Where are America's Coldest Cities?
What are the top five coldest cities in the United States? We鈥檝e compiled a new list based on mean annual temperatures to see which city is the coldest of them all. Did your city make the cut?
鈥淣o matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.鈥
For the 鈥渃oldest cities鈥 list, we鈥檙e not looking at the cities that have experienced the lowest minimum temperatures but rather the most consistently cold cities. To find this out, we looked at the cities鈥 mean annual temperatures over a 30-year period.
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Additionally, it may come as no surprise that Alaska performs exceptionally well in this kind of ranking. To even the playing field and give other states a chance, we鈥檝e narrowed this list down to cities with a population of at least 10,000.
Without further ado, here鈥檚 the ranking!
Top 5 Coldest Cities in the United States
5. Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (41.7掳F)
Sault Ste. Marie is the second-most populated city in Michigan鈥檚 Upper Peninsula, perched at the eastern tip of Lake Superior and across the St. Mary鈥檚 River from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Being a direct neighbor to Canada is usually a good indicator that it will be cold, so it鈥檚 no surprise that Sault Ste. Marie secured the fifth position on our list.
4. Williston, North Dakota (41.5掳F)
Perhaps best known for its booming oil industry, which caused the city鈥檚 population to double between 2010 and 2020, Williston is located in North Dakota鈥檚 northeastern quadrant. Although the city may be considered 鈥渉ot鈥 in the oil industry, its frigid winters keep its mean temperatures low enough to rank at number four.
3. Grand Forks, North Dakota (39.8掳F)
Less than 100 miles north of Fargo lies Grand Forks, which ranks third on our list. Grand Forks鈥 lowest temperature on record is -43掳F, and its mean annual temperature doesn鈥檛 even crack 40掳F!
2.&苍产蝉辫;顿耻濒耻迟丑,&苍产蝉辫;惭颈苍苍别蝉辞迟补&苍产蝉辫;(39.6掳贵)
We started this list at the eastern tip of Lake Superior, so it also seems appropriate to talk about the other side of the lake. On Lake Superior鈥檚 western tip, you鈥檒l find chilly Duluth, which barely edged out Grand Forks by 0.2 degrees to take second in our ranking.
1. Fairbanks, Alaska (27.6掳F)
Surprised? Alaska managed to take the win even with our 鈥減opulation of at least 10,000鈥 stipulation. The city experiences a mean annual temperature of 27.6掳F鈥攖hat鈥檚 below the freezing point! For those interested in records, the lowest temperature on record for Fairbanks is -66掳F. Brrr.
Honorable Mention
We would be remiss not to mention one city in particular, as it blew the other cities鈥 temperatures out of the water but did not meet our population cut-off. This is Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska, which has a mean annual temperature of a bone-chilling 11.7掳F! Given that it鈥檚 the northernmost city in the United States and sits north of the Arctic Circle, the only surprising thing about the city is that nearly 5,000 people can call it home!
(Note: This list is based on climate normals data from the .)
Other Cold Cities to Watch
To add interest, let鈥檚 highlight a few other wintry U.S. cities. If you鈥檙e planning any winter vacations, keep an eye on the weather in these places!
Boston, Massachusetts
- Nor鈥檈aster storms translate to heavy rainfall, snow, and freezing temperatures. Thanks to the wicked nor鈥檈asters, Boston has experienced some of the top blizzards in the past century.
Chicago, Illinois
- The 鈥淲indy City鈥 (which isn鈥檛 actually that windy) has one of the coldest average temperatures and some of the heaviest snowfalls. Many of the worst storms in history have hit Chicago.
Cleveland, Ohio
- Due to its location near Lake Erie, Cleveland gets hit hard by lake-effect snow, winds, and subzero temperatures.
Detroit, Michigan
- With over 40 inches of snow every winter, on average, Detroit also ranks as one of the coldest U.S. cities.
Indianapolis, IN, and Columbus, OH
- Both midwestern cities have many similarities, including the low normal daily mean temperatures in winter months, many frigid days, and fierce winds.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Not only does this city rank high on snowfall and have low average winter temperatures, but it鈥檚 also below freezing on your average winter day.
Snowiest Cities
What about the snowiest places in the country? That鈥檚 an entirely separate (but similar) list! See which cities can claim to be the most snowbound: Top 10 Snowiest Cities in the U.S.
How cold does it get where you live?
Catherine Boeckmann
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As far as being cold, right now we in Chicago are having temps in the high 40s/low 50s. Sadly, no White Christmas this year! However, we do have 4 great seasons to enjoy.
Having lived in the south all my life and dreading a cold morning in Chicago l asked the doorman of my hotel what the temperature was outside. He reported "There aint none." It was 0 degrees F.
I grew up in Northern Minnesota. We thought Minneapolis was tropical.
It's not a big city, but a small town, but I went to college in Gunnison, Colorado, and the average Winter temperature was about -10. We competed for the coldest college town with Alamosa, Co. and a college in N.D. and we took turns winning.
Bemidji, MN
WENT TO UNIVERSITY THERE 79 & 80, two of the coldest winters I鈥檝e spent anywhere. And I grew up in the swampland boonies if northwest Wisconsin.
I grew up in a little town in central Wisconsin called Black River Falls, (Known as BRF to the locals) I remember typically very cold and snowy winters and one where it hit -40 below. We made the national news as the coldest location in the US. We had a thermometer that bottomed out at -40. It blew the mercury out of the bottom so we may have been a bit colder where I lived.
42 below zero at Clearwater Junction Mt. Coldest city : Great Falls Mt. 32 below zero ,Time to retire to Nv. WHAT, 30 below in Winnamucca,ugh
I know that this is a list of >> U.S. Cities, but I suspect Canadians are having a bit of a chuckle. The coldest temperature I've ever personally experienced was -40, in Montr茅al - and that was the actual temperature, not the wind chill! (-40, by the way, is the same temperature in F and C, but it was small consolation that I didn't have to convert the numbers.)
Have you ever seen the map that shows the line where 50% of Canadians live above and 50% below it? I am pretty sure all of these cities are north of that line.
I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and indeed I laugh at these numbers. We are the northernmost large city in north America at 53 degrees N latitude.
