Tree · Aceraceae
Sugar maple
Acer saccharum · includes its varieties and subspecies
Sugar maple is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,131 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Sugar maple at a glance
- Native in
- 1,131 counties, across 31 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 2b PLANTS minimum temperature −47°F
- Mature height
- 100 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 2b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −47°F; zone 2b winters bottom out at −45°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Sugar maple is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,131 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,131 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 25 counties
- Arkansas 21 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- Georgia 13 counties
- Illinois 95 counties
- Indiana 82 counties
- Iowa 1 county
- Kansas 14 counties
- Kentucky 120 counties
- Louisiana 23 counties
- Maine 15 counties
- Massachusetts 12 counties
- Michigan 72 counties
- Minnesota 48 counties
- Mississippi 7 counties
- Missouri 94 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 13 counties
- New York 36 counties
- North Carolina 17 counties
- Ohio 87 counties
- Oklahoma 22 counties
- Pennsylvania 66 counties
- Rhode Island 1 county
- South Dakota 5 counties
- Tennessee 64 counties
- Vermont 12 counties
- Virginia 48 counties
- West Virginia 52 counties
- Wisconsin 55 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 100 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 22 to 80 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 3.7 to 7.9
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 40 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −47°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 2b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 80
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- Yes
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Aceraceae
- PLANTS symbol
- ACSA3
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Acer saccharum (PLANTS symbol ACSA3), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources