Illinois topped the U.S. Green Building Council’s annual ranking of states for LEED green building in 2021 after falling to No. 5 on the list in 2020, according to forconstructionpros.com.
States were ranked based on the number of LEED-certified square feet per capita in the state. In 2021, Illinois certified 87 LEED projects for a total of 3.16 square feet of LEED-certified building per person. The top 10 states—plus Washington, D.C.—certified 1,105 projects and more than 247 million gross square feet under LEED.
The states following Illinois in the Top 10 included Washington, Massachusetts, Colorado, Virginia, California, Maryland, Oregon, Utah and Nevada. USGBC notes Washington, D.C., would have had the highest ranking with 29.46 green square feet per capita and 103 green building projects, but it is not included because it is not a state.
