The U.S. is the #1 cheese-making country in the world…by a lot! In this list, we break down the states most responsible for this dairy dominance.
There were a lot of surprises…for example, #3 surprised us since we know that state for a different agricultural product. But we were also surprised that Vermont didn’t make the list…it does get honorable mention as #11, though.
The Buckeye state doesn’t just have the 10th-most Starbucks locations…it ranks the same for cheese!
It creates about 250 million pounds of cheese a year, or almost 2% of the US’s output.
Did you know that Baby Swiss was created here and is still made in Ohio’s Amish Country? In fact, Ohio makes about half of all the Swiss cheese made in America.
Want more cheese cred? There’s even an Ohio Cheese Trail for dairy-obsessed road-trippers (admittedly, though, this seems to be a popular thing with many of these top 10 cheese states).
Farming and agriculture is a huge part of Iowa’s economy. You may know it for its corn, but hogs outnumber Iowans by something like 7:1! Soybeans, eggs, oats, and cattle are also big in the Hawkeye state.
But don’t sleep on Iowa’s 400 million pounds of cheese each year (3% of the US’s output)!
We probably fooled you with that picture…
Philadelphia Cream Cheese was invented in (Chester) and is still made in (Lowville) small towns in New York.
But Pennsylvania is still no slouch…it leads all states in raw milk cheese makers.
And overall, it churns out over 460 million pounds of cheese a year (more than 3% of U.S. production).
Even though it’s the only state in the top 10 without an “official” Cheese Trail (think the Bourbon Trail, but for dairies instead of distillers), there seems to be a burgeoning South Dakota cheese scene.
Its producers include Dimock Cheese and Bel Brands (they make those cute little wax-covered Mini Babybels).
Altogether, South Dakota’s dairies produce over half a billion pounds of cheese (over 3% of the U.S.’s total).
The Founding Fathers would be proud!
Minnesota is all about underpromising and overdelivering…
It’s called the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” but it actually has many more than that (the exact number depends on what you count as a lake, but all the tallies we’ve seen are higher than the nickname suggests).
The same goes for its cheeses. Minnesota makes over 810 million pounds a year (over 5% of U.S. production).
Minnesota niiiiiiiice!
Well, we know from #8 Pennsylvania that Philadelphia Cream Cheese is made in New York in addition to so much of the nation’s best cheesecake.
In fact, New York makes the most cream cheese of any state and most likely makes the most American cheese.
Overall, New York makes over 830 million pounds of cheese a year (almost 6% of the total U.S. output).
This is the part of the rankings that gets really weird…
You may expect to find New Mexico on a top 10 list of alien or UFO sightings, but cheese?!?! There’s enough grass in a state known for its desert scapes?
As sure as the state pumps out red and green sauce for its New Mexican cuisine, it cranks out almost a billion pounds of cheese a year (or 7% of the U.S.’s total).
Now get ready for the one we’ve been waiting for…
Did you guess Idaho for #3? We didn’t either.
Who knew you could get plenty of cheese for your Idaho baked potatoes so nearby?
If you want to get specific, about 3/4 of Idaho’s dairies are located in southern Idaho.
And to put numbers behind it all, Idaho tops a billion pounds of cheese each year, or a touch over 7% of the United States’ output.
Many people would have guessed California as #1…its sheer size makes it a dominant provider of so many agricultural products, from almonds to grapes to cattle to lettuce to strawberries.
But despite being the #1 state for milk production, it’s only the #2 in cheese-making state.
That said, it’s the birthplace of Monterey Jack and California accounts for a hefty 17.5% of the U.S.’s cheese production…that’s about 2.5 billion pounds worth!
Bravo if you guessed that “America’s Dairyland” is America’s top cheese-maker!
It accounts for almost a quarter of the U.S.’s total cheese output at 3.5 billion pounds per year! That includes about half of America’s artisanal cheese and over 600 varieties.
If you haven’t guessed, Wisconsin’s all in on cheese, with over a dozen cheese festivals and almost 100 cheese factories around the state.
Congratulations, Wisconsin!
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