Best and Worst States for a Fire Pit, Ranked (2026)
We ranked all 50 states on three things that decide whether a fire pit gets used: how many evenings fall in a comfortable temperature range, how often it rains, and how often the air quality is unhealthy. California, Hawaii and Arizona lead the way. Alaska, Illinois, and Michigan finish at the bottom.
Below is the full ranking, what separates the top from the bottom, how the regions compare, and exactly how we built the numbers.
Key findings
California leads with about 246 dry fire pit evenings a year, and Alaska trails with about 70. That is a 3.5x gap. The median state falls near 133.
The top 10 rankings are all in the West or the South. Six are Western states and four are Southern. The bottom 10 are five Midwestern states, four Northeastern states, and Alaska.
Dry weather separates the top from the rest. The five states with the fewest rainy days, Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, all rank in the top 10. West Virginia has the most rainy days, at 154.
Hawaii has the longest fire pit season at 10.9 months, but still finishes second to California. It gets 129 rainy days a year against California's 52.
The West averages about 160 dry fire pit evenings a year, against about 122 in the Northeast. No Midwestern or Northeastern state ranks higher than 24th.
The full ranking
California (87.0), Hawaii (85.1), and Arizona (61.6) score highest, and Alaska (13.1) scores lowest. Scores run from 0 to 100.
Why the top states win
Dry weather does most of the work. The five states with the fewest rainy days, Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, all rank in the top 10. California and Arizona log about 50 rainy days a year, against 144 to 153 in New Hampshire, New York, Maine, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
California gets 9.4 months of comfortable evenings and 52 rainy days, which adds up to about 246 dry evenings. Arizona (197) and New Mexico (184) follow the same pattern with fewer comfortable months but little rain.
Hawaii has the longest season at 10.9 months and the cleanest air in the data, but 129 rainy days keep it second. The Southern leaders, Texas (5th), South Carolina (7th), Georgia (8th), and Alabama (9th), each get 7.5 to 7.8 months of comfortable evenings.
Why the bottom states struggle
Alaska finishes last because its season is short. It gets 3.8 months of comfortable evenings, an average evening temperature of 26.5°F, and 147 rainy days a year. No other state has fewer than 111 dry evenings, and Alaska has about 70.
Five Midwestern states sit in the bottom 10: Illinois (49th), Michigan (48th), Iowa (47th), Ohio (46th), and Indiana (44th). Each gets 5.7 to 6.5 months of comfortable evenings and 105 to 141 rainy days. Illinois also records 219 unhealthy-air days, the fourth most of any state.
In the Northeast, wet weather does the damage. New Hampshire, New York, Maine, Pennsylvania, and Vermont all log 144 to 153 rainy days, even though Maine (64), New Hampshire (66), and Vermont (88) have some of the cleanest air in the data.
How the regions compare
No Midwestern or Northeastern state ranks higher than 24th.
What this means when you choose a fire feature
Where you live should shape where a fire feature goes and how it is built. In states with 140 or more rainy days, a sheltered or partly covered location helps more of those evenings stay usable. In dry states with long seasons, a fire feature gets used for much of the year, so durable materials and easy upkeep matter.
Check local rules before you build. Burn bans and fire ordinances are set by cities and counties, and gas fire features are often treated differently from wood-burning ones.
If you are planning a fire feature of your own, the Nisho has a variety of modern gas and propane fire pits.
How we built the ranking
The ranking combines monthly temperatures, annual rainy days, and an air-quality measure for each state. Every step is below so you can check or reproduce it.
Evening temperature. For each state and month, we estimated a typical evening temperature as the average low plus 40% of the gap between the average high and low. Highs and lows are statewide 1991-2020 monthly normals from NOAA. Hawaii's figures average five stations: Honolulu, Hilo, Molokai Airport, Lihue, and Kula.
Comfort score. A month earns full credit when its estimated evening temperature is 45°F to 65°F. Credit falls evenly to zero between 45°F and 35°F, and between 65°F and 75°F. Outside 35°F to 75°F, a month earns nothing.
Fire pit months. We added the 12 monthly comfort scores, so a state can score between 0 and 12.
Rainy days. We used each state's average rainy days per year, counting a rainy day as 0.01 inch of precipitation or more. The figures come from USA Symbol, which attributes them to NOAA National Weather Service records for 2000-2024.
Dry fire pit evenings. We multiplied fire pit months by the average days in a month (365 ÷ 12), then by the share of days without rain.
Air quality. We used each state's count of days with unhealthy air quality from U.S. News & World Report's Best States rankings, as published by World Population Review.
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals, 1991-2020: statewide monthly average highs and lows.
USA Symbol, Most Rainy Days by State: rainy days per year, attributed to NOAA National Weather Service records for 2000-2024.
World Population Review, Air Quality by State: days with unhealthy air quality, attributed to U.S. News & World Report's Best States rankings.