US Counties With the Highest Area in Drought

3,144 US counties ranked by area in drought, from highest to lowest. First are Crawford County, IA (100), Monona County, IA (100) and Barton County, KS (100). The middle one of the 3,144 has 23.8.

What this measures

The share of the area in moderate drought or worse, averaged over the year's weekly Drought Monitor maps. A county half in drought all year and a county fully in drought for half the year both score 50%. Experts draw the maps each week from rain, soil, stream and crop data, so they are a judgment, not a direct measurement. Source: US Drought Monitor.

For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.

The 100 highest counties

Rank	County	% of area
1	Crawford County, IA	100
2	Monona County, IA	100
3	Barton County, KS	100
4	Ellis County, KS	100
5	Graham County, KS	100
6	Osborne County, KS	100
7	Pawnee County, KS	100
8	Rice County, KS	100
9	Rooks County, KS	100
10	Rush County, KS	100
11	Russell County, KS	100
12	Sheridan County, KS	100
13	Stafford County, KS	100
14	Trego County, KS	100
15	Adams County, NE	100
16	Burt County, NE	100
17	Butler County, NE	100
18	Clay County, NE	100
19	Colfax County, NE	100
20	Cuming County, NE	100
21	Dodge County, NE	100
22	Douglas County, NE	100
23	Fillmore County, NE	100
24	Hall County, NE	100
25	Hamilton County, NE	100
26	Merrick County, NE	100
27	Nance County, NE	100
28	Nuckolls County, NE	100
29	Platte County, NE	100
30	Polk County, NE	100
31	Saline County, NE	100
32	Sarpy County, NE	100
33	Saunders County, NE	100
34	Seward County, NE	100
35	Thurston County, NE	100
36	Washington County, NE	100
37	York County, NE	100
38	Bandera County, TX	100
39	Blanco County, TX	100
40	Comal County, TX	100
41	Gillespie County, TX	100
42	Kendall County, TX	100
43	Llano County, TX	100
44	Medina County, TX	100
45	Real County, TX	100
46	Burnet County, TX	100
47	Edwards County, KS	100
48	Mills County, IA	100
49	Montgomery County, KS	100
50	Jackson County, OK	100
51	Kerr County, TX	100
52	Ness County, KS	100
53	Stanton County, NE	100
54	Chautauqua County, KS	100
55	Harrison County, IA	99.9
56	Lampasas County, TX	99.9
57	Harvey County, KS	99.8
58	Elk County, KS	99.6
59	Mills County, TX	99.5
60	Bexar County, TX	99.4
61	Ector County, TX	99.1
62	Mason County, TX	99
63	Eddy County, NM	98.6
64	Hays County, TX	98.6
65	Hodgeman County, KS	98.6
66	Jefferson County, OR	98.3
67	Allen County, KS	98.3
68	Cowley County, KS	98
69	Hamilton County, TX	97.8
70	Howard County, NE	97.8
71	Shelby County, IA	97.7
72	Calhoun County, IA	97.5
73	Butler County, KS	97.4
74	Jewell County, KS	97.3
75	Coryell County, TX	97.2
76	Ellsworth County, KS	97.2
77	Greer County, OK	96.8
78	Tillman County, OK	96.7
79	Thayer County, NE	96.7
80	Jefferson County, NE	96.7
81	Reno County, KS	96.7
82	Greenwood County, KS	96.6
83	Carroll County, IA	96.5
84	Woodson County, KS	96.5
85	Lea County, NM	96.3
86	Lancaster County, NE	96.1
87	Winkler County, TX	96
88	McPherson County, KS	95.5
89	Kimble County, TX	95.5
90	Midland County, TX	95.5
91	Harmon County, OK	95.4
92	Webster County, NE	95.1
93	Andrews County, TX	95.1
94	Kay County, OK	94.6
95	Kiowa County, OK	94.2
96	Decatur County, KS	94.1
97	Sac County, IA	93.5
98	Chaves County, NM	93.5
99	Wilson County, KS	93.5
100	Deschutes County, OR	93.3

Every state, highest first

Each state’s own published figure, not an average of its counties.

Rank	State	% of area
1	Kansas	74.2
2	Nebraska	68.8
3	Iowa	65.2
4	New Mexico	57.5
5	Texas	55.7
6	Oregon	52
7	Oklahoma	48
8	Louisiana	45.8
9	Minnesota	42.7
10	Missouri	42.2
11	Wisconsin	37.3
12	Montana	36.3
13	Idaho	33.7
14	Utah	32.4
15	Mississippi	32
16	Hawaii	32
17	North Dakota	31.4
18	Washington	30.1
19	Nevada	29.8
20	South Dakota	26.7
21	Florida	25.9
22	Arizona	25.5
23	Indiana	24.4
24	Alabama	23.9
25	District of Columbia	23.7
26	Illinois	23
27	Colorado	22.5
28	Tennessee	21.3
29	Maryland	20.3
30	California	20.3
31	Virginia	19.2
32	Wyoming	17.3
33	Michigan	13.9
34	Kentucky	13.7
35	North Carolina	13.3
36	Arkansas	10.9
37	Georgia	10.7
38	South Carolina	10.4
39	Ohio	10.3
40	Pennsylvania	8.68
41	West Virginia	7.45
42	New York	3.66
43	Delaware	3.29
44	New Jersey	2.55
45	Vermont	1.33
46	Connecticut	0.909
47	Rhode Island	0.884
48	Maine	0.302
49	Massachusetts	0.0746
50	Alaska	0.0508
51	New Hampshire	0

More on area in drought

A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.