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Which state has the most emus?

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Guess

An emu is a bird from Australia that stands taller than most grown-ups and cannot fly at all. Some American farms keep them — and USDA counts them like cattle and hens. Which states keep the most emus? Tap them most-to-least.

Tapping assigns 1→4 in order

Giant bird, giant state. Texas! 🐾

Answer

Among the states USDA lists, the order is…
    North Carolina — 5,218 birds, about 4.25× as many as Texas, and roughly 2 out of every 5 emus on American farms. Here is the trap. Texas really does lead — in emu farms: 273 of them, more than any other state. But the average Texas emu farm keeps fewer than 10 birds, while the 49 emu farms in North Carolina average more than 100 each. Count the places and Texas wins. Count the birds and North Carolina wins by a mile.
    📚 Background An emu is an Australian bird that stands taller than most grown-ups and cannot fly at all. It is also, on USDA's books, an American farm animal: emus get counted like cattle and hens. And the count comes with a trap. The state with the most emu farms is Texas. The state with the most emus is North Carolina, where a much shorter list of farms keeps much bigger flocks. Same birds, same table, two different winners — it depends on whether you count the places or the animals. (USDA NASS Quick Stats) (opens in a new tab)
    🔍 Explore more: 🦤『The bird that gave up flying』→
    Giant bird, giant state. Texas! 🐾

    Compare

    Emus on farms (birds, 2022)

    🇺🇸 United States (national)12,580 birds
    North Carolina #1 5,218 birds
    Most: North Carolina (5,218 birds); fewest shown here: Utah (43 birds).

    Note: emus counted on farms at the end of December 2022, from USDA's Census of Agriculture — the count of every farm in the country, taken once every five years. Emus living wild in Australia are not in this table. USDA NASS. USDA published an emu figure for 44 states; the other six have no number here — two are withheld because printing a figure for them would give away information about individual farms, and four are simply not in the table. Each of the 37 states shown is bigger than all six of them added together, so this really is the national order.

    An Australian bird, on a Carolina farm 🐾

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    📋 See the ranking table (top 37)
    Emus on farms (birds, 2022)
    Rank State Value Share of U.S. total
    #1 North Carolina 5,218 birds 41.5%
    #2 Texas 1,228 birds 9.8%
    #3 Florida 704 birds 5.6%
    #4 Montana 324 birds 2.6%
    #5 Washington 305 birds 2.4%
    #6 Virginia 304 birds 2.4%
    #7 California 266 birds 2.1%
    #8 Oregon 255 birds 2%
    #9 Pennsylvania 231 birds 1.8%
    #10 Mississippi 216 birds 1.7%
    #11 Georgia 210 birds 1.7%
    #12 Kansas 204 birds 1.6%
    #13 Michigan 195 birds 1.6%
    #14 Maryland 192 birds 1.5%
    #15 Oklahoma 187 birds 1.5%
    #16 Tennessee 178 birds 1.4%
    #17 Colorado 172 birds 1.4%
    #18 Wisconsin 163 birds 1.3%
    #19 Arkansas 158 birds 1.3%
    #20 New York 145 birds 1.2%
    #21 New Jersey 142 birds 1.1%
    #22 Ohio 133 birds 1.1%
    #23 Illinois 124 birds 1%
    #24 South Carolina 123 birds 1%
    #25 Minnesota 117 birds 0.9%
    #26 Missouri 116 birds 0.9%
    #27 Maine 105 birds 0.8%
    #28 Idaho 99 birds 0.8%
    #29 Arizona 97 birds 0.8%
    #30 West Virginia 76 birds 0.6%
    #31 Kentucky 74 birds 0.6%
    #32 Alabama 62 birds 0.5%
    #33 Iowa 56 birds 0.4%
    #34 Indiana 54 birds 0.4%
    #34 New Mexico 54 birds 0.4%
    #36 Louisiana 44 birds 0.3%
    #37 Utah 43 birds 0.3%
    🇺🇸 USA (total) 12,580 birds 100%

    USDA published an emu figure for 44 states; the other six have no number here — two are withheld because printing a figure for them would give away information about individual farms, and four are simply not in the table. Each of the 37 states shown is bigger than all six of them added together, so this really is the national order.

    Figures are published for 44 states; this table shows the top 37.

    Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (2022 (Census of Agriculture))

    Sources

    Data as of: 2022 (Census of Agriculture)
    USDA NASS Quick Stats: EMUS - INVENTORY, 2022 Census of Agriculture, by state (opens in a new tab) (2026-08-14) — Published values only (the committed raw file holds the API response verbatim). The Census of Agriculture published an emu figure for 44 states; the other six have no number here — two are withheld because printing a figure for them would give away information about individual farms, and four are absent from the table. Everything those six states could hold together is smaller than the smallest of the 37 states shown, so this order holds nationally — a check this site re-runs on every build.
    ↳ In Quick Stats, pick EMUS / EMUS - INVENTORY, Census year 2022, Total domain, and compare states.