York, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, 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.
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York — the short answer
York, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 196 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 31
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~196
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 6a is York's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against York's 196-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
MeasuredYork runs about 196 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredYork sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at York's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Livingston County is mostly Northern Allegheny Plateau. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in York
Every plant below cleared York's own zone 6a and its 196-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York 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 Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 31 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
Documented around York
Spotted lanternfly documented 21 miles from York, first recorded 2018. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near York
Closest first, within ~10 miles of York. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GENESEO VILLAGEPFAS · 950 ft
- LCWSA CONSOLIDATED WATER DISTRICTPFAS · 950 ft
- TOWN OF YORKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- SUNBURST ACRESCAFO · 0.6 mi
- LAWNEL FARMS, INC.CAFO · 0.6 mi
- YORK CENTER #53 SUBBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- THEODORE W ANDREWSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- LAWNEL FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- LAWNELL FARMSCAFO · 1.2 mi
- EGTS- ANDERSON GATEBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- NYSDOT BIN 1023720Brownfields · 1.3 mi
- ARROW MARTS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 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.
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, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 45 sites within ~10 miles of York. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
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 and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K acres. 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 town 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 6a, averaged across York
- ●One soil character for all of York
- ●Frost dates read at York's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 31
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not York's 6a
- ✓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, New York — 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 town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at York’s own record; 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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Apr 18, 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 May 9.
When is the first frost in York?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in York typically arrives around Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 17, so the watching starts about Oct 1 — about 196 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in York?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, York sees about 196 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 17, about 161 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in York?
The federal record around York is a meaningful one — 369 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (165), the nearest PFAS record about 0.2 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 1 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 Oct 31 (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 Oct 31. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at York's scale — its 6a band and its 196-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
7 of the readings below were taken at York's own scale — its own ~196-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,763 acres it covers and 369 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- York's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- York's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 31 and the ~196-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 369 documented contamination sites on the federal record near York, the closest PFAS record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- York's boundary and the 1,763 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~196-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- York sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Yorklydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so York's 1,763 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Livingston County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Livingston County
- The growing challenges every New York grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New York
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Livingston County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among York's 1,763 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 1,763 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest PFAS record about 0.2 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 →
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