New Mexico has an official state question. Not a bird, not a flower — a question. The New Mexico Secretary of State keeps the record of it: “In 1996 the New Mexico State Legislature passed a House Joint Memorial declaring ‘Red or Green?’ as the official state question. This refers to the question always asked whether one prefers red or green chile when ordering New Mexican cuisine.” That is a loud thing for a state to say about a pepper. And here is what makes this particular quiz strange: in USDA's 2022 farm census, every single one of the 50 states printed a chile-pepper acreage. Nothing withheld, nothing missing — Alaska has a number too. Which of these four harvested the most acres? Tap them most-to-least.
Tapping assigns 1→4 in order
Peppers are hot, so the hottest, biggest place wins. Texas! 🐾
2Answer
The real order is…
New Mexico — 8,484 acres of the 23,119 acres harvested nationwide. That is more than a third of the entire country, and about 2.6×California. The state question was not bragging. But now run your eye further down the table, because the fifth-biggest chile state in America is Ohio — ahead of Colorado, ahead of Arizona. A chile is not a desert-only crop; it is a crop that turns up absolutely everywhere. The smallest printed number in the country is Nevada's 2 acres. Even Alaska harvested 3. And the first-place state has one more line worth knowing about: in USDA's table for a completely different crop — dates, the fruit of a desert palm — the very same state sits third.
📚 BackgroundNew Mexico has an official state question. Not a state bird, a state question, and the Secretary of State keeps the record of it: “In 1996 the New Mexico State Legislature passed a House Joint Memorial declaring ‘Red or Green?’ as the official state question. This refers to the question always asked whether one prefers red or green chile when ordering New Mexican cuisine.” New Mexico State University puts the crop far deeper into the past than 1996 — chile peppers “have been grown in New Mexico for at least four centuries” — and puts a date on the modern industry: “The development and release of ‘New Mexico No. 9’ in 1913 by Dr. Fabian Garcia standardized New Mexico-type chile peppers and provided a foundation for the New Mexico chile processing industry, with approximately 8,000 to 10,000 acres harvested annually.” So one state's claim is loud. But here is the catch: in USDA's 2022 farm census, every one of the 50 states printed a chile-pepper acreage. Not one is missing. This is a race with all fifty runners in it.(New Mexico Secretary of State, “State Question”; New Mexico State University Extension, Guide H-230, “Growing Chiles in New Mexico”)↗ (opens in a new tab)
Peppers are hot, so the hottest, biggest place wins. Texas! 🐾
3Compare
Chile pepper acres harvested (2022 Census of Agriculture)
🇺🇸 United States (national)23,119 acres
New Mexico#18,484 acres
Most: New Mexico (8,484 acres); least of this top group: Colorado (548 acres).
Note: acres of chile peppers harvested in 2022, from USDA's Census of Agriculture — a count taken once every five years, not a yearly estimate. Chile peppers and bell peppers are two separate crops in USDA's tables, and this is the chile line. NMSU Extension describes New Mexico's chile industry as running at approximately 8,000 to 10,000 acres harvested annually, and the census figure for the state lands inside that range. USDA also runs a separate chile survey every year, and in the 2024 survey New Mexico again has the largest harvested acreage — both of those are checks this site re-runs on every build. USDA NASS. USDA printed a chile-pepper figure for all 50 states: none is withheld and none is missing a line, so the printed order is the national order the whole way down — a check this site re-runs on every build. Only the top eight are drawn on this chart.
Chile pepper acres harvested (2022 Census of Agriculture)
Rank
State
Value
Share of U.S. total
#1
New Mexico
8,484 acres
36.7%
#2
California
3,257 acres
14.1%
#3
Texas
2,249 acres
9.7%
#4
Florida
1,371 acres
5.9%
#5
Ohio
1,058 acres
4.6%
#6
Michigan
668 acres
2.9%
#7
South Carolina
612 acres
2.6%
#8
Colorado
548 acres
2.4%
🇺🇸 USA (total)
23,119 acres
100%
USDA printed a chile-pepper figure for all 50 states: none is withheld and none is missing a line, so the printed order is the national order the whole way down — a check this site re-runs on every build. Only the top eight are drawn on this chart.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (2022)
Sources
Data as of: 2022
USDA NASS Quick Stats: PEPPERS, CHILE - ACRES HARVESTED, 2022 Census of Agriculture, by state↗ (opens in a new tab) (2026-08-31) — Published values only (the committed raw file holds the API response verbatim). This is one of the rare tables with nothing hidden in it: USDA printed a chile-pepper figure for all 50 states, none is withheld and none is missing a line, so the printed order is the national order the whole way down — a check this site re-runs on every build. Only the top eight are drawn on the bar chart.
↳ In Quick Stats, pick PEPPERS / CHILE / PEPPERS, CHILE - ACRES HARVESTED, Census year 2022, Total domain, and compare states.