Air conditioning feels so ordinary now that it’s easy to forget how new it really is. The first modern system was built in 1902 by Willis Carrier in Buffalo, New York, not to keep people cool, but to control humidity in a printing plant. For decades, machines like this were mostly found in factories, department stores, and movie theaters. Comfort at home came later.
It wasn’t until after World War II that things began to shift. Prices dropped, window units became easier to install, and suddenly cooling wasn’t just for the wealthy. By the 1960s and 70s, air conditioning had become standard in much of the country. In many regions, it was no longer a luxury—it was a necessity.
Today, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that most households have at least one air conditioner. A map created by Reddit user u/Alarmed_Wish3294, based on 2020 EIA data, shows how unevenly those numbers play out across the states.
The differences are pretty dramatic. In the South and much of the Midwest, AC is nearly universal—Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida all hover around 95–97%. At the other end of the spectrum, Alaska sits at just 7%, and states like Washington, Oregon, and Vermont also fall far below the national average.
Here’s the full ranking, from highest to lowest:
State
Percentage
Delaware
97%
Iowa
97%
Florida
96%
Illinois
96%
New Jersey
96%
Oklahoma
96%
Georgia
95%
Kentucky
95%
Missouri
95%
Nebraska
95%
South Carolina
95%
Texas
95%
Virginia
95%
Kansas
93%
Louisiana
93%
Mississippi
93%
North Dakota
93%
Tennessee
93%
Nevada
92%
South Dakota
92%
Utah
92%
Wisconsin
92%
Indiana
94%
Minnesota
94%
Ohio
94%
Alabama
94%
Arizona
94%
Pennsylvania
91%
Maryland
91%
North Carolina
91%
Connecticut
90%
Rhode Island
90%
West Virginia
89%
New York
88%
Massachusetts
87%
Michigan
87%
New Mexico
85%
Colorado
82%
Idaho
81%
New Hampshire
78%
Oregon
76%
California
72%
Wyoming
71%
Maine
70%
Vermont
67%
Montana
65%
Hawaii
57%
Washington
53%
Alaska
7%
(Percentages based on U.S. EIA, 2020)
The pattern lines up perfectly with the climate.
When you step back, the pattern lines up perfectly with climate. States that are hot and sticky for long stretches of the year tend to have near-universal ownership. Northern states and places with mild, ocean-influenced summers? Much lower.
Air conditioning also changed where Americans felt they could live. The explosive growth of Sun Belt states like Texas, Arizona, and Florida after the 1950s wasn’t just about jobs or taxes. Once cooling became affordable, summers that had once been brutal were suddenly manageable in homes, schools, and even cars. In that way, AC shaped modern America as much as highways or suburbs did.
If you look closely, the results line up neatly with the climate. States that are hot and humid for long stretches of the year have nearly universal AC ownership, while northern and coastal states with mild or short summers tend to skip it.
It’s also worth noting how AC influenced where people choose to live. The boom in Sun Belt states like Texas, Arizona, and Florida after the 1950s wasn’t only about jobs or lower taxes. Summers in those regions became much easier to handle once homes, schools, and cars came with reliable cooling. In that sense, air conditioning helped shape modern America just as much as highways or suburbs did.
