Washington's share of U.S. commercial apples by year

What this dataset measures

Tests the common claim that Washington grows most of America's apples using NASS, the official U.S. source for crop estimates, over a long enough period (26 years) to show year-to-year swings and the effect of NASS's 2018 reduction to seven estimated states.

Geography

Washington, United States

Unit of observation

State-year

Update cadence

Annual, after the NASS Noncitrus Fruits and Nuts summary (May)

Curator

FactHub Research Team

Curated data tables

Washington's share of U.S. commercial apples by year

Washington's share of U.S. utilized production, total production, value, bearing acres and fresh-market production, with the second-largest state and seven-state comparisons, 2000-2025.

Unit of observation: Crop year

annual-wa-share.csv text/csv · 2.5 KB (2,565 bytes)

All 26 rows 16 columns Download the file

All 26 rows

year	states_estimated states	us_utilized_mlb million pounds	wa_utilized_mlb million pounds	wa_share_utilized_pct percent	wa_share_total_production_pct percent	wa_share_value_pct percent	wa_share_bearing_acres_pct percent	wa_share_fresh_market_pct percent	second_state	second_state_utilized_mlb million pounds	wa_to_second_ratio ratio	seven_state_utilized_mlb million pounds	wa_share_of_seven_states_pct percent	other_states_utilized_mlb million pounds	us_minus_sum_of_states_mlb million pounds
2000	35	10322.2	6000	58.13	56.69	56.8	39.56	—	New York	935	6.42	9191	65.28	1131.2	0
2001	35	9214.4	5050	54.81	53.56	61.95	40.33	—	New York	940	5.37	8307	60.79	907.4	0
2002	35	8405	5150	61.27	60.19	65.23	40.9	—	New York	630	8.17	7538	68.32	867	0
2003	35	8703	4550	52.28	51.75	64.82	39.7	—	New York	1060	4.29	7776	58.51	927	0
2004	35	10361.3	6150	59.36	58.9	59.89	40.32	—	New York	1280	4.8	9372	65.62	989.3	0
2005	32	9602.5	5700	59.36	58.73	61.58	41.68	—	New York	1035	5.51	8722	65.35	880.5	0
2006	32	9775.5	5550	56.77	56.22	62.95	42.7	—	New York	1250	4.44	8841	62.78	934.5	0
2007	32	9045.4	5200	57.49	57.21	68.26	43.6	71.58	New York	1300	4	8432	61.67	613.4	0
2008	32	9531.7	5650	59.28	58.71	58.26	43.87	72.62	New York	1240	4.56	8615	65.58	916.7	0
2009	29	9435.6	5200	55.11	53.68	64.75	44.36	68.29	New York	1360	3.82	8668	59.99	767.6	0
2010	29	9205	5550	60.29	59.79	66.7	44.56	72.81	New York	1270	4.37	8463	65.58	742	0
2011	29	9328.8	5420	58.1	57.42	68.26	44.74	72.07	New York	1210	4.48	8624	62.85	704.8	0
2012	29	8926.5	6450	72.26	71.73	74.88	45.51	81.12	New York	710	9.08	8378	76.99	548.5	0
2013	29	10431.7	5900	56.56	56.07	67.8	46.55	69.38	New York	1410	4.18	9677	60.97	754.7	0
2014	29	11269.9	7100	63	64.49	65.68	47.9	74.6	New York	1290	5.5	10538	67.38	731.9	0
2015	27	10022.9	5890	58.77	58.7	68.91	48.47	69.57	New York	1390	4.24	9305	63.3	717.9	0
2016	20	11045.6	6900	62.47	63.68	67.31	50.18	71.92	Michigan	1273	5.42	10500	65.71	545.6	0
2017	20	11209.9	7200	64.23	64.91	67.48	50.27	72.29	New York	1330	5.41	10579	68.06	630.9	0
2018	7	9873.8	6365	64.46	65.43	72.46	58.1	73.61	New York	1376.8	4.62	9873.8	64.46	0	0
2019	7	10696	7220	67.5	68.55	70.91	57.76	76.45	New York	1318.6	5.48	10696	67.5	0	0
2020	7	9944.6	6569.3	66.06	67.15	71.28	58.14	75.89	New York	1383.6	4.75	9944.6	66.06	0	0
2021	7	9783.9	6571.2	67.16	67.96	69.33	57.43	77.46	New York	1373.1	4.79	9783.9	67.16	0	0
2022	7	9687.6	5894.4	60.84	61.55	66.54	57.23	70.7	New York	1469.6	4.01	9687.6	60.84	0	0
2023	7	11138.7	7348.8	65.98	66.72	63.75	58	74.43	Michigan	1333.3	5.51	11138.7	65.98	0	0
2024	7	10582.7	7142.4	67.49	68.23	66.74	57.88	77.61	New York	1275.8	5.6	10582.7	67.49	0	0
2025	7	10718.5	7163	66.83	67.92	66.84	57.6	77.8	New York	1493.5	4.8	10718.5	66.83	0	0

16 field definitions

Field	Type	Meaning	Units	Value type
year	integer	Crop year.	—	observed
states_estimated	integer	Number of individually published states with utilized production that year.	states	derived
us_utilized_mlb	number	U.S. utilized production as published by NASS (sum of estimated states).	million pounds	observed
wa_utilized_mlb	number	Washington utilized production.	million pounds	observed
wa_share_utilized_pct	number	Washington's share of U.S. utilized production.	percent	derived
wa_share_total_production_pct	number	Washington's share of U.S. total production.	percent	derived
wa_share_value_pct	number	Washington's share of U.S. value of utilized production.	percent	derived
wa_share_bearing_acres_pct	number	Washington's share of U.S. commercial bearing acres. Rises in 2018 partly because the U.S. total then covers seven states.	percent	derived
wa_share_fresh_market_pct	number	Washington's share of U.S. fresh-market production, 2007-2025.	percent	derived
second_state	string	State with the second-largest utilized production.	—	derived
second_state_utilized_mlb	number	Utilized production of the second-largest state.	million pounds	observed
wa_to_second_ratio	number	Washington's utilized production divided by the second-largest state's.	ratio	derived
seven_state_utilized_mlb	number	Sum of CA, MI, NY, OR, PA, VA and WA utilized production.	million pounds	derived
wa_share_of_seven_states_pct	number	Washington's share of the seven-state sum (a consistent denominator across all years).	percent	derived
other_states_utilized_mlb	number	Utilized production of all states outside the seven, including the NASS "Other states" aggregate. Zero from 2018 because NASS no longer estimates them, not because they grow no apples.	million pounds	derived
us_minus_sum_of_states_mlb	number	Consistency check: U.S. total minus the sum of published states and the Other states aggregate.	million pounds	derived

Supporting files

Source snapshots, manifests, quality reports, documentation, and other materials used to produce or review this release.

• README.md Documentation · text/markdown · 2.8 KB (2,898 bytes)

  What the dataset contains, sources by year, method, definitions and how to reproduce it.

• quality-report.md Quality report · text/markdown · 1.3 KB (1,302 bytes)

  Internal consistency checks, cross-checks between NASS files, and coverage changes.

• source-manifest.json Source manifest · application/json · 2.9 KB (2,935 bytes)

  Every raw input with its URL, Quick Stats query, byte length and SHA-256 at download.

• fetch_sources.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 4 KB (4,108 bytes)

  Downloads the raw NASS and ERS files (Quick Stats web export and ESMIS reports).

• analyze.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 16.9 KB (17,284 bytes)

  Parses the raw files and computes every share and comparison.

• build_release.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 37.6 KB (38,498 bytes)

  Writes the CSV tables, documentation and this dataset payload.

• dataset-metadata.json Data dictionary · application/json · 46.1 KB (47,233 bytes)

  Machine-readable sources, table and field definitions, saved analyses with their structured results, and replications for this release.

Sources

1. USDA NASS Quick Stats: apples, survey program, state and national, annual (query source_desc=SURVEY&sector_desc=CROPS&group_desc=FRUIT & TREE NUTS&commodity_desc=APPLES&statisticcat_desc=PRODUCTION&statisticcat_desc=AREA BEARING&agg_level_desc=STATE&agg_level_desc=NATIONAL&freq_desc=ANNUAL&reference_period_desc=YEAR) Primary data, 2007-2025 estimates and 2026 forecast

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Unrestricted; U.S. federal government data are not subject to copyright.

2. USDA NASS Quick Stats: apples, Census of Agriculture, state and national (query source_desc=CENSUS&sector_desc=CROPS&group_desc=FRUIT & TREE NUTS&commodity_desc=APPLES&agg_level_desc=STATE&agg_level_desc=NATIONAL&freq_desc=ANNUAL&reference_period_desc=YEAR) Primary data, all-farm apple acreage 2002-2022

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Unrestricted; U.S. federal government data are not subject to copyright.

3. USDA NASS, Noncitrus Fruits and Nuts 2002 Summary (Fr Nt 3-1 (03)), July 8, 2003 Primary data, 2000-2002 estimates

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Unrestricted; U.S. federal government data are not subject to copyright.

   Archived copy captured October 9, 2026

4. USDA NASS, Noncitrus Fruits and Nuts 2005 Summary, July 6, 2006 Primary data, 2003-2004 estimates

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Unrestricted; U.S. federal government data are not subject to copyright.

   Archived copy captured October 9, 2026

5. USDA NASS, Noncitrus Fruits and Nuts 2007 Summary (revised), July 8, 2008 Primary data, 2005-2006 estimates; cross-check for 2007

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Unrestricted; U.S. federal government data are not subject to copyright.

   Archived copy captured October 9, 2026

6. USDA NASS, Noncitrus Fruits and Nuts 2025 Summary, May 2026 Cross-check for 2023-2025 and definition of commercial orchards

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Unrestricted; U.S. federal government data are not subject to copyright.

   Archived copy captured September 26, 2026

7. USDA ERS, Fruit and Tree Nuts Outlook: September 2026 (FTS-386), September 24, 2026 External comparison: Washington share of fresh-market apples; 2026 forecast context

   Retrieved October 9, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Unrestricted; U.S. federal government data are not subject to copyright.

   Archived copy captured October 9, 2026

Limitations and reproducibility

Fully reproducible: fetch_sources.js downloads every raw file from NASS Quick Stats (web export) and USDA ESMIS; analyze.js and build_release.js rebuild every table and saved analysis with Node.js 20 and no packages. Quick Stats returns current values, so later NASS revisions can change 2007-2025 figures slightly.

• Since 2018 NASS estimates apples in only seven states (CA, MI, NY, OR, PA, VA, WA) and its published U.S. total is their sum, so shares from 2018 are of a seven-state total. A sensitivity analysis estimates the effect at about 3 to 4 percentage points.
• NASS estimates cover commercial orchards with 100 or more bearing trees; the Census of Agriculture table covers all farms.
• Values for 2000-2006 come from the NASS annual summaries as revised in July 2003, 2006 and 2008; NASS may have revised them later, but Quick Stats does not carry state survey estimates before 2007.
• Value of production is nominal and depends on NASS price estimates, which mix fresh and processing prices.
• Shares describe Washington's production relative to other states; they say nothing about consumption or exports.
• The Wayback Machine could not capture the two Quick Stats CSV exports (repeated HTTP 520/523 errors on 2026-10-09). Their SHA-256 digests are recorded on the sources and in source-manifest.json, and fetch_sources.js re-creates the same exports; a re-download on 2026-10-09 returned identical bytes.