Youngstown, Ohio, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Youngstown, 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 Youngstown 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 Youngstown — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Youngstown — the short answer
Youngstown, Ohio: USDA zone 6a, about 193 days between hard freezes, across 22K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~193
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 22K 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 Youngstown's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Youngstown's 193-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Youngstown
Each reading below is measured for Youngstown itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredYoungstown runs about 193 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
MeasuredYoungstown 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 Youngstown is in
Youngstown sits in the Erie Drift Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Youngstown's own centroid rather than borrowed from Mahoning County.
What Grows in Youngstown
Every plant below cleared Youngstown's own zone 6a and its 193-day season. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Youngstown?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Youngstown
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Youngstown, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Youngstown
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Youngstown. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- FAAUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- YOUNGSTOWN-WARREN REG AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- ST ELIZABETH HOSPITALUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- WINNER AVIATION CORPORATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- USPS YOUNGSTOWN PROCESSING & DIST FACBrownfields · 600 ft
- INSTITUTIONAL FOODS, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- RICHLAND AVIATION, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- REPUBLIC LAND COUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- GOODYEAR AUTO SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- ST. ANDREWS A.M.E. CHURCH, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- INNER CITY TRANSIT LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Youngstown'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 Youngstown.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Youngstown
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Youngstown
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Youngstown, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 85 sites within ~10 miles of Youngstown. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Youngstown
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 Youngstown average
Your land is one point inside Youngstown
Everything above resolves to Youngstown as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 22K 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 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 Youngstown Average
Youngstown Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Youngstown
- ●One soil character for all of Youngstown
- ●Frost dates read at Youngstown's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Youngstown's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Youngstown
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Youngstown, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Youngstown averages can't show:
We read public map data around Youngstown — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Youngstown average
How we know this about Youngstown
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 Youngstown’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 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 Youngstown
When does frost risk typically end in Youngstown?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Youngstown typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Youngstown?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Youngstown typically arrives around Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 16, so the watching starts about Sep 30 — about 193 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Youngstown?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Youngstown sees about 193 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 16, about 158 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Youngstown?
The federal record around Youngstown is a meaningful one — 1,175 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (615), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Youngstown?
From about Sep 30 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Youngstown's scale — its 6a band and its 193-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Youngstown'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 Youngstown’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Youngstown's own scale — its own ~193-day season between 28°F freezes, the 21,715 acres it covers and 1,175 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Youngstown's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Youngstown's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 30 and the ~193-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,175 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Youngstown, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Youngstown's boundary and the 21,715 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~193-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Youngstown's own centroid, the Erie Drift PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Youngstownlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Youngstown's 21,715 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mahoning County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mahoning County
- The growing challenges every Ohio grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Ohio
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Mahoning County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Youngstown's 21,715 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Youngstown you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 21,715 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Youngstown-wide figureread your own land →