15 States Where Farms Use the Most Water

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on LawnStarter.

With 42% of annual freshwater withdrawals in the U.S. used for agriculture, where are farms irrigating the most?

To mark National Agriculture Day on March 19, LawnStarter ranked 2024’s States Where Farms Use the Most Water.

We compared all 50 states by the prevalence of irrigated agriculture, including total irrigated farm acres, share of irrigated farmland, and average water use per irrigated acre of farmland. We also considered the share of large irrigated farms (2,000-plus acres).

Explore our ranking in the following. To learn how we ranked the states, see our methodology at the end.
Why is LawnStarter ranking states where farms use the most water? Lawns require lots of water, as do the irrigation systems that grow our crops.

1. California

• Overall Score: 74.48
• Irrigated Farm Size Ranking: 1
• Irrigation Intensity Ranking: 2

2. Nebraska

• Overall Score: 53.22
• Irrigated Farm Size Ranking: 2
• Irrigation Intensity Ranking: 30

3. Arkansas

• Overall Score: 51.38
• Irrigated Farm Size Ranking: 3
• Irrigation Intensity Ranking: 13

4. Arizona

• Overall Score: 40.96
• Irrigated Farm Size Ranking: 17
• Irrigation Intensity Ranking: 1

5. Idaho

• Overall Score: 37.40
• Irrigated Farm Size Ranking: 5
• Irrigation Intensity Ranking: 7

6. Texas

• Overall Score: 34.75
• Irrigated Farm Size Ranking: 4
• Irrigation Intensity Ranking: 12

7. Mississippi

• Overall Score: 27.91
• Irrigated Farm Size Ranking: 6
• Irrigation Intensity Ranking: 23

8. Washington

• Overall Score: 27.23
• Irrigated Farm Size Ranking: 11
• Irrigation Intensity Ranking: 4

9. Colorado

• Overall Score: 25.60
• Irrigated Farm Size Ranking: 9
• Irrigation Intensity Ranking: 9

10. Nevada

• Overall Score: 24.29
• Irrigated Farm Size Ranking: 24
• Irrigation Intensity Ranking: 3

11. Kansas

• Overall Score: 23.48
• Irrigated Farm Size Ranking: 7
• Irrigation Intensity Ranking: 17

12. Missouri

• Overall Score: 21.32
• Irrigated Farm Size Ranking: 8
• Irrigation Intensity Ranking: 21

13. Oregon

• Overall Score: 20.78
• Irrigated Farm Size Ranking: 15
• Irrigation Intensity Ranking: 8

14. Utah

• Overall Score: 20.61
• Irrigated Farm Size Ranking: 19
• Irrigation Intensity Ranking: 5

15. Louisiana

• Overall Score: 20.60
• Irrigated Farm Size Ranking: 10
• Irrigation Intensity Ranking: 17

Methodology

First, we determined the factors (metrics) that are most relevant to rank the States Where Farms Use the Most Water.

We then assigned a weight to each factor based on its importance and grouped those factors into two categories: Irrigated Farm Size and Irrigation Intensity. Here are the factors:

• Total Irrigated Farm Acres
• Share of Irrigated Farmland
• Share of Large Farms (2,000+ Acres) out of Total Irrigated Farms
• Average Water Use per Irrigated Acre of Farmland (in Acre-Feet)

For each state, we then gathered data on each factor.

Finally, we calculated scores (out of 100 points) for each state to determine its rank in each factor, each category, and overall. A state’s Overall Score is the average of its scores across all factors and categories. The highest Overall Score ranked “Most Irrigated” (No. 1).