Which state grows the most watermelons?
🔎 Skip to the answer (ranking table)Guess
Which states grow the most watermelons? Tap them most-to-least.
Tapping assigns 1→4 in order
I bet… Texas! Big state, big melons 🐾
Answer
The real order is…
Florida wins, growing more than a fifth of the country's watermelons — a watermelon vine is a warm-season plant that one frost can finish, so the long, hot South gets a head start. Now look at #5: Indiana, a cool northern state that is also one of America's top-5 corn states, ahead of both Carolinas. A watermelon needs a hot summer, not a hot winter.
📚 Background Watermelon is a warm-season plant — one frost and the vines are done — so the long, hot South gets a head start, and Florida takes #1 with more than a fifth of the country's crop. But look at #5: Indiana, a cool northern state that is also one of America's top-5 corn states. Watermelon is not only a Southern thing — it needs heat while it grows, not heat all year. (USDA NASS Quick Stats) (opens in a new tab)
🔍 Explore more: 🍉『Where do seedless watermelons come from?』→ I bet… Texas! Big state, big melons 🐾
Compare
Watermelons grown (hundredweight, 2024)
Most: Florida (9,124,500 cwt (100 lb)); least shown here: Maryland (1,029,500 cwt (100 lb)).
Note: measured in hundredweight (100-pound units) harvested in 2024. Only states USDA publishes a value for are shown; some numbers are withheld to protect individual farms. 2024, USDA NASS. Only the top states are shown here — smaller producers (and states USDA doesn't publish) aren't listed.
One melon can outweigh me 🐾
Recap
🏅 Today's discovery
🏅 Florida 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 | Florida | 9,124,500 cwt (100 lb) | 24.9% |
| #2 | Georgia | 6,596,500 cwt (100 lb) | 18% |
| #3 | California | 5,440,000 cwt (100 lb) | 14.8% |
| #4 | Texas | 4,116,000 cwt (100 lb) | 11.2% |
| #5 | Indiana | 3,487,500 cwt (100 lb) | 9.5% |
| #6 | North Carolina | 2,514,500 cwt (100 lb) | 6.9% |
| #7 | South Carolina | 1,190,000 cwt (100 lb) | 3.2% |
| #8 | Maryland | 1,029,500 cwt (100 lb) | 2.8% |
| 🇺🇸 USA (total) | 36,638,000 cwt (100 lb) | 100% |
Only the top states are shown here — smaller producers (and states USDA doesn't publish) aren't listed.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (2024)
Sources
Data as of: 2024
USDA NASS Quick Stats: MELONS, WATERMELON - PRODUCTION, MEASURED IN CWT, 2024, by state (opens in a new tab) (2026-08-02) — Published estimates only. States with unpublished (suppressed) values are omitted.
↳ In Quick Stats, pick MELONS, WATERMELON / PRODUCTION in CWT, year 2024, and compare states.