When you think of community gardening, you might only think of big cities and urban areas, but did you know that there are over 1,300 community gardens in the United States?

And the top states for community gardens per capita are hardly urban… Number one is North Dakota, with one community garden for every 23 thousand people. Numbers two through four are all fairly rural too: Nebraska, Iowa, and Alaska. It’s not until you get to the number five that a more urban area comes up: Washington DC.

Here’s the full ranking of all fifty states plus the District of Columbia.

Rank State Gardens Population 1 Garden per X People
1 North Dakota 31 723,393 23,335
2 Nebraska 55 1,868,516 33,973
3 Iowa 87 3,090,416 35,522
4 Alaska 20 735,132 36,757
5 District of Columbia 15 646,449 43,097
6 South Dakota 16 844,877 52,805
7 Montana 18 1,015,165 56,398
8 Vermont 11 626,630 56,966
9 Louisiana 56 4,625,470 82,598
10 Mississippi 36 2,991,207 83,089
11 Maine 13 1,328,302 102,177
12 Idaho 15 1,612,136 107,476
13 South Carolina 44 4,774,839 108,519
14 Arkansas 26 2,959,373 113,822
15 Wyoming 5 582,658 116,532
16 West Virginia 15 1,854,304 123,620
17 Kansas 23 2,893,957 125,824
18 Rhode Island 8 1,051,511 131,439
19 Missouri 44 6,044,171 137,368
20 Connecticut 25 3,596,080 143,843
21 Washington 42 6,971,406 165,986
22 Maryland 30 5,928,814 197,627
23 Michigan 50 9,895,622 197,912
24 Illinois 62 12,882,135 207,776
25 Minnesota 26 5,420,380 208,476
26 New Mexico 9 2,085,287 231,699
27 Oregon 16 3,930,065 245,629
28 Indiana 25 6,570,902 262,836
29 New Hampshire 5 1,323,459 264,692
30 Virginia 31 8,260,405 266,465
31 North Carolina 34 9,848,060 289,649
32 Wisconsin 19 5,742,713 302,248
33 Delaware 3 925,749 308,583
34 Pennsylvania 40 12,773,801 319,345
35 Colorado 16 5,268,367 329,273
36 Ohio 33 11,570,808 350,631
37 Utah 8 2,900,872 362,609
38 Kentucky 12 4,395,295 366,275
39 New York 49 19,651,127 401,043
40 Tennessee 16 6,495,978 405,999
41 Texas 64 26,448,193 413,253
42 Georgia 24 9,992,167 416,340
43 Hawaii 3 1,404,054 468,018
44 Alabama 9 4,833,722 537,080
45 Nevada 5 2,790,136 558,027
46 New Jersey 15 8,899,339 593,289
47 Massachusetts 11 6,692,824 608,439
48 California 62 38,332,521 618,266
49 Oklahoma 6 3,850,568 641,761
50 Arizona 8 6,626,624 828,328
51 Florida 15 19,552,860 1,303,524

Source: USDA

In some of the states where community gardening is less popular, private gardening is definitely taking up the slack. Check out the top five states for private garden projects on Porch. None of the top states for private garden projects on Porch even cracked the top twenty for community gardens.

Rank State Community Rank Median Cost
1 Washington 21 $140,000
2 Massachusetts 47 $130,000
3 Maryland 22 $64,000
4 California 48 $60,000
5 Minnesota 25 $50,000

Here’s a not-too-out-of-the-ordinary example from Washington—a $200,000 lakefront garden project by Darwin Webb Landscape Architects.

darr-webb-lakefront-garden-sm

When it comes to gardening, money doesn’t have to be an obstacle. Whether you’re able to afford a luxurious, exquisite garden like this, or a more modest garden, or just a slot in the local community garden, you’ve got lots of choices to get your green thumb on this spring. Looking for a community garden in your area? Check out the USDA map of community gardens. There’s no excuse not to get out there and grow something!

Top image credit: Seattle Municipal Archives