Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the leading authority on green building and the global developer of the LEED green building program, released its annual list of Top 10 States for LEED. For the first time ever, New York ranked number one, based on LEED-certified gross square footage per capita over the past year, leading the country in green building.
New York totaled 201 newly LEED-certified projects in 2023 that encompassed more than 93 million square feet, equating to nearly 4.6 LEED-certified square feet per resident. Following behind was Illinois (3.213 square feet per capita), Massachusetts (3.210 square feet per capita), Washington (3.01 square feet per capita), and Georgia (2.56 square feet per capita). Though not officially on the list because of its status as a federal district, the District of Columbia continued to lead nationally with more than 43 certified square feet per capita.