Find Your Planting Zone by ZIP Code
Type your 5-digit ZIP code to find your planting zone on the 2023 USDA map, your average last and first frost dates, and a planting calendar built from them. Free, no sign-up.
Enter your US ZIP code for your USDA zone, frost dates & planting calendar.
Browse by USDA zone
Zone 3b
Last frost ~128-day season
What to plant
Zone 5b
Last frost ~166-day season
What to plant
Zone 6b
Last frost ~186-day season
What to plant
Zone 7b
Last frost ~212-day season
What to plant
Zone 8b
Last frost ~245-day season
What to plant Zone 9b
Last frost ~298-day season
What to plant
Zone 10a
Last frost ~323-day season
What to plant
Zone 11a
Frost-free · year-round
What to plantHow the planting zone by ZIP code lookup works
Your planting zone is the USDA hardiness zone for your ZIP code: a band of the average coldest winter night, 10°F wide for a whole zone and 5°F for each half (a or b). The lookup above matches your ZIP code to the 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, which averages each year's lowest temperature over 1991-2020 from 13,625 weather stations on a grid about half a mile across. Our table holds 40,657 ZIP codes, and the zone you get is the zone at the ZIP code's center point.
The frost dates and calendar that come back with your zone are the typical dates for that zone, the same ones used on every zone page. For a specific city, the frost date pages use the nearest NOAA weather station instead, and the first frost data for 100 cities shows how far a station can sit from its zone average.
Most of the country falls in a narrow range. The four most common half-zones, 6b (13.1%) , 6a (12.9%) , 7a (12.0%) and 7b (9.5%) , cover 48% of US ZIP codes. Treat the result as a starting point: a valley floor, a north slope or a frost pocket can run half a zone colder than the ZIP average, and a south wall in a city can run half a zone warmer.
| Zone | Winter low (°F) | Winter low (°C) | Share of US ZIP codes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3a / 3b | -40 to -30 | -40 to -34 | 0.6% |
| 4a / 4b | -30 to -20 | -34 to -29 | 5.3% |
| 5a / 5b | -20 to -10 | -29 to -23 | 13.2% |
| 6a / 6b | -10 to 0 | -23 to -18 | 26.0% |
| 7a / 7b | 0 to 10 | -18 to -12 | 21.6% |
| 8a / 8b | 10 to 20 | -12 to -7 | 16.6% |
| 9a / 9b | 20 to 30 | -7 to -1 | 10.3% |
| 10a / 10b | 30 to 40 | -1 to 4 | 4.9% |
| 11a / 11b | 40 to 50 | 4 to 10 | 0.5% |
| 12a / 12b | 50 to 60 | 10 to 16 | 0.4% |
| 13a / 13b | 60 to 70 | 16 to 21 | 0.3% |
Zones 1 and 2 hold the remaining ZIP codes, all in Alaska. The full half-zone chart with frost dates is on the USDA planting zones chart; what changed in 2023 is in the 2023 map update.
Popular crops: when to plant
Tomatoes
~75 days to harvest
How to grow
Peppers
~80 days to harvest
How to grow
Cucumbers
~60 days to harvest
How to grow
Lettuce
~50 days to harvest
How to grow
Zucchini
~55 days to harvest
How to grow
Carrots
~70 days to harvest
How to grow
Beans (bush)
~55 days to harvest
How to grow
Peas
~60 days to harvest
How to growPlanting right now: fall
Fall planting calendar
Sow-by dates for every zone, counted backward from your first frost. Radishes, spinach, lettuce, kale, carrots and fall peas.
When to plant garlic
Garlic goes in around your first frost, not six weeks before it. Planting windows and harvest dates by zone, plus depth, spacing and mulch.
Your first frost date
It is a 50 percent probability, not a deadline. What it measures, and what row cover, mulch and water actually buy you.
Frost data
First frost dates for the 100 largest US cities
Median and 1-in-10 early first freeze, last spring freeze and season length from NOAA 1991-2020 normals, with the station behind every number. 18 of the 100 cities do not freeze in a typical year. CSV and chart, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
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New to planting zones?
Start with our guide USDA Planting Zones Explained: what the zones mean, how the 2023 map update changed them, and how to use yours to plan your garden. Browse all our gardening guides →
- Companion Planting Chart for the Vegetable Garden (24 Crops, With Timing by Zone)
- Crop Rotation Chart for the Vegetable Garden (24 Crops by Family, 3 and 4 Bed Plans)
- Fall Planting Calendar by Zone (Sow-By Dates for Every USDA Zone)
- First Frost Date by Zone (What It Means and How to Beat It)
- Hardening Off Seedlings: A 7-Day Schedule Keyed to Your Last Frost
- Last Frost Date by Zone: What It Means and What You Can Plant Before It
- Planting Zones by State: USDA Zone Chart for All 50 States (2023 Map)
- USDA Planting Zones Explained (Find Yours by ZIP)
- When to Plant Garlic by Zone (Fall Planting Dates + Harvest)
- When to Start Seeds Indoors by Zone (Dated Chart for 24 Crops)
- Winter Sowing: How to Start Seeds Outdoors in Milk Jugs (and What Not to Sow)
Frequently asked questions
How do I find my planting zone?
Enter your 5-digit US ZIP code above. We return your USDA hardiness zone, your average last and first frost dates, and a planting calendar based on them.
What is a USDA hardiness zone?
A region defined by its average annual minimum winter temperature (USDA 2023 map). It tells you which perennials survive your winters and, combined with frost dates, when to plant.
Why does my ZIP code show a different zone than before?
Most likely because of the 2023 USDA map. It averages the coldest winter night of each year over 1991-2020 instead of 1976-2005, uses 13,625 weather stations, and is on average about a quarter of a zone warmer than the 2012 map, so many ZIP codes moved up half a zone. A ZIP code that straddles two zones gets the zone of its center point, so a garden on a hilltop or in a frost pocket can be half a zone colder than the lookup says.
What are frost dates and why do they matter?
Your average last spring frost and first fall frost bound the growing season. Most planting timing (start seeds indoors, transplant, direct sow) is measured in weeks before or after the last frost.