York, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in York, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single York lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around York — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
York — the short answer
York, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 266 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 28
- Sumter County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 21
- Sumter County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~266
- Sumter County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 4K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Sumter County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is York's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against York's 266-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in York
Each reading below is measured for York itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsYork runs about 266 days between hard freezes (read from Sumter County, the closest normal to York) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredYork sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country York is in
York sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at York's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sumter County.
What Grows in York
Every plant below cleared York's own zone 8b and its 266-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in York?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near York
Closest first, within ~10 miles of York. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LEONARD HARKISONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- MCGREGOR PRINTING CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MERIDIAN COCA COLA BOTTLING COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- HILL HOSPITAL OF SUMTER COUNTYBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- MCGREGOR PRINTING CORPBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- KATMANDU INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- COTTLE GROUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- OLD AT + N SHOP HILL AT + N LB SERVIUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- YORK DOWNTOWN CC STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- YORK FOOD MART LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- SINCO S SUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- LARKIN QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from York's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near York.
Total Sites
100
within ~10 miles of York
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of York
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of York
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around York, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of York — PFAS (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (78 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in York
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the York average
Your land is one point inside York
Everything above resolves to York as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Sumter County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at city scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the York Average
York Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across York
- ●One soil character for all of York
- ●Frost dates read at York's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not York's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in York
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in York, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that York averages can't show:
We read public map data around York — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the York average
How we know this about York
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Sumter County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about York
When does frost risk typically end in York?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in York typically lands around Feb 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Mar 21.
When is the first frost in York?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in York typically arrives around Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 7, so the watching starts about Oct 22 — about 266 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in York?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, York sees about 266 frost-free days — roughly Feb 28 through Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 21 to Nov 7, about 231 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in York?
The federal record around York is a meaningful one — 100 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (78), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in York?
From about Oct 22 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Nov 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Nov 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at York's scale — its 8b band and its 266-day season. Your yard writes its own version of York's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at York’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at York's own scale — the 4,394 acres it covers and 100 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- York's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 100 documented contamination sites on the federal record near York, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- York's boundary and the 4,394 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~266-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at York's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — York has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Sumter County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so York's 4,394 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sumter County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sumter County
- The growing challenges every Alabama grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alabama
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Sumter County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among York's 4,394 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of York you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,394 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any York-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Growing region
Nearby growing guides