US states by annual precipitation

Mississippi had the highest annual precipitation of 50 states in 2020, at 68.84 inches. Nevada had the lowest, at 5.86 inches. The median was 41.86 inches and the figure for the United States was 30.38 inches. Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.

Highest68.84Mississippi

Lowest5.86Nevada

Median41.8650 states

United States30.38History

Map of states, 2020

Under 16
16 to 31
31 to 42
42 to 46
46 to 60
60 and over
No data

inches, 2020. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: NOAA NCEI, NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, contiguous US and statewide. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2020

inches. Source: NOAA NCEI, NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, contiguous US and statewide. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2020 inches	Change on 2019
1	Mississippi	68.84	+1.1%
2	Alabama	68.67	+22%
3	Louisiana	66.96	+8.2%
4	North Carolina	66.55	+30.1%
5	Tennessee	65.73	-1.8%
6	Hawaii	63.98	+2.3%
7	Arkansas	63.82	-2.8%
8	Virginia	61.4	+33.5%
9	Georgia	60.46	+26.2%
10	South Carolina	59.87	+30.1%
11	Kentucky	58.11	-5.2%
12	Florida	57.98	+11.3%
13	Delaware	55.92	+36.3%
14	West Virginia	53.77	+11.5%
15	Maryland	52.85	+23.8%
16	New Jersey	49.85	-3.3%
17	Missouri	46.34	-13.9%
18	Washington	45.25	+36.9%
19	Rhode Island	44.52	-22%
20	Connecticut	43.37	-19.6%
21	Pennsylvania	43.26	-14.8%
22	Indiana	42.4	-14.4%
22	Massachusetts	42.4	-19.6%
24	Ohio	42.31	-9.7%
25	Illinois	41.93	-15.9%
26	New Hampshire	41.8	-16.8%
27	Maine	40.63	-18.7%
28	Vermont	40.21	-21.8%
29	New York	39.28	-18.5%
30	Oklahoma	39.21	-12.8%
31	Alaska	37.94	-0.2%
32	Michigan	35.31	-15.6%
33	Wisconsin	34.19	-23.3%
34	Iowa	29.28	-29.7%
35	Oregon	28.76	-4.2%
36	Texas	26.17	-2.6%
37	Kansas	25.85	-28.3%
38	Minnesota	24.39	-31.6%
39	Idaho	22.19	-5.2%
40	Nebraska	18.24	-41.9%
41	Montana	16.89	-21.1%
42	South Dakota	16.17	-48.5%
43	North Dakota	12.92	-47%
44	Colorado	12.23	-35.3%
45	California	12.07	-58.6%
46	Wyoming	11.72	-36.1%
47	New Mexico	8.35	-37.6%
48	Utah	7.24	-57.3%
49	Arizona	6.56	-55.3%
50	Nevada	5.86	-57.6%

Other periods

About this ranking

Total precipitation from January to December, in inches: rain plus the water content of snow and other frozen precipitation. NOAA computes it from its climate divisional dataset (nClimDiv): station readings interpolated onto a 5 km grid and averaged over the area.

Values are area averages, not the reading at one weather station. NOAA revises the last two years every month.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the states are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Climate at a Glance. NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, contiguous US and statewide. From the NOAA Monthly U.S. Climate Divisional Database (nClimDiv), doi:10.7289/V5M32STR. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/statewide/time-series/22/pcp/12/12/1895-2025/data.json. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. (2026). NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, contiguous US and statewide (US states by annual precipitation, 2020) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/statewide/time-series/22/pcp/12/12/1895-2025/data.json

MLA 9

NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, contiguous US and statewide, US states by annual precipitation, 2020. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, 6 Oct. 2026, https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/statewide/time-series/22/pcp/12/12/1895-2025/data.json. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/annual-precipitation/us-states?period=2020. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. 2026. NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, contiguous US and statewide. US states by annual precipitation, 2020. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/statewide/time-series/22/pcp/12/12/1895-2025/data.json. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/annual-precipitation/us-states?period=2020.

Harvard

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (2026) NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, contiguous US and statewide, US states by annual precipitation, 2020 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/statewide/time-series/22/pcp/12/12/1895-2025/data.json, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/annual-precipitation/us-states?period=2020 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{noaa_us_states_by_annual_2020,
  author = {{NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information}},
  title = {{NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, contiguous US and statewide: US states by annual precipitation, 2020}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/statewide/time-series/22/pcp/12/12/1895-2025/data.json},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/annual-precipitation/us-states?period=2020. Publisher attribution: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Climate at a Glance. NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, contiguous US and statewide. From the NOAA Monthly U.S. Climate Divisional Database (nClimDiv), doi:10.7289/V5M32STR. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/statewide/time-series/22/pcp/12/12/1895-2025/data.json. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
TI  - NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, contiguous US and statewide: US states by annual precipitation, 2020
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/06
PB  - NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/statewide/time-series/22/pcp/12/12/1895-2025/data.json
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/annual-precipitation/us-states?period=2020
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/annual-precipitation/us-states?period=2020.
N1  - Publisher attribution: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Climate at a Glance. NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, contiguous US and statewide. From the NOAA Monthly U.S. Climate Divisional Database (nClimDiv), doi:10.7289/V5M32STR. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/statewide/time-series/22/pcp/12/12/1895-2025/data.json. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

Which state has the highest annual precipitation?

Mississippi, with 68.84 inches in 2020, according to NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.

Which state has the lowest annual precipitation?

Nevada, with 5.86 inches in 2020.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, NOAA Climate at a Glance, January to December precipitation, contiguous US and statewide. Retrieved 2026-10-12.