The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released its annual list of top 10 states for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), with Illinois taking the top spot.

The list by USGBC ranks states based on the number of LEED-certified square feet per person. As the number one state for LEED certification in 2018, Illinois certified 172 green building projects representing 5.31 square feet of LEED-certified space per resident. This is the first time Illinois has taken the top spot since 2015.

“Over the past 25 years, the U.S. Green Building Council, its member companies, and the green building community have come together to make our planet stronger, greener, and more sustainable through LEED,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO of USGBC. “These top 10 states are examples of how we can create lasting, measurable change and improve the quality of life for everyone in our communities. A better future requires a universal living standard that leaves no one behind — and that future would simply not be possible without the extraordinary work being done in these states.”

USGBC calculates its top 10 list by using per capita figures. According to the association, this allow for a fair comparison of the level of green building taking place among states with significant differences in population and number of overall buildings.

The 2018 top 10 states for LEED are as follows:

1.       Illinois, 68,133,942 certified gross square footage (GSF), 5.31 GSF per capita, 172 projects certified

2.       Massachusetts, 34,718,212 GSF, 5.30 GSF per capita, 122 projects certified

3.       Washington, 28,555,753 GSF, 4.25 GSF per capita, 137 projects certified

4.       New York, 72,881,287 GSF, 3.76 GSF per capita, 214 projects certified

5.       Texas, 88,404,993 GSF, 3.52 GSF per capita, 277 projects certified

6.       Colorado, 17,042,295 GSF, 3.39 GSF per capita, 114 projects certified

7.       Hawaii, 4,504,287 GSF, 3.31 GSF per capita, 20 projects certified

8.       Virginia, 25,348,631 GSF, 3.17 GSF per capita, 136 projects certified

9.       California, 112,388,968 GSF, 3.02 GSF per capita, 521 projects certified

10.   Maryland, 16,869,680 GSF, 2.92 GSF per capita, 113 projects certified

For more on the top 10 states, go here.