The 5 States With the Least Air Conditioning

Americans take air conditioning for granted. We are a nation of 342 million people and 374 million air conditioning units — that’s 1,094 units for every 1,000 people. Only Japan is higher among large nations, at 1,201. Like the US, Japan has a high GDP per capita.

At the far end of the spectrum are hot but very poor nations. India has just 19 air conditioning units per 1,000 people, even though its largest cities often reach 100 degrees during summer days. According to AQI, India dominates the list of hottest cities in the world.

The US is a nation of two worlds. Much of the country is not extremely hot, even in summer — the median high summer temperature in Alaska is just above 60°F. At the other extreme, Phoenix will see over 100 degrees on 100 days this year. And Phoenix is in trouble: according to ABC15, the county surrounding it is running out of federal relief funds this summer. As the station reports, “the pandemic-era federal relief money does come with an expiration date, and this summer is the last year those funds will be available for the Heat Relief Network.”

America is getting hotter. In March, a heatwave in the West broke temperature records across much of the region. According to Berkeley Earth, “The remarkable Western U.S. heatwave in March of this year produced the largest temperature anomaly recorded in the western United States in 170 years of instrumental observations at +11.5°F above the mid-20th-century baseline, with roughly 30% of active U.S. weather stations setting new monthly records.”

Three weeks ago, a heat dome caused numerous high-temperature records to fall in the East. On July 2nd, New York City had its hottest day in almost 14 years, with temperatures reaching 100 degrees. The city faces a similar heat dome this week, with temperatures forecast to top out just below 100 degrees midweek.

It’s almost unheard of for a state to have fewer than 80% of households with air conditioning — only five qualify, and in one case, the figure is extremely low. In Alaska, just 7% of households have AC, a rate closer to India’s than the rest of the US. But the need is rare: average highs in Anchorage this week will be around 60 degrees, with lows near 50.

The other states with low air conditioning rates are Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, and California. Looking at the average for a huge state like California can be misleading. Death Valley, in Southern California, holds the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded — 134.1 degrees, set on July 10, 1913. Meanwhile, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, temperatures rarely rise above 60 degrees.

Washington, Oregon, California, and Hawaii all border the Pacific Ocean in some way, and that proximity helps keep temperatures low.

Finally, as might be expected, the states with the highest ratio of air conditioning are Florida and Oklahoma. It will be nearly 100 degrees in Tulsa later this week, and almost as high in Jacksonville.

Rank (Lowest AC)	State	% of Households with AC	Notes
1	Alaska	~7%	By far the lowest, due to cold climate
2	Washington	~66%	Pacific Northwest cooling
3	Hawaii	~57%	Mild tropical climate
4	Oregon	~82%	Coastal influence
5	California	~79%	Varies greatly by region

Source: Visual Capitalist analysis of US Census / EIA data (2026 update).