Where Do Pistachios Grow? Top Countries & Regions

Pistachios grow in hot, dry regions with cool winters. As of the 2024/25 USDA forecast, the United States, Iran and Turkey together grow roughly 90% of the world's pistachios, with the US, almost entirely California, now the largest producer. The tree itself is native to Central Asia and the Middle East, and the same demanding climate that suited its wild ancestors still decides where it can be farmed today.

Which countries grow the most pistachios?

Three countries dominate. The United States, Iran and Turkey account for around 90% of global production between them, against a world total the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service forecast at roughly 1.18-1.19 million metric tons for 2024/25. The remaining tenth is spread across Syria, Afghanistan, Spain and Italy, where Sicily's prized Bronte pistachios are grown.

The United States has led the world in recent seasons on the back of record crops; in the standout 2023/24 harvest it supplied well over half of global production. Iran was the historic number one for decades and remains a major grower and exporter, producing in the region of 200,000-225,000 metric tons. Turkey is the wild card: its harvest swings dramatically from year to year because the trees there bear in a strong "on year / off year" rhythm, so a record season near 385,000 tons can be followed by an off-year a fraction of that size, sharpened by frost and drought. For that reason it's fairer to think of Turkey as a large but highly variable producer than to pin it to a fixed rank.

These are forecast figures that the USDA revises twice a year, so treat any single number as a snapshot of the 2024/25 outlook rather than a fixed total.

Where do pistachios grow in the US?

Almost all American pistachios come from one state. California produces about 99% of total US output, concentrated in the San Joaquin Valley of the Central Valley, with smaller commercial acreage in Arizona, New Mexico and a little in Texas. The American Pistachio Growers count more than 615,000 planted acres across 30 California counties and around 950 producers nationwide.

The scale is fairly new. California's first commercial crop in 1976 was about 1.5 million pounds; the record 2025 harvest topped 1.5 billion pounds. Pistachios overtook walnuts in 2021 to become the state's second-largest tree-nut crop by bearing acreage, behind almonds, by 2024 they made up roughly 22% of California's tree-nut acres (almonds about 62%, walnuts about 16%), and the industry projects continued expansion through the early 2030s.

The whole California industry traces back to a single trip: in 1929, USDA botanist William E. Whitehouse collected pistachio nuts in Kerman, in Persia (now Iran). The "Kerman" cultivar selected from that material became the variety the modern California orchards were built on, a neat reminder that even today's biggest producer started with seed from the nut's homeland.

Where are pistachios originally from?

Pistachios are native to Central Asia and the Middle East. Archaeobotanical and peer-reviewed genetic evidence places the wild range and domestication of Pistacia vera across southern Central Asia, in modern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, together with northern Iran and northern Afghanistan. People were eating wild pistachios remarkably early, with evidence going back roughly to 6750 BCE, and the earliest cultivated remains appear at Bronze Age sites in what is now Uzbekistan. Domestication is thought to have taken hold within the first millennium BCE, after which the tree spread westward along Silk Road trade routes into the wider Mediterranean.

Why do pistachios only grow in certain regions?

The climate is unusually demanding, which is why orchards cluster in a handful of places. Pistachios need long, hot, dry summers, comfortable from about 25-38°C and tolerant of 40°C-plus where there's soil moisture, paired with low summer humidity. Just as importantly, they need a genuinely cold winter: the trees require a stretch of chilling hours (commonly cited around 600-1,500 hours below 7°C, often averaging close to 900) to break dormancy and crop properly. A deep taproot makes the tree strongly drought- and aridity-tolerant.

That combination explains the map. Iran's high plateau, southeastern Turkey and California's Central Valley all deliver scorching dry summers and cold-enough winters. Humid and tropical climates fail on both counts: too little winter chill and far too much disease pressure, and the trees are also vulnerable to spring frost and waterlogged winters. It's the same hardiness covered in our look at the pistachio plant and what a pistachio actually is.

Understanding where and how pistachios grow also helps make sense of why they can be costly: a slow-maturing, alternate-bearing tree limited to a few specialized regions keeps supply tight. That same nut is the starting point for pistachio milk, pistachio butter and the wider world of pistachio recipes and drinks we cover across the site.

Allergy note

Pistachios are a tree nut. This page is about where pistachios are grown, not about eating them, but anyone with a tree-nut allergy should avoid pistachios and products made from them, including pistachio milk, butter and creamers, and check labels for shared-line cross-contamination warnings. Pistachio milk made from nuts and water is naturally dairy-free and suitable for vegan diets, but being dairy-free does not make it safe for a nut allergy.