US Counties With the Highest Cooling Degree Days

3,108 US counties ranked by cooling degree days, from highest to lowest. First are Monroe County, FL (4,995), Starr County, TX (4,909) and Hidalgo County, TX (4,870). The middle one of the 3,108 has 1,098.

What this measures

A measure of how hot the year was, as a total over its days. A day whose average temperature is 80°F counts 15 cooling degree days, the degrees it rose above 65°F. A day at 65°F or cooler counts none. More cooling degree days mean more weather for air conditioning. NOAA estimates them from its monthly temperatures for each county. A state's figure is the average of its counties, each weighted by its land area. Alaska and Hawaii are not covered. Source: NOAA NCEI nClimDiv.

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

Every state, highest first

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

More on cooling degree days

• US Counties With the Lowest Cooling Degree Days
• Cooling degree days by US county: map by year and what it goes with

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