State ranking · 2024

The greenest grids in America

Every state ranked by the renewable share of its electricity generation, hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass, from EIA data.

99.8%
Greenest · Vermont
77%
Top-5 average share
15
States ranked

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, more than 4,000,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity flow through the American grid each year, and the renewable share of that total varies enormously from one state to the next. The states at the top of this ranking fall into two distinct camps. The first is built on old hydropower across the Pacific Northwest and northern New England, where federal dams installed generations ago still supply the bulk of in-state generation. The second is the new-build wind belt running up the Great Plains, where Iowa, Kansas, and the Dakotas added enormous turbine capacity in barely two decades. The 2024 ranking below sorts every state by renewable share of net generation, and each links to its full energy profile. Read our methodology for how the share is calculated.

The 15 greenest grids by renewable share (2024)

Renewable net generation as a share of total, higher is greener.

% renewable
Source EIA Electric Power Annual As of 2024

Old hydropower versus new wind

The hydropower states reach a high renewable share almost by inheritance. A handful of large federal dams can supply most of a state's electricity with no fuel cost and no emissions, which is why Washington, Idaho, and Vermont consistently rank near the top without having to build anything new. The wind states got there by construction instead. Across the Plains, steady high-quality wind and cheap rural land made turbines the lowest-cost new capacity available, and the share climbed as each project came online. Both routes produce a green grid, but they age differently: hydropower output rises and falls with drought, while wind output depends on how aggressively a state keeps adding capacity.

Why renewable share is not the same as clean consumption

This ranking measures generation, the electricity produced inside a state, not the electricity its residents consume. The distinction is easy to miss and important. A small state with modest demand can generate far more renewable power than it uses and export the surplus to neighbors over the wholesale grid, which pushes its share toward or even past the level you would expect. Conversely, a state that imports a lot of clean power from a neighbor will look less green on a generation basis than its actual electricity use would suggest. To understand a state's real footprint, read the renewable share alongside its absolute generation and its trade position on the state profile rather than treating the percentage as a consumption figure.

Where the rankings are heading

The hydropower leaders are largely static, there is little room to add big new dams, so their position drifts only with rainfall. The movement in this ranking comes almost entirely from wind and, increasingly, utility-scale solar. States that keep permitting and interconnecting new projects climb; states that stall slip back even if their absolute clean generation holds steady, because the denominator grows. Watching which states are adding capacity, visible in the multi-year trend on each profile, is a better guide to the next few years than the current snapshot alone.

Rank State Renewable share What powers it
1 Vermont 99.8% Powered by in-state hydropower and biomass with almost no fossil generation.
2 South Dakota 81.6% Powered by a mix of Missouri River hydro and prairie wind.
3 Washington 69.4% Powered by the Columbia River hydropower system.
4 Idaho 67.5% Powered by Snake River hydropower.
5 Iowa 65.6% Powered by the highest wind share of any state.
6 District of Columbia 65.0% Powered by a growing mix of wind, solar, and hydropower.
7 Oregon 60.8% Powered by Columbia and Cascade hydropower plus wind.
8 Montana 57.6% Powered by Missouri River hydropower.
9 Kansas 52.1% Powered by large-scale prairie wind.
10 Maine 51.5% Powered by hydro, biomass, and growing wind.
11 California 51.5% Powered by utility-scale solar plus wind and hydro.
12 New Mexico 50.3% Powered by a growing mix of wind, solar, and hydropower.
13 Colorado 43.2% Powered by wind and a rising solar share.
14 Oklahoma 42.6% Powered by fast-growing wind capacity.
15 North Dakota 39.6% Powered by wind added on top of a coal base.

Frequently asked questions

Which state generates the most renewable electricity?

Vermont leads on renewable share at 99.8% of its net generation. Renewable share measures generation mix, not how much a state consumes, so a small state that exports clean power can rank at the very top.

Does a high renewable share mean cheaper electricity?

Not directly. Hydropower-rich states like Washington tend to have both high renewable shares and low rates because their dams are paid down. But renewable share and price are driven by different things: a state can be very green and still have high delivery costs, and a cheap state can lean on coal. Compare each state's renewable share against its rate on its profile page rather than assuming one predicts the other.

What counts as renewable here?

This ranking sums conventional hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass net generation and divides by total net generation. It is a generation-mix measure based on EIA data, not a consumption or capacity-factor measure, and it does not include nuclear, which is carbon-free but not renewable.