NOAA rankings · updated August 2026
Coldest States in the U.S.
All 50 states ranked by NOAA 1991–2020 mean annual temperature, statewide averages across every reporting city we track.
- #1 · Alaska
- 33.5°F#1 · Alaska: 33.5°F. Benchmark context: complete 50-state annual-temperature ranking.
- Leader benchmark
- Top-12 cutoff
- 46.1°FTop-12 cutoff: 46.1°F. Benchmark context: complete 50-state annual-temperature ranking.
- Cutoff benchmark
- 50-state median
- 52.3°F50-state median: 52.3°F. Benchmark context: complete 50-state annual-temperature ranking.
- Cohort median
- Winter #1 · North Dakota
- 13.4°FWinter #1 · North Dakota: 13.4°F. Benchmark context: complete 50-state Dec–Feb average-temperature ranking.
- Seasonal leader
The coldest U.S. states, the verdict
Alaska is the coldest U.S. state at 33.5°F. The top-12 cutoff is 46.1°F (#12), and the coldest-to-warmest spread across all 50 states is 39.1°F (median 52.3°F).
- 33.5°F
- coldest state average - Alaska
- 46.1°F
- top-12 list threshold
- 39.1°F
- coldest-to-warmest spread
- 1991–2020
- NOAA 30-year normals window
Statewide averages smooth out local variation, a state's coldest city can be far colder than its own average.
The bar to make the top-12 coldest states
Where the #12 statewide mean sits among all 50 state averages
46°F List threshold 46.1°F is the warmest statewide mean that still makes the top 12 coldest (50 states)
- 30°F–35°F: 1 U.S. states (2%). Below this entry.
- 35°F–40°F: 0 U.S. states (0%). Below this entry.
- 40°F–45°F: 8 U.S. states (16%). Below this entry.
- 45°F–50°F: 10 U.S. states (20%). This entry sits in this band.
- 50°F–55°F: 12 U.S. states (24%). Above this entry.
- 55°F–60°F: 8 U.S. states (16%). Above this entry.
- 60°F–65°F: 7 U.S. states (14%). Above this entry.
- 65°F–70°F: 2 U.S. states (4%). Above this entry.
- 70°F–75°F: 2 U.S. states (4%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 · 1991–2020
All 50 states by average annual temperature, coldest to warmest
| # | State | Avg Temp | Avg Precip | Cities Tracked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska (AK) | 33.5°F (0.8°C) | 47.6" | 172 |
| 2 | North Dakota (ND) | 41.0°F (5.0°C) | 19.2" | 119 |
| 3 | Minnesota (MN) | 42.2°F (5.7°C) | 30.0" | 172 |
| 4 | Maine (ME) | 43.1°F (6.2°C) | 46.4" | 79 |
| 5 | Wyoming (WY) | 43.3°F (6.3°C) | 14.0" | 144 |
| 6 | Montana (MT) | 43.4°F (6.3°C) | 15.9" | 215 |
| 7 | Vermont (VT) | 43.5°F (6.4°C) | 43.7" | 41 |
| 8 | New Hampshire (NH) | 44.5°F (6.9°C) | 46.6" | 52 |
| 9 | Wisconsin (WI) | 44.5°F (6.9°C) | 34.6" | 200 |
| 10 | Michigan (MI) | 45.5°F (7.5°C) | 34.2" | 201 |
| 11 | South Dakota (SD) | 45.6°F (7.6°C) | 21.8" | 149 |
| 12 | Idaho (ID) | 46.1°F (7.8°C) | 18.0" | 139 |
| 13 | Colorado (CO) | 46.3°F (7.9°C) | 15.9" | 214 |
| 14 | New York (NY) | 47.5°F (8.6°C) | 43.7" | 173 |
| 15 | Iowa (IA) | 48.0°F (8.9°C) | 35.9" | 143 |
| 16 | Massachusetts (MA) | 49.2°F (9.6°C) | 48.2" | 68 |
| 17 | Utah (UT) | 49.4°F (9.7°C) | 13.9" | 170 |
| 18 | Nebraska (NE) | 49.6°F (9.8°C) | 25.0" | 171 |
| 19 | Washington (WA) | 49.9°F (9.9°C) | 40.9" | 149 |
| 20 | Connecticut (CT) | 50.1°F (10.1°C) | 48.6" | 23 |
| 21 | Pennsylvania (PA) | 50.2°F (10.1°C) | 45.2" | 157 |
| 22 | Oregon (OR) | 50.5°F (10.3°C) | 37.6" | 180 |
| 23 | Rhode Island (RI) | 51.2°F (10.7°C) | 48.7" | 9 |
| 24 | Ohio (OH) | 51.6°F (10.9°C) | 41.1" | 128 |
| 25 | Illinois (IL) | 52.2°F (11.2°C) | 40.7" | 163 |
| 26 | West Virginia (WV) | 52.3°F (11.3°C) | 47.6" | 99 |
| 27 | Indiana (IN) | 52.4°F (11.3°C) | 43.7" | 116 |
| 28 | Nevada (NV) | 52.4°F (11.3°C) | 8.9" | 115 |
| 29 | New Jersey (NJ) | 53.6°F (12.0°C) | 47.9" | 45 |
| 30 | New Mexico (NM) | 54.3°F (12.4°C) | 13.8" | 167 |
| 31 | Kansas (KS) | 54.8°F (12.7°C) | 31.2" | 168 |
| 32 | Missouri (MO) | 55.1°F (12.8°C) | 43.9" | 164 |
| 33 | Maryland (MD) | 55.6°F (13.1°C) | 45.5" | 42 |
| 34 | Virginia (VA) | 55.8°F (13.2°C) | 46.0" | 119 |
| 35 | Delaware (DE) | 56.2°F (13.4°C) | 46.8" | 7 |
| 36 | Kentucky (KY) | 56.2°F (13.4°C) | 50.6" | 95 |
| 37 | Tennessee (TN) | 58.0°F (14.4°C) | 56.0" | 146 |
| 38 | North Carolina (NC) | 59.1°F (15.1°C) | 52.2" | 178 |
| 39 | California (CA) | 59.8°F (15.4°C) | 21.6" | 363 |
| 40 | Oklahoma (OK) | 60.3°F (15.7°C) | 35.7" | 159 |
| 41 | Arkansas (AR) | 60.7°F (15.9°C) | 52.2" | 110 |
| 42 | Arizona (AZ) | 62.3°F (16.8°C) | 12.4" | 169 |
| 43 | South Carolina (SC) | 62.8°F (17.1°C) | 49.8" | 100 |
| 44 | Alabama (AL) | 63.3°F (17.4°C) | 57.9" | 100 |
| 45 | Georgia (GA) | 63.4°F (17.4°C) | 52.0" | 122 |
| 46 | Mississippi (MS) | 64.1°F (17.8°C) | 59.7" | 91 |
| 47 | Texas (TX) | 66.2°F (19.0°C) | 31.1" | 449 |
| 48 | Louisiana (LA) | 67.3°F (19.6°C) | 60.3" | 91 |
| 49 | Hawaii (HI) | 72.4°F (22.4°C) | 48.5" | 49 |
| 50 | Florida (FL) | 72.6°F (22.6°C) | 55.2" | 165 |
Coldest states in winter (December–February)
Winter reorders the list. Averaging only December, January, and February normals across each state's tracked station-mapped locations, North Dakota comes out coldest at 13.4°F - overtaking Alaska, the annual leader, whose coastal stations moderate its winter average.
| # | State | Winter Avg (Dec–Feb) | Annual Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Dakota | 13.4°F (-10.3°C) | #2 |
| 2 | Alaska | 13.8°F (-10.1°C) | #1 |
| 3 | Minnesota | 14.3°F (-9.8°C) | #3 |
| 4 | Wisconsin | 19.5°F (-6.9°C) | #8 |
| 5 | Maine | 19.9°F (-6.7°C) | #4 |
| 6 | Vermont | 20.2°F (-6.6°C) | #7 |
| 7 | South Dakota | 20.9°F (-6.2°C) | #11 |
| 8 | New Hampshire | 22.2°F (-5.4°C) | #8 |
| 9 | Iowa | 22.3°F (-5.4°C) | #15 |
| 10 | Wyoming | 22.6°F (-5.2°C) | #5 |
Cold and snowy or cold and dry?
Cold does not always mean snowy. Among the 10 coldest states, annual snowfall ranges from 43.4" in North Dakota to 95.8" in Vermont. States with dry continental interiors (like the Dakotas) can be bitterly cold with less total precipitation than wetter mountain states. Annual precipitation among these ten ranges from 14.0" (Wyoming) to 47.6" (Alaska).
Station coverage by state
A state with more tracked locations produces a more granular average. Among the 10 coldest, Montana has the most tracked cities (215), while Vermont has the fewest (41). Fewer stations can mean the average misses microclimates; open any state's page for its location breakdown.
How this ranking is built
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), each state's average temperature is derived from the 1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals for every station-mapped location we track within that state, published in May 2021. We average across all tracked location records per state and rank from coldest to warmest. A large state with both mountain and coastal stations can show a wide internal range even with a moderate statewide average; open any state's page for its location-by-location breakdown. The full derivation is documented in our methodology.
Caveats
A statewide average reflects only the cities in our database with a complete NOAA normal, not the state's entire land area, coverage is denser in populated regions than in remote rural areas. These normals end in 2020 and do not capture any warming trend since then. For a specific city's own numbers, frost dates, and seasonal detail, open its city page.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
What a state average hides
A statewide number is a starting point, not the whole picture.
- Open a state page to see its own coldest and warmest cities, not just the average. Browse by state
- Compare individual cities directly if you're weighing two specific places. Compare cities
- Looking for the opposite? See the hottest U.S. states. Hottest states
NOAA 1991–2020 normals are typical-year averages, not forecasts, and exclude post-2020 trends.