Cameron County, in Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Cameron County lies within the Northern Tier (north-central Pennsylvania high plateau) and Appalachia — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Cameron County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Cameron County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Cameron County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Cameron County — the short answer
Cameron County, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 5b, about 166 days between hard freezes, across 254K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~166
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 254K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 5b is Cameron County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cameron County's 166-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Cameron County
Across a year, Cameron County accumulates about 2,038 growing degree days above 50°F, about 509 fewer than the middle Pennsylvania county — ahead of 8 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Cameron County
Across Cameron County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Hazleton, Hartleton, and Leck Kill are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a channery silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.6–5.5, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group A soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
10%
Hydric soils
1%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Cameron County
The USDA soil survey maps 77% of Cameron County as well drained — but another 22% drains differently: 20% moderately well drained, 1% poorly drained.
Hazleton is the most extensive named soil at 31% of mapped acres, then Hartleton (27%) and Leck Kill (18%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Cameron County
Each reading below is measured for Cameron County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Cameron County are well drained, in hydrologic group A — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Cameron County runs about pH 4.6–5.5, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredCameron County runs about 166 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
MeasuredCameron County sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Cameron County is in
Cameron County sits in the North Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Cameron County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Cameron County's own USDA zone 5b and its own 166-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile.
Is it too late to plant in Cameron County?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 17 — 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 Cameron County
Spotted lanternfly documented 7 miles from Cameron County, first recorded 2019. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle1 documented records
- monarch butterfly42 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Cameron County
USGS estimates 295 lb of Glyphosate on Cameron County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (176 lb) and Metolachlor-s (154 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Cameron County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Cameron County — 84 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Cameron County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Cameron County
Closest first, across Cameron County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ED HORNINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- CM 4Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- EMPORIUM HARDWOODS SAWMILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- ELK FOREST DIST 13 SYLVAN HEIGHTS WHSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- RAMSEYS AUTO BODY GARAGEBrownfields · 4.9 mi
- GKN SINTER METALS - EMIToxics Release Inventory · 4.9 mi
- SINTER METALSUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- GKN SINTER METALS INCBrownfields · 5.0 mi
- STEVE TRONCONE EXCAVATINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- EMPORIUM BPUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- KWIK FILLBrownfields · 5.0 mi
- EMBASSY POWDERED METALS 2ND STREETToxics Release Inventory · 5.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cameron County'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 Cameron County.
Total Sites
84
across Cameron County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
across Cameron County
Severity Distribution
across Cameron County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cameron County, two things run higher than the national average across Cameron County — Toxics Release Inventory (9 sites) and Nitrate (32 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Cameron County
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 Cameron County average
Your land is one point inside Cameron County
Everything above resolves to Cameron County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 254K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Cameron County Average
Cameron County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Cameron County
- ●One soil character for all of Cameron County
- ●Frost dates read at Cameron County's scale: May 4 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cameron County's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Cameron County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cameron County, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cameron County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cameron County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cameron County average
How we know this about Cameron County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Cameron County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Cameron County
When does frost risk typically end in Cameron County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cameron County typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
How long is the growing season in Cameron County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cameron County sees about 166 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Oct 3, about 131 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cameron County?
The federal record around Cameron County shows 84 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (32), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
Everything above is measured at Cameron County's scale — its 5b band and its 166-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cameron County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Pennsylvania's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Cameron County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Cameron County's own scale — its own ~166-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 84 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cameron County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cameron County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~166-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Cameron CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 84 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Cameron County's boundary and the 253,590 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~166-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Cameron County sitting wholly inside the North Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Cameron County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Cameron County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Pennsylvania grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Pennsylvania
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Cameron County — the ~166 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cameron County's 253,590 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 84 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Cameron Countyread your own land →