Nursery Industry Statistics 2026, and How to Cite HortOS

Anyone who searches for nursery industry statistics finds two kinds of number and rarely knows which is which. The first is the government's census: how much American horticulture operations grow, what it sells for and what it costs to produce, gathered every five years from every operation above a sales threshold. The second is the live supply picture: which growers publish an availability list this month, what is on it, and what the trade pays. The idea that matters most is that the two answer different questions, that both are citable, and that a writer, a student or a library guide should say which one a figure comes from.

This page gives both for the United States. The census figures are the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service's, from the 2024 Census of Horticultural Specialties released on February 26, 2026. The supply figures are what HortOS, a free directory of American wholesale plant growers with their published availability and trade prices, printed on 24 September 2026: growers listed, the states and cities where they cluster, the plants listed by the most growers, the plants with enough pricing growers to publish a median, and the trade price at each container class. It ends with how to cite those figures now and how the first United States edition of the HortOS Plant Price Index will change that.

Quick facts

The industry	Horticulture operations sold $18.3 billion of floriculture, nursery and specialty crops in 2024 across 23,060 operations; nursery stock was $5.34 billion of it, up 17 per cent on 2019 (USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service).
Where it is grown	California ($3.07 billion), Florida ($2.15 billion) and Oregon ($1.29 billion) led the nation in horticulture sales in 2024 (USDA).
Costs	Total industry expenses were up 33 per cent since 2019, with labor the biggest cost at 36 per cent of expenses in 2024 (USDA).
Growers listed	More than 31,000 American growers on HortOS; the Florida hub alone listed 5,693 production nurseries on 24 September 2026, with 814 in Miami and 585 in Homestead.
What is priced	3,589 plants had three or more pricing growers on the live price pages on 24 September 2026, the most-held plant priced by 258 growers.
How to cite	A live page by its URL and the date it was read; the first United States edition of the HortOS Plant Price Index, when it publishes, by edition and link, as the Australian Index asks.

Two kinds of number

The Census of Horticultural Specialties, part of the USDA's census of agriculture program, counts every operation that grew and sold $10,000 or more of horticultural specialty products in the census year, and its 2024 report is, in the agency's words, the only source of detailed production and sales data for floriculture, nursery and specialty crops for the entire United States. Its release of February 26, 2026 gives the size of the industry: $18.3 billion in sales in 2024 across 23,060 operations; nursery stock $5.34 billion, up 17 per cent on 2019; annual bedding and garden plants $2.67 billion; sod, sprigs and plugs $1.70 billion; potted herbaceous perennials $1.36 billion, up 47 per cent; family- or individually-owned operations 56 per cent of operations but corporate-owned operations 63 per cent of sales; expenses up 33 per cent since 2019 with labor 36 per cent of them. That is the number to cite for the size of the industry, and the release and report are the place to cite it from.

HortOS measures something else: not what the industry is worth but what it offers this week. Its directory lists more than 31,000 American growers, its plant pages show every grower holding a plant by state and container size with the date each list was updated, and its price pages turn growers' current trade lists into a median, low and high at each class, one price per grower, resellers and website prices excluded. It is not a census and it is not retail pricing; it is what the wholesale trade could see if it looked at every published list at once.

Growers listed, and where they are

The state hubs list the growers in the directory by city. On 24 September 2026 the Florida hub listed 5,693 production nurseries, 814 of them in Miami, 585 in Homestead, 122 in Apopka, 113 in Naples and 85 in Jacksonville. The hubs for Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Oregon, Michigan and California print their own counts. A directory count is not a census count: the USDA's operations are businesses above a sales threshold in a census year, and HortOS's growers are wholesale production nurseries with a page, so the two should never be added or compared as if they measured the same thing.

Where growers with current trade lists sit is a narrower picture. Compiled from growers' current lists on HortOS in September 2026, the growers holding advanced stock, a #15 or larger container, a boxed tree or field grown stock, numbered 774 in Florida, 67 in Texas, 61 in North Carolina and 45 in Georgia, with every other state under 30; the street trees guide sets out what they hold and what it costs.

What is grown and what is priced

The plants listed by the most growers on the live plant pages on 24 September 2026 were bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) with 348 growers, live oak (Quercus virginiana) with 324, Little Gem magnolia with 298, the Maki podocarpus with 292, the Natchez crape myrtle with 288, small-leaf clusia with 282 and pink muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) with 275. Compiled from the same lists and classified by species, 37 of the 100 most listed plants are native to the United States; the most grown native plants guide gives them state by state.

The price pages printed 3,589 plants with three or more pricing growers on 24 September 2026, the most-held plant priced by 258 growers. The trade price ladder, taking the line most growers price at each class, ran $3.00 at #1, $6.00 at #3, $16.00 at #7, $40.00 at #15, $85.00 at #25, $115 at #30, $265 at #45, $350 at #65 and $550 at #100, ex tax at the nursery gate; the cost reference gives the plants behind each rung and the spread across growers.

How to cite HortOS now, and the Index when it comes

Until the first United States edition of the HortOS Plant Price Index publishes, every American figure on HortOS is a live figure that moves as lists arrive, so it should be cited the way a live database is: the page, its URL and the date it was read. A price page carries, for each size, the number of growers pricing it and the date the lists were last updated, and both belong in a careful citation. The price pages describe their own method, one price per grower from trade lists only, resellers and website prices excluded, a median once three growers price a size, and a figure quoted from them should carry those limits with it.

The Australian Index shows what the American edition will offer: a monthly page with a fixed edition, a cite line (HortOS Plant Price Index, the edition, the page URL), tables and charts reproducible with attribution and a link, press-ready charts with a credit line, and a JSON data file at a URL that names the edition, carrying growers by state, plants on lists, medians by size, spreads, state comparisons and the most-grown list, with the page's dataset metadata declaring a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence, whose deed allows sharing and adapting the material for any purpose provided appropriate credit is given, a link to the licence is provided and changes are indicated. The American edition will follow the same method, and a page that cites the live pages today will be able to cite an edition then.

What to watch for

• Mixing the two kinds of number. Growers listed on HortOS and operations counted by the USDA are different populations counted different ways.
• Quoting without the date. A live median moves as lists arrive; a figure from a price page carries the date it was read.
• Reading a directory count as a census. A state hub's count is of growers with a page, and it changes as growers are added or removed.
• Reading a median as a retail price. Every HortOS figure is the trade price ex tax at the nursery gate.
• Adding up what is not there. HortOS publishes no count of availability lists and no grower's price; a figure of that kind did not come from it.

Getting it right

1. For the industry's size, sales by state and costs, cite the USDA's 2024 Census of Horticultural Specialties and its release.
2. For growers by state and city, plants listed and the plants priced, cite the HortOS page by URL with the date it was read.
3. For a single plant's price, cite its price page with the date and the number of growers pricing that size.
4. When the United States edition of the Index publishes, cite it by edition and link, and reproduce its tables with the credit line.
5. Read a page's method note before quoting a figure it qualifies.

A word of caution

The HortOS figures on this page are what the live pages printed on one date and will differ on another; the first United States edition of the Index will fix them to a month. The census figures are the USDA's, quoted from its release, and its report is the authority on what each covers. Neither is a count of businesses in the industry in any other sense than its own. A citation that names its source and its date is the only kind that survives the next release.

Sources

• USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2024 Census of Horticultural Specialties release: sales, operations, states and costs.
• USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, Census of Horticultural Specialties: what the census covers and its threshold.
• Creative Commons, Attribution 4.0 International deed: what the Index's licence allows.