What USDA hardiness zone is Houghton County, Michigan?

Houghton County, Michigan spans USDA hardiness zones 4b to 5b. 56% of its ZIP codes are zone 5b, so there is no single zone for the county.

When is the last spring frost in Houghton County, Michigan?

The median last spring freeze runs May 17 – June 1 across the 6 NOAA weather stations serving Houghton County, Michigan, from NOAA 1991-2020 Climate Normals. Half of years freeze later than the median.

Michigan

Planting zones in Houghton County, Michigan

This county spans USDA zones 4b to 5b, so there is no single zone for Houghton County and anyone who gives you one is rounding. 56% of its ZIP codes are zone 5b; the rest are not.

USDA zones 4b–5b 3 zones across 18 ZIP codes

ZIP codes 18 18 have a NOAA station within range

Weather stations 6 NOAA 1991–2020 normals, across 1,009 sq mi

Your ZIP code

Get the exact answer for your address

Everything above describes Houghton County, Michigan as a whole. Hardiness zones and freeze dates are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact — enter it and this page will tell you your zone, which NOAA station it comes from and how far away that station is.

The growing season in Houghton County is closing

Nothing in the 32-crop table still has time to mature here. The first fall freeze normally arrives September 19 – October 1 across the 6 NOAA stations serving this county .

Your next season already has a date

The first job of it is 🧅 Green Onions, start indoors, around March 22 – April 6 — counted back from a last spring freeze of May 17 – June 1 here.

Every spring date for your ZIP →

These are ranges across the whole county. The ZIP lookup above gives the dates from your own nearest station instead.

All 6 stations agreeAt least one station

Every one of the 6 NOAA stations serving this county counts June 1 – September 19 as growing season (110 days). Widening to any single station gives May 17 – October 1 (137 days).

That is a 27-day difference inside one county — which is why this page gives ranges rather than a single planting date. The ZIP lookup above resolves it to one station.

Which zone you are in depends where you are

Houghton County covers 3 hardiness zones. A guide that gives the county one zone has picked whichever is largest and rounded everyone else into it — fine for the 56% in zone 5b and wrong for the other 44%. Here is the actual split.

Zone	ZIP codes	Share
5b	10	56%
5a	6	33%
4b	2	11%

Zones are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact even though the county's is not. The hardiness tool will tell you which one you are in.

Your freeze dates

Last spring freeze May 17 – June 1

First fall freeze September 19 – October 1

Across the 6 NOAA stations serving this county. These are medians — half of years freeze later than the date shown — so treat the later end of each range as the cautious one.

The growing season runs 111–138 days depending which station you are nearest, as published by NOAA rather than computed from the dates above. Summer highs average 73.3–77.1 °F in June–August. Summer rain over the same months runs 9.3–11.0" across those 4 stations, against the rough inch a week — about 13 inches over the same 92 days — that a vegetable garden is usually reckoned to want. The middle station covers about 76% of it, so expect to make up the rest. The inches are NOAA's published normals; the inch a week is a rule of thumb, and it takes no account of a 74 °F summer afternoon drying the soil faster than a cool one.

Every ZIP code in Houghton County

Zones are published per ZIP code, not per county, so this is the exact answer rather than the county's average. The station column is the nearest one to that ZIP code's centroid and how far away it is — the same figure the tools use, shown here so you can see which ZIP codes are well covered and which are reaching.

ZIP code	USDA zone	Nearest NOAA station	Distance
49905	5b	Hancock Houghton Co AP, MI	18.2 km
49913	5b	Hancock Houghton Co AP, MI	8.4 km
49916	5a	Jacobsville, MI	12.0 km
49917	5b	Hancock Houghton Co AP, MI	15.8 km
49921	5b	Hancock Houghton Co AP, MI	11.2 km
49922	5b	Hancock Houghton Co AP, MI	4.7 km
49930	5b	Hancock Houghton Co AP, MI	8.3 km
49931	5b	Hancock Houghton Co AP, MI	12.3 km
49934	5b	Hancock Houghton Co AP, MI	3.2 km
49942	5b	Hancock Houghton Co AP, MI	11.6 km
49945	5b	Hancock Houghton Co AP, MI	11.0 km
49952	5a	Baraga 7Nw, MI	19.0 km
49955	5a	Jacobsville, MI	20.0 km
49958	5a	Baraga 7Nw, MI	4.3 km
49961	4b	Watton 2Wsw, MI	9.7 km
49963	5a	Jacobsville, MI	16.4 km
49965	5a	Greenland 6N, MI	20.4 km
49967	4b	Paulding, MI	20.3 km

ZIP-code positions are area centroids, so a large rural ZIP code's listed distance is measured from the middle of its area rather than from any particular address in it.

When to start seeds in Houghton County

Every date below is anchored on the last spring freeze at each station and reported as a range across all 6 of them, because no one station speaks for the county.

Crop	Job	When	Offset
🧅 Green Onions	Start indoors	March 22 – April 6	8 wk before
🌶️ Peppers	Start indoors	March 22 – April 6	8 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Start indoors	April 5 – April 20	6 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Start indoors	April 5 – April 20	6 wk before
🥬 Collards	Start indoors	April 5 – April 20	6 wk before
🥬 Kale	Start indoors	April 5 – April 20	6 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Start indoors	April 5 – April 20	6 wk before
🫛 Peas	Direct sow	April 5 – April 20	6 wk before
🥬 Spinach	Direct sow	April 5 – April 20	6 wk before
🍠 Sweet Potato	Start indoors	April 5 – April 20	6 wk before
🍅 Tomatoes	Start indoors	April 5 – April 20	6 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Start indoors	April 12 – April 27	5 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Start indoors	April 12 – April 27	5 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Start indoors	April 12 – April 27	5 wk before
🥬 Arugula	Direct sow	April 19 – May 4	4 wk before
🥬 Baby Salad Greens	Direct sow	April 19 – May 4	4 wk before
🥕 Beets	Direct sow	April 19 – May 4	4 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Direct sow	April 19 – May 4	4 wk before
🥬 Mustard Greens	Direct sow	April 19 – May 4	4 wk before
🌶️ Okra	Start indoors	April 19 – May 4	4 wk before
🌱 Radishes	Direct sow	April 19 – May 4	4 wk before
🥔 Turnips	Direct sow	April 19 – May 4	4 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Set out	April 26 – May 11	3 wk before
🥕 Carrots	Direct sow	April 26 – May 11	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Direct sow	April 26 – May 11	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Set out	April 26 – May 11	3 wk before
🥒 Cucumbers	Start indoors	April 26 – May 11	3 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Set out	April 26 – May 11	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Direct sow	April 26 – May 11	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Set out	April 26 – May 11	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Direct sow	April 26 – May 11	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Set out	April 26 – May 11	3 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Direct sow	April 26 – May 11	3 wk before
🎃 Pumpkins	Start indoors	April 26 – May 11	3 wk before
🎃 Summer Squash	Start indoors	April 26 – May 11	3 wk before
🎃 Winter Squash	Start indoors	April 26 – May 11	3 wk before
🥒 Zucchini	Start indoors	April 26 – May 11	3 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Direct sow	May 3 – May 18	2 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Set out	May 3 – May 18	2 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Set out	May 3 – May 18	2 wk before
🌿 Cilantro	Direct sow	May 3 – May 18	2 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Set out	May 3 – May 18	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Direct sow	May 3 – May 18	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Set out	May 3 – May 18	2 wk before
🌿 Dill	Direct sow	May 10 – May 25	1 wk before
🫘 Bush Beans	Direct sow	May 24 – June 8	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Set out	May 24 – June 8	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Direct sow	May 24 – June 8	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Set out	May 24 – June 8	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Direct sow	May 24 – June 8	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Set out	May 24 – June 8	1 wk after
🌽 Sweet Corn	Direct sow	May 24 – June 8	1 wk after
🍅 Tomatoes	Set out	May 24 – June 8	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Direct sow	May 24 – June 8	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Set out	May 24 – June 8	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Direct sow	May 24 – June 8	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Set out	May 24 – June 8	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Direct sow	May 31 – June 15	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Direct sow	May 31 – June 15	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Set out	May 31 – June 15	2 wk after
🌶️ Peppers	Set out	May 31 – June 15	2 wk after
🫘 Southern Peas	Direct sow	May 31 – June 15	2 wk after
🍠 Sweet Potato	Set out	May 31 – June 15	2 wk after

Offsets are published guidance; the dates they land on are computed from measured NOAA normals. The seed-starting tool does this for your own ZIP code and counts the days.

What survives the winter changes across Houghton County

Zone 5a carries 48 of 74 perennial edibles; zone 4b carries 34. The best number is not always the warmest zone — the count peaks in the middle and falls both ways, because the warm end loses plants to insufficient winter chill and summer heat, not to cold.

Hardiness ranges are a judgement, published by growers rather than measured; the zone they are compared against is measured. On a warm-end verdict, check with your local extension service — a coastal zone 8 and an inland zone 8 are not the same summer.

Cautious — shortens the seasonMedian across stationsOptimistic

Last spring freeze: Plan to June 17 to be careful. Median May 17 – June 1 across 6 stations; May 1 is the optimistic end.
First fall freeze: Plan to September 2 to be careful. Median September 19 – October 1 across 6 stations; October 18 is the optimistic end.

NOAA publishes these as probabilities, not averages — the middle figure is a median, so half of years fall either side of it. The cautious end is the 10% tail: in roughly nine years in ten the freeze falls on the safe side of it.

The 6 stations behind these numbers

All 6 NOAA stations whose normals this page quotes, spanning about 85 km north to south. Every one is named with its identifier in the station list below — this page does not single one out, because no one station speaks for a whole county.

A relative sketch, not a map with a projection: longitude is adjusted for latitude so the shape is not stretched, and there is no basemap. For the one station nearest a specific address, with its real distance, use the ZIP lookup above.

These are the stations this county's ZIP codes actually cite as nearest — not a claim that each one sits inside its boundary, since a rural ZIP legitimately reaches over it. Every figure above comes from them, and each is named so you can check it.

Station	NOAA ID	Last spring freeze	First fall freeze	Season
Baraga 7Nw, MI	USC00200497	May 25	September 23	119 days
Greenland 6N, MI	USC00203421	May 23	October 1	128 days
Hancock Houghton Co AP, MI	USW00014858	May 17	October 1	138 days
Jacobsville, MI	USC00204161	June 1	September 23	115 days
Paulding, MI	USC00206398	May 31	September 19	111 days
Watton 2Wsw, MI	USC00208706	May 25	September 25	123 days

These are medians, not averages — NOAA publishes freeze dates as a probability distribution, and half of years freeze later than the date shown.

Your own ZIP

Work out your own dates

This page describes a whole county. Every tool below answers for one ZIP code, which is the grain the underlying data is published at.

Other places to compare

Houghton County sits in Michigan. That page carries the whole state's zone spread, its metro areas, and every other county in it with a page here.

More of Michigan

Counties with the same zones — 4b–5b

Matched on the exact zone set, not a dominant zone, so the winter answer on these pages really is the same one as here.

Gear

If you want to act on this

Each link opens an Amazon search rather than a product we picked. We have not tested these and do not rank them — the search is the honest version, and you choose.

Trunk wrapZone 4b is cold enough that winter sun on a young trunk does more damage than the cold does.
Row cover and frost clothThe season here closes at the first fall freeze dated above — a cover buys back some of those days at the end.
MulchFor the perennials nearest their cold limit in zone 4b, where an insulated crown is what decides whether they come back.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. That costs you nothing extra, and it buys no influence over anything on this site: the dates come from NOAA normals and the zones from the USDA, and no product affects either.

Sources

Where these numbers come from

Hardiness zones are the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, published per ZIP code by PRISM at Oregon State. Freeze dates and growing-season lengths are NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, taken per station and cited above by name and NOAA ID.

County boundaries come from the Census ZCTA-to-county relation, which is what places each ZIP code — and which treats parishes, boroughs and census areas as county equivalents. No station is chosen to represent this county: every range above is taken across all of them and the count is stated, because picking one would be a judgement dressed as a measurement.