Coldest American Cities

The major US city that ranks as the coldest depends upon what aspect of temperature is being measured. Denver, Colorado has recorded the lowest temperature of any large American city, at -30 °F. With an average 156 days a year when the temperature drops below 32 °F, Denver also gets a lot more freezing weather than any other big US city.

Meanwhile in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the daily temperature averages 47.5 °F for the year, making Milwaukee colder than Denver and several other large cities, according to that measure.

No matter how you consider cold, though, Milwaukee, Denver and Chicago always show up among the five most frigid of the 40 largest cities in the United States.

Major cities included in these weather rankings are all the cities in the United States with over 440,000 people on July 1, 2006, according to the US Census Bureau's estimates.

Lowest Temperatures

Large US cities where temperatures have dropped to -15 °F (-26 °C) or less:

City	Lowest °F
Denver, Colorado	-30
Chicago, Illinois	-27
Indianapolis, Indiana	-27
Milwaukee, Wisconsin	-26
Kansas City, Missouri	-23
Louisville, Kentucky	-22
Columbus, Ohio	-22
Detroit, Michigan	-21
Cleveland, Ohio	-20
Albuquerque, New Mexico	-17
Nashville, Tennessee	-17
New York, New York	-15

Coolest Weather

Large cities in America with a normal daily mean temperature for the year that's below 55 °F (12.8 °C):

City	°F Daily Average
Milwaukee, Wisconsin	47.5
Chicago, Illinois	49.1
Cleveland, Ohio	49.6
Detroit, Michigan	49.7
Denver, Colorado	50.1
Boston, Massachusetts	51.6
Indianapolis, Indiana	52.5
Columbus, Ohio	52.9
Seattle, Washington	52.9
Portland, Oregon	53.5
Kansas City, Missouri	54.2
Baltimore, Maryland	54.6
New York, New York	54.6

Major US cities that have freezing temperatures, of 32 °F or less, on 100 or more days each year, on average:

City	Days Freezing per Year
Denver, Colorado	156
Milwaukee, Wisconsin	135
Detroit, Michigan	131
Chicago, Illinois	129
Cleveland, Ohio	120
Columbus, Ohio	114
Indianapolis, Indiana	113
Albuquerque, New Mexico	110
Kansas City, Missouri	108