Being the hottest in the country is probably not a title you want, and thankfully Nevada did not earn that title last year.
Looking back through 2021, Florida and Texas are frequent front runners. Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas also typically place within the top ten. More information can be found here.
The ranking takes into consideration both the high and low temperature and averages them.
While it can be hot in Reno, at least it cools off at night. Moisture or high dewpoints make it harder for temperatures to cool off. Dry air heats up fast during the day and cools off quickly at night.
While Las Vegas has a dry climate as well, it is just so hot during the day, with more city life, so it stays warm to hot at night as well.
The all time heat record in the Las Vegas area is 120 degrees, and in Reno the record is 108 degrees.
The ranking is for the entire state, so even though states like California can get very hot n spots, they also have some cool locations in the Sierra or the bay, affecting their overall ranking.
Nevada placed 29th in 2025 behind West Virginia.
Wyoming was the coolest state with an average temperature of 63 degrees.
The average temperature in Nevada was 70.2. Even though Las Vegas is very hot, Lake Tahoe is much cooler. We also cool off at night in Northern Nevada.
Scroll down to see all of the top ten rankings through 2021. Keep in mind the rankings don’t include the dewpoint temperature, or what it feels like.
A muggy day can make it feel much hotter than it actually is. Tampa had a heat index or "feel like" temperature of 119 degrees on July 29th, 2025. Which is also their all time record.
The meteorological summer season technically goes from June through August, but I included September in my research.
