Estimates range from 30,000,000 to over 35,000,000 “real” Christmas trees harvested in the USA every year.  This number, compared to fake plastic and metal ones has slowly declined in recent decades due to the extreme convenience of the fake ones.

Top producing States in order of importance are Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan and Washington.  Almost one quarter of the total come from Oregon and Washington because of ideal growing conditions there for Noble fir and other “true fir” varieties.  Most are shipped in large trucks all over the western States but some go as far as Maine, Florida, Mexico, Hawaii, and Asia.

The most popular variety in the West is the Noble fir because of its deep green color, stiff branches, and good keepability.  They grow well in Washington and Oregon and almost none grow in Califorina.  Tens of millions of these, along with countless Silver firs and other varieties were the ones destroyed in the 1980 Mt St. Helens eruption.

Other varieties sold in California but grown in the Pacific Northwest include, Douglas fir, Grand fir, and in recent years an increasing number of Nordmann fir.  The Nordmanns tend to have a deeper color and they hold up better than Nobles.

Christmas trees grown and harvested in California can be counted in the tens or hundreds of thousands as opposed to the millions grown elsewhere.  Most of those are sold through family owned Choose & Cut farms – Douglas fir, Sequoia, and a few others in the North vs Monterey pine and Leyland cypress in southern California.