Hay Production by State
The US produces 12.9B bu of hay across 14 states and 28.7M acres. Texas leads with 13.5% of production.
12.9B bu
Total Production
28.7M acres
Total Acreage
14
Producing States
What the Hay Data Shows
Across the 14 states USDA NASS tracks for hay, total reported production runs to 12.9B bu on 28.7M acres — one of the largest field-crop footprints in the dataset.
Texas leads the hay rankings with 1.7B bu (13.5% of the U.S. total), but the top spot is held by a thin margin in a widely distributed crop.
Even the top three states (Texas, Idaho, and California) supply only 30% of U.S. hay between them, marking it as a broadly distributed crop grown across 14 states.
Idaho follows in second at 8.3% (1.1B bu), 5.2 points behind Texas.
Below the leaders, the rankings run to Missouri, the 14th tracked hay state at 670.2M bu (5.2% of the U.S. total); the second-largest producer, Idaho, contributes 8.3%.
Top Hay Producing States
| # | State | Production | Acreage | % of US Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | 1.7B bu | 4.8M acres | 13.5% |
| 2 | Idaho | 1.1B bu | 1.4M acres | 8.3% |
| 3 | California | 1.0B bu | 790K acres | 8.0% |
| 4 | Kansas | 988.6M bu | 2.5M acres | 7.7% |
| 5 | Montana | 930.4M bu | 2.4M acres | 7.2% |
| 6 | South Dakota | 925.2M bu | 3.2M acres | 7.2% |
| 7 | Nebraska | 889.6M bu | 2.2M acres | 6.9% |
| 8 | Oklahoma | 862.4M bu | 3.0M acres | 6.7% |
| 9 | Washington | 808.5M bu | 660K acres | 6.3% |
| 10 | Kentucky | 800.9M bu | 2.1M acres | 6.2% |
| 11 | Colorado | 784.3M bu | 1.4M acres | 6.1% |
| 12 | Oregon | 714.4M bu | 880K acres | 5.5% |
| 13 | Arizona | 677.3M bu | 315K acres | 5.2% |
| 14 | Missouri | 670.2M bu | 3.1M acres | 5.2% |
Other Crops
Frequently Asked Questions
Texas is the top hay producer, accounting for 13.5% of US production with 1.7B bu.
The US produces 12.9B bu of hay across 28.7M acres in 14 states.
Production data from USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service surveys.
Source: USDA NASS Quick Stats, 2026.