U.S. coal production remained slightly ahead of last year’s pace on a cumulative basis, even as weekly output stayed below the comparable week in 2025. For the reporting week, total U.S. coal production came in at 9.492 million short tons, up from 9.401 million the previous week but below the 10.213 million recorded in the same week a year earlier.
Year to date, U.S. coal production reached 167.676 million short tons, marginally above the 167.169 million short tons reported for the same period last year.
The 52-week total stood at 527.602 million short tons, up 1.7% from 518.915 million a year earlier.
Regionally, the Western coalfields continued to anchor national output. Western production totaled 5.251 million short tons for the week, more than half of total U.S. production, while the Appalachian region produced 2.836 million short tons and the Interior region added 1.405 million short tons.
On a year-to-date basis, the West remained the main growth driver at 90.666 million short tons, up 2.8% from a year earlier. Appalachian production edged up 0.4% to 50.925 million short tons, while Interior production declined 7.7% to 26.085 million short tons.
At the state level, Wyoming remained the dominant producer by a wide margin, generating 4.017 million short tons during the week and 67.113 million short tons year to date. West Virginia followed at 1.436 million short tons for the week, while Pennsylvania produced 788 thousand short tons and Illinois added 577 thousand short tons.
Among notable gainers, Utah continued to post strong momentum, with year-to-date production up 22.2%, while Alabama rose 7.7%, Pennsylvania gained 5.6%, Wyoming increased 4.8%, and Texas was up 4.6%. By contrast, Illinois, Indiana, Colorado, and North Dakota all showed year-to-date declines compared with the same period in 2025.
The latest weekly report should be read as a high-frequency snapshot rather than a final monthly total. EIA notes that coal production estimates are prorated to a daily basis, while railroad carload figures are not exact for the same time periods.
The agency also states that monthly coal production estimates are typically released during the first full week of the following month, making the weekly series most useful for tracking short-term production direction and regional shifts in supply.
