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.
Keep reading to see a breakdown of humidity in all 50 states by morning and afternoon readings.
On the map
The most humid states in America, mapped
Source: HomeSnacks
The verdict
So what’s the most humid state in America for 2026?
What’s the most humid state in America for 2026? It turns out Louisiana is the most humid state in the country, with an average humidity of 60.25 in the afternoon and 88.25 in the morning.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your state ranked.
Saturday Night Science
How We Determined The Most Humid States In The US For 2026
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.
The full plate
Humidity By State
Click any column to sort. Search by state name.
| Rank | State | Afternoon | Morning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louisiana | 60 | 88 |
| 2 | Michigan | 62 | 82 |
| 3 | Iowa | 61 | 82 |
| 4 | Florida | 59 | 86 |
| 5 | Minnesota | 62 | 82 |
| 6 | Wisconsin | 62 | 82 |
| 7 | North Dakota | 60 | 82 |
| 8 | Missouri | 59 | 82 |
| 9 | Mississippi | 56 | 89 |
| 10 | Illinois | 60 | 82 |
| 11 | Indiana | 60 | 82 |
| 12 | West Virginia | 58 | 84 |
| 13 | Alaska | 70 | 79 |
| 14 | Ohio | 60 | 81 |
| 15 | Arkansas | 56 | 84 |
| 16 | Alabama | 56 | 86 |
| 17 | Tennessee | 56 | 84 |
| 18 | Hawaii | 62 | 78 |
| 19 | North Carolina | 56 | 83 |
| 20 | Kentucky | 58 | 81 |
| 21 | Maine | 60 | 78 |
| 22 | Georgia | 53 | 85 |
| 23 | South Dakota | 58 | 79 |
| 24 | Washington | 58 | 79 |
| 25 | New York | 58 | 76 |
| 26 | Oklahoma | 56 | 80 |
| 27 | South Carolina | 52 | 82 |
| 28 | Pennsylvania | 57 | 78 |
| 29 | Vermont | 58 | 76 |
| 30 | Oregon | 57 | 78 |
| 31 | Nebraska | 54 | 80 |
| 32 | New Hampshire | 53 | 80 |
| 33 | Virginia | 55 | 79 |
| 34 | Massachusetts | 57 | 75 |
| 35 | Texas | 53 | 80 |
| 36 | Kansas | 54 | 79 |
| 37 | Delaware | 55 | 78 |
| 38 | Connecticut | 56 | 76 |
| 39 | New Jersey | 54 | 76 |
| 40 | Rhode Island | 55 | 75 |
| 41 | Maryland | 53 | 77 |
| 42 | Montana | 49 | 70 |
| 43 | California | 49 | 68 |
| 44 | Idaho | 45 | 67 |
| 45 | Wyoming | 46 | 64 |
| 46 | Utah | 43 | 63 |
| 47 | Colorado | 39 | 59 |
| 48 | New Mexico | 34 | 57 |
| 49 | Nevada | 32 | 57 |
| 50 | Arizona | 28 | 52 |
Source: NOAA Comparative Climatic Data.
There You Have It — The Most Humid States In The Country
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 most humid states in the United States for 2026 are Louisiana, Michigan, Iowa, Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Missouri, Mississippi, and Illinois.
The least humid states are Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, California, Montana, and Maryland.
Questions and answers
Most Humid States FAQs
What is the most humid state in America?
Louisiana is the most humid state in America for 2026, with an average relative humidity of 60.25 in the afternoon and 88.25 in the morning. Michigan and Iowa are close behind.
What are the 10 most humid states in the US?
The most humid states in America are Louisiana, Michigan, Iowa, Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Missouri, Mississippi, and Illinois. We ranked all 50 states on their average morning and afternoon humidity readings.
What is the least humid state?
Arizona is the least humid state in the country, averaging 28.50 relative humidity in the afternoon and 52.25 in the morning. Dry air has its fans; they mostly live there.
Is humidity worse in the morning or the afternoon?
Mornings run more humid almost everywhere: the national average is 77.68 in the morning versus 55.64 in the afternoon. Afternoon humidity is what separates the sticky states from the comfortable ones.
How do you measure state humidity?
We average each state’s morning and afternoon relative humidity readings from weather station data, then rank all 50 states on the combination. The muggiest average wins.
