The United States produced about 227.2 billion pounds of milk for human consumption in 2024. In 2000, this figure amounted to around 167.4 billion pounds. The volume of cow milk produced worldwide has risen steadily over the last several years. U.S. milk market While milk production has seen an increase over the last several years, milk retail sales have been dropping. The retail price of milk has been fluctuating for the past several years and peaked in 2022 at 4.21 U.S. dollars per gallon. Leading U.S. milk brands Among the dairy brands in the U.S., private label milk has a higher level of sales than any name brand whole milk. Among name brands of whole milk, Hood generated the most dollar sales, at over 190 million U.S. dollars in 2022. In the flavored milk category, the leading name brand was TruMoo, which sold nearly 91 million units in 2018. However, private label flavored milk sold many more units than even the leading name brand.

This statistic shows the ten U.S. states with the highest amount of milk production from 2020 to 2023. California, is the leading producer, where over four million pounds of milk were produced in 2023. Milk productionDairy farming is an agricultural business which is engaged in the long-term milk production within the dairy industry. It is a large contributor to the overall economy in many states. California, Wisconsin, New York, Idaho and Pennsylvania had the highest milk supply.The number of U.S. dairy farms has sharply decreased in the last decades, while dairy operations have ever-larger numbers of cows concentrated on a single farm. These extensive dairy farming conditions with a large herd size and a high milk output are seen as a profitable way for the milk industry in order to provide milk at relatively low cost for the consumer. Due to its high milk volume, the main cow used for milk production is the Holstein-Friesian. However, with this intensification of milking cows there comes a corresponding concentration of manure production which causes problems and challenges for the environment such as the risk of elevated nitrogen levels or contaminated ground water.Due to these environmental impacts, many dairy operations in Wisconsin are now facing opposition regarding plans to expand their dairy herds.

This dataset provides information on the number of milk cows, production of milk per cow and total milk production by state and region in the United States from the year 1970 to 2021.

Forecast: Milk Production in the US 2023 - 2027 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

The amount of milk produced per cow in the United States has increased each year since 1999, from 17.76 thousand pounds per year to around 24.2 thousand pounds in 2024. This figure is expected to slightly increase by 2025. Milk Production Worldwide On a global scale, the production volume of cow milk reached over 544 million metric tons in 2022. In that same year, the 27 member states of the European Union produced the most milk of any country, by a large margin. The United States was the second leading producer of milk that year. Declining Milk Consumption in the U.S. While the global production volume of milk, as well as milk production per cow have increased significantly over the last several years, per capita consumption of fluid milk in the United States has seen a steady decrease year after year. In 2000, the average American consumed around 197 pounds of milk over the course of the year, and by 2020, the per capita consumption of fluid milk stood at only 134 pounds.

Forecast: Nonfat Dry Milk Supply in the US 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

California was the leading U.S. state in terms of the overall number of milk cows, with a total of over 1.7 million milk cows as of 2024. The total number of milk cows on farms in the United States shows that California holds a significant share of the total number of milk cows in the country. Unsurprisingly, California is also the leading milk producing state in the United States. Dairy industry in the U.S. According to the USDA, milk from U.S. farms is 90 percent water, with milk fat and skim solids making up the remaining 10 percent. Cow milk is a component of several dietary staples, such as cheese, butter, and yoghurt. Dairy is a very important industry in the United States, with this sector alone creating significant employment throughout the United States. The overall income of dairy farms in the U.S. amounted to about 51.3 billion U.S. dollars. Holtsein is the most popular breed of dairy cow farmed in the United States. Holstein have the highest milk production per cow in comparison to any other breed. Where is the U.S. positioned in the global dairy market? Topped only by the EU-27, the United States ranks as the second largest cow milk producer in the world, followed by India, Russia, and China. The United States also features among the top ten global milk exporters. The outlook for the future of the industry is also good, with milk production in the United States projected to steadily increase over the next years.

The Census of Agriculture, produced by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), provides a complete count of America's farms, ranches and the people who grow our food. The census is conducted every five years, most recently in 2022, and provides an in-depth look at the agricultural industry.This layer was produced from data obtained from the USDA National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) Large Datasets download page. The data were transformed and prepared for publishing using the Pivot Table geoprocessing tool in ArcGIS Pro and joined to county boundaries. The county boundaries are 2022 vintage and come from Living Atlas ACS 2022 feature layers.Dataset SummaryPhenomenon Mapped: 2022 Milk ProductionCoordinate System: Web Mercator Auxiliary SphereExtent: 48 Contiguous United States, Alaska, and HawaiiSource: USDA National Agricultural Statistics ServicePublication Date: 2022AttributesNote that some values are suppressed as "Withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual operations", "Not applicable", or "Less than half the rounding unit". These have been coded in the data as -999, -888, and -777 respectively.Milk - Operations With SalesMilk - Sales, Measured In US Dollars ($) In Alaska, one or more county-equivalent entities (borough, census area, city, municipality) are included in an agriculture census area.

The United States Dairy Market is segmented by Category (Butter, Cheese, Cream, Dairy Desserts, Milk, Sour Milk Drinks, Yogurt) and by Distribution Channel (Off-Trade, On-Trade). Market Value in USD and Volume are both presented. Key Data Points observed include Per capita consumption; Population; and Dairy production.

Representative dairy farms were modeled using the Integrated Farm System Model with 20 farms in each of 6 regions of the United States for the years of 1971 and 2020 to determine improvements made in reducing environmental impacts over the 50-year period. Important data and information describing these farms are documented in these tables. These data include the farm _location, number of cows and heifers maintained, milk produced, feeds and nutrient contents fed, crop areas, crop yields, fertilizer and lime application rates, irrigation water applied, milking and housing facilities, manure collection, storage and application methods used, and soil characteristics. These data are published as supplementary information for the article “Fifty years of environmental progress for United States dairy farms” published in the Journal of Dairy Science.

Statistics illustrates consumption, production, prices, and trade of Fluid Milk in the United States from 2013 to 2024.

Forecast: Dry Buttermilk Milk Production in the US 2023 - 2027 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

California emerged as the leading state in the USA milk market, driven by its large-scale dairy farming, favourable climate, and cutting-edge technology adoption in dairy production and processing. The state is a major contributor to the U.S. milk supply, both domestically and internationally.

The North America Dairy Market is segmented by Category (Butter, Cheese, Cream, Dairy Desserts, Milk, Sour Milk Drinks, Yogurt), by Distribution Channel (Off-Trade, On-Trade) and by Country (Canada, Mexico, United States). Market Value in USD and Volume are both presented. Key Data Points observed include Per capita consumption; Population; and Dairy production.

In the U.S., there have been approximately three times more beef cows than dairy cows each year since 2001. As of 2024, it was estimated that there were about 28 million beef cows and only about 9.3 million dairy cows. Beef vs. dairy cows Both beef and dairy cows are bred for their respective purposes and farmers often look for different qualities in each. Dairy cows are often bigger, as they can produce a larger volume of milk. Beef cows on the other hand are generally shorter and there is more emphasis on their muscle growth, among other qualities. In 2022, over 28 billion pounds of beef were produced in the United States. U.S. milk production and consumption The United States was among the top consumers of milk worldwide in 2022, surpassed only by India and the European Union. The annual consumption of milk in the U.S. that year was just under 21 million metric tons. To keep up with this level of consumption, milk production in the U.S. has increased by over 60 billion pounds since 1999 and is expected to exceed 228 billion pounds by 2023. California and Wisconsin were the top producing states as of 2022, producing about 41.8 and 31.9 billion pounds of milk, respectively.

Statistics illustrates consumption, production, prices, and trade of Powdered Milk in the United States from 2007 to 2024.

United States Long Term Projections: Dairy: Milk Production & Marketings: Number of Milk Cows data was reported at 9,502.000 Unit in 2034. This records an increase from the previous number of 9,466.000 Unit for 2033. United States Long Term Projections: Dairy: Milk Production & Marketings: Number of Milk Cows data is updated yearly, averaging 9,402.000 Unit from Dec 2022 (Median) to 2034, with 13 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 9,502.000 Unit in 2034 and a record low of 9,335.000 Unit in 2024. United States Long Term Projections: Dairy: Milk Production & Marketings: Number of Milk Cows data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by U.S. Department of Agriculture. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.RI039: Agricultural Projections: Dairy.

United States Long Term Projections: Dairy: Milk Production & Marketings: Marketings data was reported at 252.118 lb bn in 2034. This records an increase from the previous number of 248.687 lb bn for 2033. United States Long Term Projections: Dairy: Milk Production & Marketings: Marketings data is updated yearly, averaging 235.598 lb bn from Dec 2022 (Median) to 2034, with 13 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 252.118 lb bn in 2034 and a record low of 224.821 lb bn in 2024. United States Long Term Projections: Dairy: Milk Production & Marketings: Marketings data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by U.S. Department of Agriculture. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.RI039: Agricultural Projections: Dairy.

Forecast: Nonfat Dry Milk Production in the US 2022 - 2026 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

The leading producer of cow milk worldwide was the European Union in 2024. In that year, the 27 countries of the European Union collectively produced over 144 million metric tons of cow milk. The United States was ranked second with a production volume of around 104 million metric tons. International dairy trade The export value of dairy product worldwide reached about 66 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, down from around 70.6 billion U.S. dollars in the previous year. As the top producer of cow milk worldwide, the European Union also was the top exporter of dairy products. Leading dairy processors The Dairy Farmers of America, based in the United States, is one of the biggest players in the global dairy market, with sales reaching around 23 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. Land O'Lakes Inc. ranked in second place with sales of around 16.8 billion U.S. dollars.