CanningDates › Altitude adjustments by state
Canning altitude adjustments, state by state
Every tested canning recipe assumes a kitchen in the 0–1,000 ft band, where water boils at full temperature. Climb, and the boil cools: a water bath makes up the difference in minutes — published steps, band by band — while a pressure canner makes it up in pounds and keeps the minutes exactly as tested. Below, all fifty states and their 188 featured towns, grouped by how much their ground changes the answer.
Fastest route: the altitude lookup turns your ZIP or town into a full adjustment card — elevation, minutes, and pressures in one look. These pages are the browsable version, state by state and town by town.
Near sea level — times as written
Every featured town in these states sits in the 0–1,000 ft band — the ground the recipes were tested on. Water-bath minutes exactly as printed; 10 lb on a weighted gauge, 11 lb on a dial.
- Alabama about 220–620 ft
- Alaska about 120–430 ft
- Connecticut about 0–10 ft
- Delaware about 20–70 ft
- Florida about 10–80 ft
- Hawaii about 10–30 ft
- Illinois about 590–730 ft
- Indiana about 400–810 ft
- Kentucky about 470–970 ft
- Louisiana about 0–170 ft
- Maine about 30–600 ft
- Maryland about 140–830 ft
- Massachusetts about 10–1,000 ft
- Michigan about 620–780 ft
- Mississippi about 20–340 ft
- New Jersey about 10–190 ft
- New York about 10–690 ft
- Ohio about 470–900 ft
- Rhode Island about 50–150 ft
- Vermont about 330–510 ft
- Wisconsin about 670–890 ft
The +5 and +10 bands — extra minutes in the bath
The highest featured towns in these states climb past 1,000 ft, where a water bath owes 5 or 10 extra minutes and every pressure canner steps up — a weighted gauge to 15 lb, a dial gauge band by band. Town choice starts to matter here; each state page shows who lands where.
- Arkansas about 250–1,270 ft
- Georgia about 130–1,010 ft
- Idaho about 2,140–4,730 ft
- Iowa about 840–1,090 ft
- Kansas about 880–2,880 ft
- Minnesota about 830–1,430 ft
- Missouri about 460–1,270 ft
- Montana about 3,200–5,510 ft
- Nebraska about 1,190–3,950 ft
- New Hampshire about 220–1,130 ft
- North Carolina about 400–3,100 ft
- North Dakota about 900–1,670 ft
- Oklahoma about 640–3,120 ft
- Oregon about 20–4,080 ft
- Pennsylvania about 110–1,170 ft
- South Carolina about 40–1,010 ft
- South Dakota about 1,450–3,160 ft
- Tennessee about 250–1,860 ft
- Texas about 40–4,420 ft
- Virginia about 10–2,090 ft
- Washington about 20–2,350 ft
- West Virginia about 910–1,980 ft
High country — the largest adjustments
Mountain ground. Featured towns in these states reach the +15-minute bands, where a water bath owes the most extra time and every canner pressure steps up — and above 8,000 ft the published dial-gauge tables end entirely, leaving the weighted gauge at 15 lb as the setting with a published answer. The state pages call out every such town honestly.
- Arizona about 1,120–7,000 ft
- California about 20–6,250 ft
- Colorado about 4,820–10,160 ft
- Nevada about 2,170–6,250 ft
- New Mexico about 4,040–6,990 ft
- Utah about 2,850–6,870 ft
- Wyoming about 3,940–7,280 ft