US states by annual precipitation

Mississippi had the highest annual precipitation of 50 states in 2022, at 59.58 inches. Nevada had the lowest, at 8.48 inches. The median was 40.77 inches and the figure for the United States was 28.45 inches. Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.

Highest59.58Mississippi

Lowest8.48Nevada

Median40.7750 states

United States28.45History

Map of states, 2022

Under 17
17 to 30
30 to 41
41 to 44
44 to 49
49 and over
No data

inches, 2022. 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, 2022

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	2022 inches	Change on 2021
1	Mississippi	59.58	-9%
2	Alabama	57.85	-11.2%
3	Louisiana	55.58	-16.1%
4	Tennessee	54.81	-6.8%
5	Florida	54.77	-1.1%
6	Arkansas	51.69	+2.9%
7	Maine	49.95	+25.7%
8	West Virginia	49.37	+15.9%
9	Kentucky	49.31	-7.6%
10	Rhode Island	47.01	-5.7%
11	North Carolina	46.63	-2%
12	New Hampshire	46.2	+0.5%
13	Georgia	45.83	-19.8%
14	Virginia	45.56	+11.5%
15	South Carolina	45.43	-4.3%
16	Pennsylvania	44.93	-2.6%
17	Maryland	44.1	+6.1%
18	New Jersey	44.05	-8%
19	Vermont	43.92	+5.6%
20	Connecticut	43.84	-14.2%
21	Massachusetts	43.54	-20.6%
22	New York	43.13	-6.7%
23	Alaska	42.99	+11.1%
24	Washington	42.4	-3.4%
25	Delaware	41.27	+0.9%
26	Missouri	40.26	-8.5%
27	Ohio	40.24	-3.5%
28	Indiana	38.18	-16%
29	Hawaii	37.93	-44.2%
30	Illinois	37.25	-9.2%
31	Michigan	32.62	-0.8%
32	Wisconsin	32.28	+8%
33	Oklahoma	29.57	-12%
34	Oregon	29.5	+3.5%
35	Iowa	27.32	-11.4%
36	Minnesota	26.83	+13.8%
37	Idaho	22.04	+4.9%
38	Kansas	21.24	-22.1%
38	Texas	21.24	-26.2%
40	North Dakota	18.85	+20.6%
41	Montana	18.28	+27.7%
42	South Dakota	16.99	-6.4%
43	Colorado	16.48	-3.6%
44	Nebraska	15.62	-30.9%
45	Wyoming	14.72	+2.4%
46	New Mexico	14.11	+14.3%
47	California	14.1	-25.5%
48	Arizona	12.07	-4%
49	Utah	11.4	-15.9%
50	Nevada	8.48	-11.5%

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, 2022) [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, 2022. 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=2022. 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, 2022. 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=2022.

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, 2022 [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=2022 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{noaa_us_states_by_annual_2022,
  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, 2022}},
  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=2022. 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, 2022
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=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/annual-precipitation/us-states?period=2022.
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  -

Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Embed code

<iframe src="https://invokely.ai/embed/rankings/annual-precipitation/us-states?period=2022" width="760" height="500" title="US states by annual precipitation, 2022, chart from Invokely" loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:760px" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank US states by annual precipitation using official data, and cite the source.

rank_places {"indicator":"precipitation_annual","level":"region","within":"United States","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=precipitation_annual&level=region&within=United%20States&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which state has the highest annual precipitation?

Mississippi, with 59.58 inches in 2022, according to NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.

Which state has the lowest annual precipitation?

Nevada, with 8.48 inches in 2022.

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.