Vegetables · NASS annual estimates, 2025
Where are sweet potatoes grown?
North Carolina grows the most sweet potatoes: 58% of the 3.3 billion pounds grown in the five states NASS surveyed in 2025.
Next come California (18%) and Mississippi (14%).
- Surveyed states, 2025
- 3.3 billion poundstotal of the 5 states NASS surveys
- Top state
- North Carolina58% of total
- Farms reporting, 2022
- 4,021in 49 states
- Farm value, 2025
- $799 millionvalue of production
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. State view: NASS annual estimates, 2025. County view: 2022 Census of Agriculture (acres harvested).
Which state grows the most sweet potatoes?
North Carolina grows the most sweet potatoes: 58% of the 3.3 billion pounds grown in the five states NASS surveyed in 2025. Ranked by NASS's 2025 estimate.
All states ranked for sweet potatoes, with year-by-year leaders →
NASS's annual estimate for sweet potatoes covers 5 states. In the 2022 Census of Agriculture, those states held at least 92% of US acres harvested.
Which counties grow the most sweet potatoes?
From the 2022 Census of Agriculture, which reports sweet potatoes for 1,105 counties. NASS withholds 676 of those county figures to protect individual farms, so a withheld county could be larger than some listed here.
| County | Acres harvested | Share of US |
|---|---|---|
| Merced County, CA | 20,643 | 12% |
| Sampson County, NC | 16,416 | 10% |
| Calhoun County, MS | 14,127 | 8% |
| Johnston County, NC | 12,327 | 7% |
| Wilson County, NC | 10,852 | 6% |
| Edgecombe County, NC | 9,266 | 6% |
| Nash County, NC | 8,456 | 5% |
| Greene County, NC | 7,393 | 4% |
| Chickasaw County, MS | 5,660 | 3% |
| Wayne County, NC | 4,699 | 3% |
| Franklin Parish, LA | 3,339 | 2% |
| Duplin County, NC | 2,742 | 2% |
| Lenoir County, NC | 2,700 | 2% |
| Harnett County, NC | 2,688 | 2% |
| Yalobusha County, MS | 2,653 | 2% |
Sweet potatoes by the numbers
Each note is calculated from USDA NASS data; the source is listed under it.
How widespread
Farms in 49 states reported sweet potatoes in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, 4,021 farms in all.
2022 Census of Agriculture
Top county
Merced County, California has 12% of the acres of sweet potatoes harvested in the US, the most of any county with a published figure.
2022 Census of Agriculture
Long-time leader
North Carolina has led NASS's state estimates for sweet potatoes every year since at least 2000.
NASS annual estimates
Farm value
NASS puts the value of US sweet potatoes production in 2025 at $799 million.
NASS annual estimates
Census to Census
Acres of sweet potatoes harvested in the US rose 108% between the 1997 and 2022 Censuses of Agriculture, from 80,953 acres to 168,052 acres.
Censuses of Agriculture, 1997 to 2022
About this data
State and national figures come from NASS's annual estimates (final 2025 figures; in-season forecasts are not used). County figures and the county map come from the 2022 Census of Agriculture, the only source that covers every county. NASS withholds some figures, marked "withheld", to avoid disclosing data for individual farms. NASS reports this crop in hundredweight (100 pounds) or 100-pound barrels; we show pounds.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, Quick Stats. Series: SWEET POTATOES - ACRES HARVESTED; SWEET POTATOES - PRODUCTION, MEASURED IN CWT. Data processed 2026-11-06. Methodology.