The Top 20 Energy-Producing States

America produced more energy in 2024 than any country ever has

The United States set an all-time record in 2024, producing more than 103 quadrillion Btu of energy, the most in its history, after producing just under 103 quadrillion in 2023 (EIA, 2025). Crude oil output ran above 13 million barrels per day, a level no country had previously reached, and the U.S. stood as the world's largest producer of both oil and natural gas (EIA). Whatever one's view of the energy transition, the production record is not in dispute.

That output is intensely concentrated. Texas alone produced 27,104.7 trillion Btu in 2023, about 26 percent of the national total (EIA SEDS). The top four states, Texas, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and West Virginia, produced roughly half of all American energy. EIA's own analysis has documented the top producing states steadily gaining market share for two decades as shale development rewarded specific geology (EIA SEDS; Natural Gas Intelligence).

The New Mexico surge is the story of the decade

No large state has moved faster. New Mexico's total production rose from 5,505 trillion Btu in 2021 to 7,651.8 in 2023, a 39 percent increase in two years, carrying it past Wyoming and West Virginia into third place (EIA SEDS). The engine is the Delaware portion of the Permian Basin, which made New Mexico the second-largest crude oil producer in the nation, ahead of North Dakota and behind only Texas (EIA).

The political texture is worth recording without comment: the nation's fastest-growing oil state is governed by Democrats, and oil revenue now funds a large share of its state budget. The framework pays no attention to which party presides over a drilling boom. The meters do not either.

Fuel identity still defines the middle of the table

Below the shale giants, each state in the top 20 is essentially a fuel with borders. Wyoming produces roughly 40 percent of the nation's coal, more than the next several states combined (EIA). Washington is hydropower: Grand Coulee remains the largest power plant in the country. Illinois runs the largest nuclear fleet, 11 reactors, and produces more nuclear electricity than any other state. Iowa is ethanol and wind, generating a higher share of its electricity from wind than any state. Arizona's Palo Verde is the largest single generating plant in America by annual output (EIA state profiles).

These identities are why a common unit matters. Measured in Btu, a ton of Wyoming coal, a barrel of Alaska crude, and a megawatt-hour from Browns Ferry can be added on one ledger. SEDS is the only federal dataset that does that arithmetic for all 50 states, which is why it is the ruler here.

What the ranking ignores, on purpose

This table measures production, not virtue, and not consumption. California, a perennial target in energy politics, still ranks 11th as a producer on the strength of oil, geothermal, and solar, even as its output declines. Louisiana ranks 8th on production but matters far more than that to the system: its LNG terminals made the United States the world's largest liquefied natural gas exporter (EIA). A production ranking undercounts refining, transport, and export infrastructure, and readers should know that limitation.

Growth also matters as much as level. The 2021 to 2023 SEDS comparison shows the pattern plainly: New Mexico up 39 percent, Texas up 14 percent from 23,844 to 27,104.7 trillion Btu, while legacy coal states held flat or declined as national coal production fell (EIA SEDS, 2021 and 2023). The energy map is not static, and the next edition of this table will move with it.