Humidity by state in the United States research summary. While humidity varies across the US as you would expect with Southern states generally being the most humid and sun belt states being the least, there were some notable exceptions to the trend. The Midwest actually has surprisingly high humidity with states like Michigan and Iowa scoring as some of the most humid.
The average relative humidity in in the United States is 55.64 in the afternoon and 77.68 in the morning. That’s according to the average reading at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) most recently available data for all stations. We found the most and least humid states.
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The average relative humidity in in the United States is 55.64 in the afternoon and 77.68 in the morning.
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Louisiana has the highest average humidity in the United States; The average humidity is 60.25 in the afternoon and 88.25 in the morning.
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Arizona has the lowest average humidity in the United States; The average humidity is 28.50 in the afternoon and 52.25 in the mooring.
Keep reading to see a breakdown of humidity in all 50 states by morning and afternoon readings.
Table Of Contents: Methodology | Table | FAQs | References
States With The Most Humidity The US
States With The Least Humidity In The US
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Methodology
To find the most humid states, we went to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations’ (NOAA) most recent data set of humidity by weather station. They have over 250 such stations scattered around the United States. We used this data to create a state level humidity metric for each state and then ranked each state based on that metric.
Here’s more detail on how we went from station level data to state level data.
To calculate a state’s average, we took all the stations within that state and averaged two variables:
- Annual Average Morning Humidity
- Annual Average Afternoon Humidity
This generated a state level morning and afternoon humidity level. (Note: We used the same methodology across all stations to generate the US average humidity levels mentioned in the summary section.)
Next, we ranked the state level morning readings and the afternoon readings from 1 to 50 with 1 being the most humid.
Finally, we averaged these two rankings to create a state humidity score and used that to rank each state from the most humid to least humid.
Humidity By State
| Rank | State | Afternoon | Morning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louisiana | 60.25 | 88.25 |
| 2 | Michigan | 62.00 | 82.38 |
| 3 | Iowa | 61.25 | 82.50 |
| 4 | Florida | 58.75 | 85.58 |
| 5 | Minnesota | 61.60 | 82.20 |
| 6 | Wisconsin | 61.50 | 81.75 |
| 7 | North Dakota | 60.25 | 81.50 |
| 8 | Missouri | 59.00 | 82.25 |
| 9 | Mississippi | 56.33 | 88.67 |
| 10 | Illinois | 60.00 | 82.00 |
| 11 | Indiana | 60.00 | 82.00 |
| 12 | West Virginia | 57.75 | 83.50 |
| 13 | Alaska | 69.65 | 79.00 |
| 14 | Ohio | 60.12 | 81.12 |
| 15 | Arkansas | 56.50 | 84.50 |
| 16 | Alabama | 56.00 | 85.75 |
| 17 | Tennessee | 56.00 | 83.80 |
| 18 | Hawaii | 61.75 | 77.50 |
| 19 | North Carolina | 55.83 | 82.83 |
| 20 | Kentucky | 57.75 | 81.00 |
| 21 | Maine | 60.00 | 78.50 |
| 22 | Georgia | 53.17 | 84.83 |
| 23 | South Dakota | 58.25 | 79.25 |
| 24 | Washington | 57.83 | 79.33 |
| 25 | New York | 58.44 | 76.44 |
| 26 | Oklahoma | 55.50 | 80.50 |
| 27 | South Carolina | 51.50 | 82.50 |
| 28 | Pennsylvania | 57.29 | 78.14 |
| 29 | Vermont | 58.00 | 76.00 |
| 30 | Oregon | 56.62 | 78.00 |
| 31 | Nebraska | 54.14 | 79.86 |
| 32 | New Hampshire | 53.00 | 80.00 |
| 33 | Virginia | 55.00 | 78.60 |
| 34 | Massachusetts | 57.00 | 74.67 |
| 35 | Texas | 52.72 | 79.83 |
| 36 | Kansas | 53.80 | 78.60 |
| 37 | Delaware | 55.00 | 78.00 |
| 38 | Connecticut | 56.00 | 75.50 |
| 39 | New Jersey | 54.50 | 76.00 |
| 40 | Rhode Island | 55.00 | 75.00 |
| 41 | Maryland | 53.00 | 77.00 |
| 42 | Montana | 49.00 | 69.71 |
| 43 | California | 49.46 | 67.77 |
| 44 | Idaho | 45.00 | 67.00 |
| 45 | Wyoming | 45.75 | 63.75 |
| 46 | Utah | 43.00 | 63.00 |
| 47 | Colorado | 39.00 | 59.20 |
| 48 | New Mexico | 34.00 | 57.33 |
| 49 | Nevada | 31.60 | 56.60 |
| 50 | Arizona | 28.50 | 52.25 |
State Humidity FAQs
What is the average humidity in the United States?
The average relative in in the United States is 55.64 in the afternoon and 77.68 in the morning.
What is the the most humid state?
The most humid state is Louisiana. Louisiana has an average humidity of 60.25 in the afternoon and 88.25 in the morning.
What is the the least humid state?
The least humid state is Arizona. Arizona has an average humidity of 28.50 in the afternoon and 52.25 in the morning.
What is the humidity in Hawaii?
The humidity in Hawaii is 61.75 in the afternoon and 77.50 in the morning. Hawaii ranks as the #18 most humid state.
What is the humidity in California?
The humidity in California is 49.46 in the afternoon and 67.77 in the morning. California ranks as the #43 most humid state.
What is the humidity in Florida?
The humidity in Florida is 58.75 in the afternoon and 85.58 in the morning. Florida ranks as the #4 most humid state.