Albany County, in Wyoming, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Albany County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Albany 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 Albany County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Albany County — the short answer
Albany County, Wyoming: USDA zone 4b, about 136 days between hard freezes, across 2.7M acres.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~136
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 2.7M 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 4b is Albany County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Albany County's 136-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Albany County
Across a year, Albany County accumulates about 1,227 growing degree days above 50°F, about 647 fewer than the middle Wyoming county — ahead of 4 of Wyoming’s 23 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 Albany County
Across Albany County, the ground is predominantly Aridisols, where Forelle, Rock River, and Boyle are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.2–7.9, slightly alkaline. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Aridisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
1%
Hydric soils
3%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Albany County
The USDA soil survey maps 86% of Albany County as well drained — but another 8% drains differently: 3% somewhat poorly drained, 3% moderately well drained.
Forelle is the most extensive named soil at 5% of mapped acres, then Rock River (4%) and Boyle (4%).
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 Albany County
Each reading below is measured for Albany 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 Albany County are well drained, in hydrologic group D — 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 Albany County runs about pH 7.2–7.9, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredAlbany County runs about 136 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredAlbany County sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Albany County is in
Albany County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Wyoming Basin (56%) and Southern Rockies (45%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Albany County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Albany County's own USDA zone 4b and its own 136-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 Wyoming profile.
Is it too late to plant in Albany County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
Documented around Albany County
- monarch butterfly1 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Albany County
USGS estimates 3,640 lb of Glyphosate on Albany County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Triclopyr (1,925 lb) and Chlorpyrifos (1,766 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 Albany County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Albany County — 586 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 4 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Albany County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Albany County
Closest first, across Albany County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BensonUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- 19-074-01dcb01Nitrate · 4.2 mi
- 19-074-27aaa01Nitrate · 5.2 mi
- 20-075-01cad02Nitrate · 5.2 mi
- 20-075-32ccd01Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- 19-074-26ccc01Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- 19-074-33add01Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- 19-074-26ccc02Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- 20-073-21abb01Nitrate · 7.4 mi
- 19-073-16acd01Nitrate · 7.5 mi
- Doc's Western VillageUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.4 mi
- 18-075-09ddd02Nitrate · 9.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Albany 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 Albany County.
Sources Checked
across Albany County
Severity Distribution
across Albany County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Albany County, two things run higher than the national average across Albany County — Mining (64 sites) and Nitrate (292 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Albany 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 Albany County average
Your land is one point inside Albany County
Everything above resolves to Albany County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 2.7M 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 Albany County Average
Albany County Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Albany County
- ●One soil character for all of Albany County
- ●Frost dates read at Albany County's scale: May 14 to Sep 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Albany County's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Albany County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Albany County, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Albany County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Albany County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Albany County average
How we know this about Albany 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 Albany County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Albany County
When does frost risk typically end in Albany County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Albany County typically lands around May 14, 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 Jun 4.
How long is the growing season in Albany County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Albany County sees about 136 frost-free days — roughly May 14 through Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 4 to Sep 13, about 101 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Albany County?
The federal record around Albany County is a meaningful one — 586 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (292), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 4.0 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 gardeners stretch the season in Albany County?
With about 136 frost-free days between hard freezes, Albany County rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 164 to 192 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 14 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Albany County's scale — its 4b band and its 136-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Albany 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 Wyoming's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Albany County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Albany County's own scale — its own ~136-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 586 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Albany County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Albany County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~136-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Albany CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 586 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 4.0 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Albany County's boundary and the 2,735,470 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~136-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Albany County spans, Wyoming Basin the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Albany County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Albany County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Wyoming grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Wyoming
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Albany County — the ~136 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 Albany County's 2,735,470 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 586 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 Albany Countyread your own land →