I-80, Highway 37 or Mare Island can carry more particles than one regional monitor shows. As Michelle Wan puts it:
I hear the same assumption from homeowners near highways and industrial parks: they think changing their filter more often will fix a high pollution problem. The rating matters far more than the schedule. A fresh MERV 8 filter still lets most fine particles through, while a MERV 13 filter catches far more of them.
Michelle Wan, Brand Manager and Air Quality Writer, Filterbuy, in PM10 vs. PM2.5: Which Filter You Need
Matching Your Filter to the Vallejo AQI
During smoke events, EPA recommends a high-efficiency filter rated MERV 13 or higher. Filterbuy acts at AQI 100. Confirming MERV 13 fits your system is the same quick check as confirming your size. Filterbuy's Vallejo rule of thumb: get MERV 13 in by late August, before fire season peaks, and keep a spare through the wood smoke months.
AQI 100 is the Filterbuy action line.
Filterbuy builds its filters in the U.S. in more than 600 sizes and ships them free; see its MERV guide for wildfire smoke and HEPA vs. MERV chart.
Supporting Statistics
Wood smoke: over 10% of Bay Area PM2.5 emissions
The share climbs in winter.
Indoors: about 90% of our time
Some indoor pollutants run 2 to 5 times higher than outside.
California: 82% live with unhealthy air
About 7 million California children are among them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Air Quality in Vallejo Today?
Check the live map above, which updates hourly from EPA AirNow.
Is the Air Quality Bad in Vallejo Today?
Only when the live map reads above 100, which in Vallejo usually means wildfire or wood smoke.
What Is the PM2.5 Level in Vallejo Today?
The live map shows the current PM2.5 reading from the Tuolumne Street station.
Can I Use My Fireplace in Vallejo Tonight?
Not on a no-burn day, which can start while the map still reads Moderate. Call 1-877-4NO-BURN to check.
Does a MERV 13 Filter Help on High-AQI Days?
Yes. MERV 13 is the tier Filterbuy recommends once the live map reaches 100 and smoke or PM2.5 drives the number. It does little for ozone, which closing up the house handles better.
Glossary
AQI (Air Quality Index): The EPA's 0 to 500 outdoor air scale.
PM2.5: Fine particles 2.5 micrometers or smaller.
Ozone (O3): Smog formed when sunlight reacts with exhaust.
Carquinez Strait: The channel linking San Pablo and Suisun bays at Vallejo.
MERV: Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value; higher catches finer particles.