Planting Zone Map by ZIP: Your USDA Zone and What to Plant Now

Q: What planting zone am I in?

Type your ZIP code into the tool above. It reads your zone from the 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map ZIP table published by the PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University, which covers 40,502 ZIP codes. The most common zone in the country is 6b, with 5,271 ZIP codes in 33 states.

Q: What do the zone numbers mean?

Each zone is the average coldest night of the winter, not the coldest ever. In the USDA's words, "The map is based on the average annual extreme minimum winter temperature, displayed as 10-degree F zones and 5-degree F half zones." Zone 6 averages a low between -10°F and 0°F, and every step up the scale is 10 degrees warmer.

Q: What is the difference between zone 6a and 6b?

Each 10 degree zone is split into two 5 degree halves. The a half is the colder one: zone 6a averages -10°F to -5°F and 6b averages -5°F to 0°F. A plant tag that says zone 6 means it should come through both.

Q: Is my planting zone the same as my frost dates?

No. The zone tells you which plants survive your winter. Your frost dates tell you when to plant, and two towns in the same zone can be weeks apart. The calendar on each zone page is timed from the median last spring and first fall frost; for the dates at your own ZIP, use the frost dates tool or the seed starting calendar.

Q: What are the coldest and warmest planting zones in the United States?

The coldest is zone 1a, -60°F to -55°F, which covers 5 ZIP codes in interior Alaska. The warmest in the 50 states is zone 13a on the Hawaii coast, and the warmest anywhere on the map is 13b, 65°F to 70°F, which is found only in Puerto Rico, around San Juan.

Your zone

Find your planting zone by ZIP code

Enter a ZIP code or a town. You get the zone on the 2023 USDA map for 40,502 ZIP codes, the frost dates at the nearest NOAA station, and what to sow, plant, prune and protect there this month.

Fifty states

Planting zone map of the US

Zones run from 1a in interior Alaska, where the coldest night of the winter averages -60°F to -55°F, to 13b in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 65°F to 70°F. Each step is five degrees. The most common zone is 6b, with 5,271 ZIP codes in 33 states.

Each state is colored by the zone most of its ZIP codes are in; the state page has the full range. Tap a state.

1 -60°F to -50°F
2 -50°F to -40°F
3 -40°F to -30°F
4 -30°F to -20°F
5 -20°F to -10°F
6 -10°F to 0°F
7 0°F to 10°F
8 10°F to 20°F
9 20°F to 30°F
10 30°F to 40°F
11 40°F to 50°F
12 50°F to 60°F
13 60°F to 70°F

The 2023 map

Why your zone may have moved

The USDA’s summary of the new map:

“When compared to the 2012 map, the 2023 version reveals that about half of the country shifted to the next warmer half zone, and the other half of the country remained in the same half zone.”USDA Agricultural Research Service, November 15, 2023

Two things changed under it. The years: “The 2023 map includes data measured at weather stations from 1991 to 2020.” And the stations: “The 2023 map incorporates data from 13,412 weather stations compared to the 7,983 that were used for the 2012 map.” More stations draw the cold valleys and warm cities more finely, which is why a few hundred ZIP codes went the other way.

The USDA is careful about what the shift means: “Temperature updates to plant hardiness zones are not necessarily reflective of global climate change because of the highly variable nature of the extreme minimum temperature of the year, as well as the use of increasingly sophisticated mapping methods and the inclusion of data from more weather stations.”

26 half zones

What a planting zone means

In the USDA’s words: “The map is based on the average annual extreme minimum winter temperature, displayed as 10-degree F zones and 5-degree F half zones.” A zone is the coldest night a plant has to live through, so it tells you which perennials, shrubs, trees and fruit come back next spring. It says nothing about heat, rain or soil.

It does not say when to plant, either. That comes from the frost dates, which is why the calendars on the zone pages are counted from the last spring frost and the first fall frost. And a zone is an average, not a record: “Put another way, the designations do not reflect the coldest it has ever been or ever will be at a specific location, but simply the average lowest winter temperature for the location over a specified time.”

Each zone page has its range, its states and cities, a twelve month calendar and the plants rated for it.

A summer perennial border of yellow black-eyed Susans, purple liatris spikes and silvery Russian sage, with a rose of Sharon shrub behind and small plant labels in the bed — A labeled perennial border in high summer. The zone on a plant tag is the coldest winter it is rated to come through, so a plant rated for zones 4 to 9 suits every half zone from 4a to 9b. “Perennials border in Summer”, Bindersbee, Public domain

The calendar

Where the monthly jobs come from

Vegetables are timed the same way as the seed starting calendar: weeks from seed to transplant counted back from the median last frost, and fall crops counted back from the first frost by their days to harvest plus two weeks for the shortening days. Perennials, pruning, mulch, bulbs and winter protection follow the extension pages below. Where a page gives a season rather than a date, the calendar places it by the frost dates and says so. In South Florida and Hawaii, where there is no frost to count from, the vegetable months come from the University of Florida and University of Hawaii planting guides.

UNH Cooperative Extension, Growing Vegetables: When to Plant your Vegetable Garden, read Sep 21, 2026.
University of Minnesota Extension, Planting vegetables in midsummer for a fall harvest, read Oct 9, 2026.
University of Illinois Extension, Planting a fall vegetable garden (Good Growing), read Oct 9, 2026.
University of Minnesota Extension, Dividing perennials, read Oct 9, 2026.
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, How should I prepare my perennial beds for winter?, read Oct 9, 2026.
University of Minnesota Extension, Pruning trees and shrubs, read Oct 9, 2026.
Rutgers NJAES Cooperative Extension, Pruning Flowering Shrubs (FS1221), read Oct 9, 2026.
University of Maryland Extension, Planting a Tree or Shrub, read Oct 9, 2026.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, Preparing Landscape Plants for Winter, read Oct 9, 2026.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, Storing Tender Bulbs for Winter, read Oct 9, 2026.
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, All About Tulips, read Oct 9, 2026.
UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions, Tulips, read Oct 9, 2026.
UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions, Preparing the Landscape for Cold Weather, read Oct 9, 2026.
UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions, Treating Cold-Damaged Plants, read Oct 9, 2026.

A hand lifting a clump of small tomato seedlings with their root plugs out of a black plastic cell tray — Tomato seedlings coming out of a 288 cell tray to be potted on. University of New Hampshire Extension puts tomatoes at 6 to 8 weeks from seed to transplant, going out 1 to 2 weeks after the last frost, and the calendar counts both dates back from the frost for the zone. “Tomato seedlings” by Dwight Sipler, CC BY 2.0

Questions

Planting zone questions, answered

What planting zone am I in?

What do the zone numbers mean?

What is the difference between zone 6a and 6b?

Why did my planting zone change in 2023?

The 2023 map uses 30 years of station data from 1991 to 2020 and nearly twice as many stations as the 2012 map. Comparing the two ZIP tables, 22,792 of 40,021 ZIP codes (57%) moved to a warmer half zone, 16,793 stayed put and 436 moved colder. The USDA says the change is not necessarily a sign of climate change, because a single cold night swings a lot from year to year and the mapping methods improved.

Is my planting zone the same as my frost dates?

What are the coldest and warmest planting zones in the United States?

Frost dates, seeds and bulbs

Seed starting calendarWhen to start each vegetable indoors, by ZIP.Frost dates by ZIPYour last spring and first fall frost, with the odds either side.First frost forecastWhen the first fall frost usually arrives, state by state.Soil temperatureWhen the ground is warm enough to sow.When to plant garlicThe fall planting window by ZIP.When to plant tulip bulbsOnce the soil cools, timed to your first frost.

Sources. USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP code tables (2023 and 2012), PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University; USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; USDA Unveils Updated Plant Hardiness Zone Map (USDA Agricultural Research Service, November 15, 2023); NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, annual/seasonal, by station (v1.0.1); NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. Zones and the 2012 comparison are read from the PRISM ZIP code tables; frost dates are the NOAA 1991 to 2020 normals, read Sep 21, 2026; plant ratings are from each plant’s NC State Extension page, read Oct 9, 2026.

A ZIP code’s zone is the zone at its center; a garden on a hilltop or in a frost pocket can sit half a zone either side.

What Planting Zone Am I In? Your Zone and What to Plant Now