Where Americans Heat Their Homes With Wood: 2026 State and County Ranking

Updated October 2026 · Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey

Key findings

1,714,541 U.S. homes (1.3%) use wood as their main heating fuel (2024), 4.3% fewer than in 2021.
The states where wood heat is most common: Vermont (10.6%), Maine (9.7%), Montana (5.8%), New Mexico (5.6%), Idaho (5.2%).
Bucking the national trend, wood heat grew in Maine (up 29%), Wyoming (up 27%) and Colorado (up 12%) between 2021 and 2024. These are the only increases larger than the survey's margin of error.
Vermont leads the country. 10.6% of its homes heat mainly with wood.
Among counties with 10,000+ homes, Apache County, Arizona has the highest share: 59.8%.

These figures count homes where wood is the main heating fuel. Many more homes burn wood in a fireplace or stove as a second source of heat, so the number of chimneys in use each winter is higher.

All states, ranked by share of homes heated with wood

Rank	State	Share of homes	Homes heated with wood	Occupied homes	Change since 2021
1	Vermont	10.6%	30,344	285,548	-8.4%*
2	Maine	9.7%	59,610	615,235	+29.0%
3	Montana	5.8%	27,265	468,981	-9.1%*
4	New Mexico	5.6%	47,798	856,970	-2.5%*
5	Idaho	5.2%	39,471	751,181	-2.5%*
6	New Hampshire	5.2%	29,746	570,689	-2.1%*
7	Wyoming	4.7%	12,135	256,289	+26.6%
8	Alaska	4.7%	12,942	274,045	+16.7%*
9	Oregon	4.5%	78,032	1,744,270	-9.8%
10	West Virginia	4.2%	30,976	740,840	-16.4%
11	Washington	2.6%	81,863	3,168,080	-6.6%*
12	Wisconsin	2.5%	62,912	2,535,198	-7.5%
13	Missouri	2.3%	58,965	2,563,244	-6.5%*
14	Arkansas	2.3%	28,513	1,246,754	-6.2%*
15	Pennsylvania	2.1%	111,416	5,361,724	+1.4%*
16	Michigan	2.0%	82,549	4,131,281	-7.9%
17	Kentucky	1.8%	33,997	1,865,456	-1.4%*
18	Minnesota	1.6%	37,431	2,363,442	+4.3%*
19	Arizona	1.6%	46,140	2,982,475	+1.8%*
20	Connecticut	1.4%	21,103	1,455,235	-8.2%*
21	Virginia	1.4%	49,291	3,449,307	-7.9%*
22	Colorado	1.4%	35,088	2,479,892	+11.7%
23	Indiana	1.4%	38,835	2,775,637	-15.3%
24	Ohio	1.4%	67,202	4,929,322	-9.5%
25	Oklahoma	1.3%	20,212	1,603,748	-3.2%*
26	New York	1.2%	96,147	7,828,074	-11.1%
27	California	1.2%	159,982	13,797,638	-5.9%*
28	South Dakota	1.1%	4,270	382,302	+12.0%*
29	Kansas	1.1%	13,251	1,204,374	+9.6%*
30	Massachusetts	1.1%	29,933	2,829,804	-2.3%*
31	Tennessee	1.0%	30,419	2,928,765	-7.6%*
32	North Carolina	1.0%	45,350	4,496,359	-9.9%
33	Iowa	1.0%	13,262	1,343,422	-7.4%*
34	Mississippi	1.0%	11,393	1,176,690	+20.2%*
35	Nevada	0.9%	11,696	1,238,925	-5.8%*
36	Utah	0.8%	10,021	1,184,428	+22.6%*
37	Maryland	0.8%	20,156	2,401,394	+2.4%*
38	Rhode Island	0.7%	3,280	448,318	-28.4%*
39	Nebraska	0.7%	5,583	824,012	-26.9%
40	Delaware	0.6%	2,629	412,304	+18.2%*
41	Alabama	0.6%	12,411	2,059,528	-9.0%*
42	South Carolina	0.5%	10,490	2,222,890	+0.0%*
43	Georgia	0.4%	16,722	4,220,732	-23.0%
44	Louisiana	0.3%	6,405	1,848,965	-2.2%*
45	Illinois	0.3%	16,529	5,105,448	-3.0%*
46	Hawaii	0.3%	1,479	493,151	+28.8%*
47	New Jersey	0.3%	10,223	3,543,944	+4.1%*
48	Texas	0.2%	28,839	11,449,769	+2.9%*
49	North Dakota	0.2%	775	349,705	-37.2%*
50	Florida	0.1%	9,460	9,141,675	+1.4%*
51	District of Columbia	0.0%	0	329,687	n/a*

* Change is within the survey's margin of error, so it may not be a real change.

Top 25 counties (10,000+ homes)

Rank	County	Share of homes	Homes heated with wood	Occupied homes
1	Apache County, Arizona	59.8%	12,611	21,100
2	McKinley County, New Mexico	40.0%	8,532	21,353
3	Siskiyou County, California	32.1%	6,123	19,079
4	Navajo County, Arizona	31.8%	12,732	40,063
5	Bonner County, Idaho	27.8%	5,645	20,283
6	Stevens County, Washington	26.3%	5,088	19,374
7	Orange County, Vermont	25.6%	3,260	12,742
8	San Miguel County, New Mexico	23.1%	2,754	11,931
9	Tuolumne County, California	22.4%	5,076	22,690
10	Taos County, New Mexico	22.2%	3,458	15,549
11	Caledonia County, Vermont	21.5%	2,809	13,091
12	Mendocino County, California	21.4%	7,453	34,842
13	Orleans County, Vermont	21.2%	2,564	12,072
14	Calaveras County, California	21.0%	3,873	18,437
15	Tehama County, California	20.7%	5,123	24,788
16	Amador County, California	19.0%	3,055	16,091
17	Waldo County, Maine	18.7%	3,271	17,470
18	Lewis County, New York	18.7%	2,076	11,110
19	Franklin County, Maine	18.1%	2,297	12,675
20	Oxford County, Maine	17.8%	4,294	24,140
21	Okanogan County, Washington	17.4%	3,058	17,540
22	Rio Arriba County, New Mexico	16.7%	2,616	15,647
23	Somerset County, Maine	16.5%	3,836	23,209
24	Vernon County, Wisconsin	16.2%	2,018	12,424
25	Newaygo County, Michigan	16.0%	3,139	19,651

Why it matters: chimney safety

Burning wood leaves creosote in the chimney, and creosote can catch fire. The National Fire Protection Association standard for chimneys (NFPA 211) calls for chimneys, fireplaces and vents to be inspected at least once a year. Homes that rely on wood all winter burn far more wood than homes with an occasional fire, so for them the yearly inspection matters most. Find a chimney sweep near you.

Methodology

State figures come from the American Community Survey 1-year estimates for 2024 and 2021, table B25040 (House Heating Fuel), "Wood" row, divided by total occupied housing units. County figures use the 2020–2024 ACS 5-year estimates, which cover every county. We only report a change between 2021 and 2024 as real when it is larger than the combined 90% margins of error. Data was downloaded from the Census Bureau's summary files.

Download the data / for journalists

State data (CSV) · County data, all 3,222 counties (CSV)

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