Meteorite numbers in the United States, Canada, and Mexico
United States
According to the database of the Meteoritical Society, 1924 meteorites have been found and verified in the United States (finds + falls) from 1807 through February, 2024. Above is a map depicting how many are from each state.
Meteoroids break apart while traveling through the atmosphere and many meteorites were found as multiple stones, sometimes miles (and years) apart (see Park Forest). The total number of individual stones is not known but is probably several times the number of meteorites. (By convention, if a meteoroid breaks apart in the atmosphere or when it hits the earth, all the fragments are considered a single meteorite with one name.)
The earliest find is Havana, an iron meteorite that was found by native Americans in prehistoric times and made into beads. The beads were later found in the Dickson Mounds historic site near Havana, Illinois, in the 1940’s.
On average, there has been one meteorite found for every 2000 square miles in the U.S. The highest found-meteorite densities have been have been in the states of New Mexico (1.9 per 1000 square miles), Kansas (1.8). Nevada (1.7), California (1.6), Arizona (1.6), and Texas (1.2).
Bottom line: Only 1924 meteorites have been found and verified in the U.S. in the past 212 years. That is about 9 per year.
Falls
There have been 160 observed and recovered meteorite falls in the U.S. The first was Weston (Connecticut) in 1807 and the last (as of February, 2024) was El Sauz (Texas) in 2023. On average, that is 1.3 recovered meteorite falls in the U.S. per year.
Note that although there were fewer people and the country was less settled during the first 100 years, the number of falls from 1807 through 1906 (52) is only 60% less than the number of falls in the last 100 years, between 1922 and 2023 (91).
Masses
The histogram below shows the distribution of meteorite masses for the 1813 U.S. meteorites for which the mass is known. Masses range from 0.5 grams (0.02 oz) for Cuddeback Dry Lake 006 (H6) to ~30 metric tons for the many pieces of the Canyon Diablo iron. At 15.5 metric tons (34,000 lbs.), Willamette (an iron) is the largest single “stone.”
The most common mass range for U.S. meteorites is 4-8 kg (9-19 lbs). Iron meteorites tend to be more massive than stony meteorites. Note that although 21% of the meteorites from the U.S. are irons, mesosiderites, and pallasites, only 4% of the U.S. falls are irons, mesosiderites, and pallasites (5 irons and 1 mesosiderite).
Canada and Mexico
