The increasing knowledge in the distributions of air pollutants influenced by vegetation could facilitate reducing human exposure in residential areas. However, the distribution patterns of submicron particles (PM₁) in residential areas have not been clearly recognized, particularly for vertical distribution at high altitudes, which are closely associated with the exposure level of residents living in high-rise buildings. Thus, instrumented unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used to characterize the vertical distribution of PM₁ concentrations in near-road residential areas, including sites with dense, porous, and no vegetation barriers. Results show that PM₁ concentrations present unimodal distributions vertically at all scenarios with vegetation barriers, and the highest concentration in the vertical direction appears near the vegetation canopy, rather than on the ground. The particle mitigation under the influence of vegetation is weak in near-road residential areas, and the concentrations behind dense vegetation and porous vegetation decrease by 10.1% and 4.9%, respectively. Moreover, computational fluid dynamics simulations verified by field measurement are conducted to investigate the effects of vegetation density and height on PM₁ distribution. Effective countermeasures are proposed to support urban planning and design to alleviate air pollution in residential areas.