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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →USDA’s 2022 state comparison of crop-sales value ranks California, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska as the top five crop-producing states by sales. That answer changes with the measure. If you count all agricultural sales, including livestock, Texas moves into the top three. If you count planted acres or physical output, the leaders shift again. “Crop production” is not one scoreboard, so any state ranking needs its measure and year stated alongside it.
The short answer, by measure
Each common meaning of “crop production” points to a different set of leading states. The table below sets them side by side.
| Measure | What it counts | Leading states | Year and source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crop-sales value | Dollar value of crop sales only | California, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska | 2022, USDA Economic Research Service |
| Total agricultural sales | Crops, livestock and other agricultural products | California, Iowa, Texas, Nebraska, Minnesota (top five) | 2022, USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (2022 Census of Agriculture) |
| Planted and harvested acreage | Land devoted to principal crops | Not ranked in the USDA sources reviewed for this article | 2025, USDA NASS Crop Production 2025 Summary (January 2026) |
| Physical output | Bushels, tons, bales and other crop-specific units | Not a single ranking; units differ by crop | Varies by crop; use NASS Quick Stats |
Which states lead in crop sales
For a question about the economic weight of crops, crop-sales value is the most direct measure. USDA’s Economic Research Service identifies the five states with the highest value of crop sales in 2022 as California, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska. The published text gives these five names without each state’s crop-sales dollar total, so this article does not attach individual crop-sales figures to them. NASS Quick Stats is the place to pull those numbers for a specific year.
“The five States with the highest value of crop sales in 2022 were California, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Nebraska.” (USDA Economic Research Service, chart-gallery text)
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Where crop production clusters
USDA’s Economic Research Service describes two prominent concentrations of high-value production: California’s Central Valley and the Corn Belt. The Central Valley’s position in the crop-sales ranking is consistent with California’s lead in broad agricultural sales. The Corn Belt accounts for several of the crop-sales leaders in the five-state list, which is why neighboring states appear together in that ranking.
Total agricultural sales, and why Texas ranks third
The 2022 Census of Agriculture, published by NASS in 2024, ranks states by total agricultural sales. That total combines crops, livestock and other agricultural products, so it is not a crop-only ranking. Its top ten states are below.
| Rank | State | Total agricultural sales, 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $59.0 billion |
| 2 | Iowa | $43.9 billion |
| 3 | Texas | $32.2 billion |
| 4 | Nebraska | $29.4 billion |
| 5 | Minnesota | $28.5 billion |
| 6 | Illinois | $26.4 billion |
| 7 | Kansas | $24.0 billion |
| 8 | North Carolina | $18.7 billion |
| 9 | Indiana | $18.0 billion |
| 10 | Wisconsin | $16.7 billion |
Total U.S. agricultural sales were $543.1 billion in 2022, and the top ten states accounted for 55% of that total. Texas places third here but does not appear among the five crop-sales leaders, because its lead comes from livestock. The Census’s commodity groups show the split.
| Commodity group (U.S. total, 2022) | National sales | Top state in the group |
|---|---|---|
| Grains, oilseeds, dry beans and dry peas | $168.7 billion | Iowa |
| Cattle and calves | $89.4 billion | Texas |
The Census table ranks commodity groups by national sales, not states by crop sales, so it explains the gap between the two rankings rather than producing a third one.
Acreage and physical output
Acreage answers a different question: how much land a state puts into crops. USDA NASS’s Crop Production 2025 Summary, released in January 2026, reports planted and harvested acreage for principal crops through 2025. It does not rank states by the dollar value of their crops.
Crops covered by the 2025 summary
- Corn, sorghum, oats, barley and rye
- Wheat classes and rice
- Soybeans, peanuts, sunflower and cotton
- Dry edible beans and chickpeas
- Potatoes, canola, proso millet and sugarbeets
Rules that change acreage totals
- Harvested acreage, not planted acreage, is used for hay, tobacco and sugarcane when totaling planted area.
- The report includes double-cropped acres and unharvested small grains planted as cover crops, so a state’s total can exceed the land it uses for a single harvest.
- State totals may not match the U.S. figure exactly because of rye allocation and rounding, according to USDA.
Physical output
Production volumes are reported in crop-specific units such as bushels, tons and bales. Adding them into one state total is not meaningful. Compare output one crop at a time, within the same year.
Rank #4
How to compare states correctly
- Use one measure and one year for every state. Mixing a 2022 sales figure with a 2025 acreage figure produces a comparison that does not hold.
- Label livestock. Any total that includes cattle, dairy or other animal products is not a crop-only ranking.
- Do not add different units. Bushels, tons and bales cannot be summed without a defensible conversion and a clear scope.
- Do not read a marker as zero. USDA overview tables use markers for unavailable, withheld, insufficient-response and not-applicable data. A blank or marked cell means the value is not published, not that production was zero.
How to pull the numbers yourself
- Open NASS Quick Stats, USDA NASS’s online database.
- Select the program that matches your measure: Census of Agriculture for state sales totals, or the annual crop reports for acreage and production.
- Choose the commodity or sales group you want to compare.
- Set geography to the states you are comparing and set the year.
- Check the output for withheld or unavailable markers before ranking anything.
How current these rankings are
The Census of Agriculture is taken every five years, so its 2022 state figures are the most recent broad benchmark. The most recent state crop-sales ranking this article can confirm is also for 2022. Annual crop reports supply newer acreage and production estimates, but they do not replace a current crop-sales ranking. For a 2026 comparison of sales value, check NASS Quick Stats for the latest published year before describing any state as the current leader.
The clearest answer is that California, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska lead U.S. crop sales in 2022, while California and Iowa lead broader agricultural sales that include livestock. Specify the measure and year in every comparison, and treat acreage and output as separate questions.
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