The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released its eighth annual list of top 10 states for LEED. The list looked at 2010 U.S Census data and commercial and institutional green building projects that were certified in 2017 to rank states in terms of certified square feet per resident.

Massachusetts retained the top spot for the second year in a row, with 130 projects representing 4.48 square feet of space per resident. Three states—Georgia, Hawaii, and Minnesota—returned to the list for the first time since 2014, while Illinois and Colorado mark the only states to have made the list every year since its inception.

Within the healthcare sector, the USGBC reports 76 healthcare projects in the U.S. achieved LEED certification in 2017, which represent more than 8.9 million gross square feet of space. Among the top 10 states, there were 41 healthcare projects certified representing more than 4.9 million gross square feet of space.

The top 10 states for LEED in 2017 include:

Ranking:              State:                     GSF per capita:   Number of projects certified:

1              Massachusetts                        4.48                                  130

2             New York                                 3.39                                  192

3              Illinois                                     3.38                                  135

4              Hawaii                                     3.32                                  16

5             Maryland                                 2.75                                  105

6              Minnesota                              2.45                                  47

7             Georgia                                    2.44                                   71

8             California                                2.40                                  475

9              Virginia                                  2.32                                   152

10           Colorado                                 2.27                                   76

(As a federal territory, Washington, D.C., is not included in the ranking but led the country with 39.83 gross square feet per resident in 2017.)

For more information, visit www.usgbc.org.