Which state makes the most power from the Earth's heat?
🔎 Skip to the answer (ranking table)Guess
Which states make the most geothermal power — electricity from the Earth's own underground heat — in a year? Tap them most-to-least.
Tapping assigns 1→4 in order
I bet… Hawaii — it has real volcanoes! 🌋
Answer
The real order is…
California makes about 2.71× as much as #2 Nevada — and volcano-covered Hawaii is only #4! Just seven states make any geothermal power at all.
📚 Background Not the volcano islands — California makes the most electricity from the Earth's heat, about 2.7× as much as #2 Nevada. Underground steam north of San Francisco, at a field of power plants called The Geysers, has been spinning turbines since 1960. Hawaii, with its live volcanoes, is only #4, and Yellowstone's famous geysers sit inside a protected national park, where nobody taps them for electricity. Only seven states make any geothermal power at all — and this quiz shows every one of them. (U.S. EIA, electricity data) (opens in a new tab)
🔍 Explore more: 🏝️『The islands that ship in their power』→ I bet… Hawaii — it has real volcanoes! 🌋
Compare
Geothermal power generated (billion kWh, by state, 2024)
Highest: California (10.52 billion kWh); lowest shown here: New Mexico (0.03 billion kWh).
Note: net electricity from the Earth's underground heat — steam and hot water spinning turbines — in billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), 2024, U.S. EIA. Only seven states make any geothermal power at all — every one of them is shown here.
The heat was under our paws!
Recap
🏅 Today's discovery
🏅 California is the USA's #1!
🐕 States in Numbers
Quiz a friend!
📋 See the ranking table (top 7)
| Rank | State | Value |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | California | 10.52 billion kWh |
| #2 | Nevada | 3.89 billion kWh |
| #3 | Utah | 0.45 billion kWh |
| #4 | Hawaii | 0.26 billion kWh |
| #5 | Oregon | 0.17 billion kWh |
| #6 | Idaho | 0.09 billion kWh |
| #7 | New Mexico | 0.03 billion kWh |
Only seven states make any geothermal power at all — every one of them is shown here.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (2024)
Sources
Data as of: 2024
U.S. EIA: net generation from geothermal by state, 2024 (opens in a new tab) (2026-07-26) — Official published values (the committed raw file holds EIA's megawatt-hour value for every generating state; the display converts to billion kWh).
↳ On eia.gov/electricity/data/state, open 'Annual generation by state and energy source', filter YEAR 2024, TYPE OF PRODUCER 'Total Electric Power Industry', ENERGY SOURCE 'Geothermal'.