The warmest and coldest states
Statewide average annual temperature for 1991–2020 from NOAA, with the July average high beside it. Sort the table to see the coldest states first.
Top of the list: Florida at 71.4°F. Bottom: Alaska at 28.0°F.
| # | State | Average temperature | July average high |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | 71.4°F | 91.6°F |
| 2 | Louisiana | 67.1°F | 91.9°F |
| 3 | Hawaii | 66.3°F | 76.3°F |
| 4 | Texas | 65.8°F | 94.6°F |
| 5 | Georgia | 64.2°F | 91.0°F |
| 6 | Mississippi | 64.2°F | 91.3°F |
| 7 | Alabama | 63.6°F | 90.7°F |
| 8 | South Carolina | 63.4°F | 91.3°F |
| 9 | Arizona | 61.1°F | 95.2°F |
| 10 | Arkansas | 61.0°F | 91.0°F |
| 11 | Oklahoma | 60.3°F | 93.8°F |
| 12 | North Carolina | 59.6°F | 88.1°F |
| 13 | California | 59.0°F | 90.9°F |
| 14 | Tennessee | 58.4°F | 87.9°F |
| 15 | Kentucky | 56.3°F | 87.0°F |
| 16 | Delaware | 56.2°F | 87.3°F |
| 17 | Virginia | 56.0°F | 86.3°F |
| 18 | Maryland | 55.4°F | 86.8°F |
| 19 | Missouri | 55.2°F | 88.2°F |
| 20 | Kansas | 55.1°F | 91.5°F |
| 21 | New Mexico | 54.5°F | 88.6°F |
| 22 | New Jersey | 53.6°F | 85.7°F |
| 23 | Illinois | 52.6°F | 85.8°F |
| 24 | West Virginia | 52.6°F | 83.2°F |
| 25 | Indiana | 52.4°F | 84.8°F |
| 26 | Ohio | 51.7°F | 84.0°F |
| 27 | Nevada | 51.0°F | 89.9°F |
| 28 | Rhode Island | 50.7°F | 81.9°F |
| 29 | Connecticut | 49.9°F | 82.9°F |
| 30 | Pennsylvania | 49.5°F | 82.3°F |
| 31 | Nebraska | 49.4°F | 87.3°F |
| 32 | Utah | 49.2°F | 88.2°F |
| 33 | Massachusetts | 48.8°F | 81.9°F |
| 34 | Iowa | 48.3°F | 83.8°F |
| 35 | Oregon | 47.9°F | 82.2°F |
| 36 | Washington | 47.3°F | 78.7°F |
| 37 | Colorado | 46.2°F | 83.5°F |
| 38 | New York | 46.0°F | 79.7°F |
| 39 | South Dakota | 45.6°F | 85.6°F |
| 40 | Michigan | 45.2°F | 80.3°F |
| 41 | New Hampshire | 44.1°F | 79.1°F |
| 42 | Idaho | 43.9°F | 82.3°F |
| 43 | Wisconsin | 43.8°F | 80.4°F |
| 44 | Vermont | 43.0°F | 78.0°F |
| 45 | Montana | 42.5°F | 81.7°F |
| 46 | Wyoming | 42.3°F | 82.1°F |
| 47 | Maine | 41.8°F | 77.2°F |
| 48 | Minnesota | 41.6°F | 80.1°F |
| 49 | North Dakota | 41.0°F | 81.5°F |
| 50 | Alaska | 28.0°F | 62.3°F |
NOAA NCEI Climate at a Glance (statewide) · statewide time series · 1991–2020 average · rel. monthly · Official data
Understanding the warmest and coldest states
Across all 50 states, average temperature spans from 71.4°F in Florida at the top of the list to 28.0°F in Alaska at the bottom. The three at the top are Florida, Louisiana, and Hawaii; the three at the bottom are Minnesota, North Dakota, and Alaska.
Florida is the warmest state, with a statewide average temperature of 71.4°F, followed by Louisiana, Hawaii, Texas, and Georgia. Alaska is by far the coldest at 28°F; among the lower 48, North Dakota, Minnesota, Maine, and Wyoming are the coldest, all around 41 to 42°F.
Annual averages hide how a state feels in summer. Arizona has the hottest July afternoons, with a statewide average high of about 95°F, followed by Texas and Oklahoma. Hawaii is warm all year but rarely hot, so it ranks high on average temperature and low on summer highs. Statewide figures also blend mountains with lowlands, so cities in states like Colorado or Utah are warmer than these numbers suggest.
Every state was warmer over 2016–2025 than its 1991–2020 average, by about half a degree to 1.4 degrees. Climate affects household costs directly: hot states pay more for cooling and cold states for heating, which shows up in the electricity and natural gas figures on each state profile. The District of Columbia has no statewide NOAA series and is not ranked.