Source: Iowa State University
Over the past 44 years, milk production in the United States has mostly increased, going from 129 billion pounds in 1980 to 226 billion pounds in 2024 according to Victor J. Halverson, Market Administrator for the Upper Midwest Federal Milk Market Order, in his May newsletter.
Since 2021, production has stayed around 226 billion, with 2024 being the second consecutive year with a slight drop in production. Historically, the adoption of new technology, improvements in genetics, and a greater investment in nutrition have increased efficiency, resulting in higher production per cow.
In 1980, milk continued to be produced on relatively small farms. Wisconsin led the way as the top dairy state, producing 17 percent of total U.S. milk production. Seven states in the Upper Midwest and Northeast regions produced 50 percent of U.S. milk production. In addition, the top two states of Wisconsin and California accounted for 28 percent of production.
However, Wisconsin milk production stagnated, while production in California increased rapidly and steadily. As a result, in 1993 California overtook Wisconsin as the top milk producing state. However, starting in 2005, Wisconsin has begun steadily increasing milk production again, and California has had stagnated production in recent years.
In addition, production expanded sharply in Idaho, New Mexico, and Texas, three states not traditionally known for milk production. In 1980, these three states accounted for only about 6 billion pounds of milk, less than 5 percent of the U.S. total. But by 2024, they accounted for just under 40 billion pounds, or nearly 16 percent of U.S. production. Texas and Idaho continue to see growths in milk production. Meanwhile, New Mexico has seen its production drop each year since 2019 before falling back out of the top ten milk producing states in 2024.
Consequently, milk production has shifted from the East to the West from 1980 to 2024. The rapid growth in California, Idaho, and Texas outpaced growth in the Upper Midwest and the Northeast. This led to decreases in the share of milk production in these traditional dairy regions, despite rising production levels. In 2024, Minnesota and Wisconsin still accounted for 42.7 billion pounds of milk production, slightly more than California’s 40.2 billion pounds while Iowa shipped 622 million pounds so far in 2025.
Iowa has followed this shift moving dairy cattle milk from Northeast Iowa to Northwest Iowa and it is significant and ongoing. Iowa counties increasing marketings by more than 10 million pounds includes Lyon, O’Brien and Plymouth counties; Sioux and Iowa counties increased by five to ten million pounds; and in Northwest Iowa Osceola and Woodbury counties increasing by one to five million pounds. In Northeast Iowa, Howard County increased by one to five million pounds and Chickasaw County increased by less than one million pounds. All other Northeast Iowa counties stayed the same or decreased milk production.
Iowa’s Sioux County is among the 54 counties that marketed 50 percent of Federal Order (FO) milk with Lyon, Sioux, O’Brien, Winneshiek, Allamakee, and Dubuque among the counties that market 75 percent of all FO milk.
Since 2023 we have four counties in Iowa producing 32 to 100 million pounds including Lyon, Sioux, O’Brien, and Dubuque. There are nine counties producing 12 to 32 million pounds including: Plymouth, Woodbury, Shelby, Marshall, Winneshiek, Allamakee, Fayette, Clayton and Delaware.
In less than a decade, the total number of Iowa dairy cow producers has dropped from over 1,500 to less than 600 today. However, cow numbers have held steady near the 240,000 mark. Iowa’s top producer Sioux County saw its 27 producers ship over 34,018,645 pounds of milk in March 2025. Shelby County shipped 21,652,449 pounds and Dubuque County was third high in Iowa shipping 18,987,867 pounds. Fifth high was Lyon County, shipping just over 14,612,000 pounds.
