Which state leads in cheese?
🔎 Skip to the answer (ranking table)Guess
Which states produce the most cheese? Tap them most-to-least.
Tapping assigns 1→4 in order
I bet… California — it has the most milk!
Answer
The real order is…
Wisconsin produces about 1.45× as much as #2 California!
📚 Background Wisconsin license plates say “America's Dairyland” — and its fans wear foam cheese hats! Milk champion California ships milk; Wisconsin turns it into cheese. (USDA NASS Quick Stats) (opens in a new tab)
🔍 Explore more: 🧀『How Wisconsin became America's Dairyland』→ I bet… California — it has the most milk!
Compare
Cheese (pounds, by state, 2024)
Most: Wisconsin (3,585,590,000 pounds); least of this top group: Iowa (387,724,000 pounds).
Note: measured in pounds. Only the top states are shown; ranks can shift between years. Only the top states are shown here — smaller producers (and states USDA doesn't publish) aren't listed.
Where things grow has a reason!
Recap
🏅 Today's discovery
🏅 Wisconsin is the USA's #1!
🐕 States in Numbers
Quiz a friend!
📋 See the ranking table (top 8)
| Rank | State | Value | Share of U.S. total |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Wisconsin | 3,585,590,000 pounds | 25.2% |
| #2 | California | 2,480,978,000 pounds | 17.4% |
| #3 | Idaho | 1,043,137,000 pounds | 7.3% |
| #4 | New Mexico | 924,946,000 pounds | 6.5% |
| #5 | New York | 856,267,000 pounds | 6% |
| #6 | Minnesota | 816,921,000 pounds | 5.7% |
| #7 | Pennsylvania | 461,158,000 pounds | 3.2% |
| #8 | Iowa | 387,724,000 pounds | 2.7% |
| 🇺🇸 USA (total) | 14,237,425,000 pounds | 100% |
Only the top states are shown here — smaller producers (and states USDA doesn't publish) aren't listed.
Figures are published for 9 states; this table shows the top 8.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (2024)
Sources
Data as of: 2024
USDA NASS Quick Stats: CHEESE - PRODUCTION, MEASURED IN LB, 2024, by state (opens in a new tab) (2026-07-12) — Published estimates only. States with unpublished (suppressed) values are omitted.
↳ In Quick Stats, pick CHEESE / PRODUCTION in LB, year 2024, and compare states.