Preliminary Results from the 2025-2026 US Beekeeping Survey: Honey Bee Colony Loss and Management

Note:This is a preliminary analysis. A final report is being prepared for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal at a later date.

Agostina Giacobino¹, Nathalie Steinhauer², Samantha Brunner^3,4, Natasha Garcia-Andersen⁴, Dan Aurell¹, Selina Bruckner¹, Stephanie Rogers⁵, Geoffrey Williams¹

¹ Bee Center, Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA; ² Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA; ³ North Dakota Department of Agriculture, Bismarck, ND, USA; ⁴Apiary Inspectors of America, PO Box 32, Sterling, ND, USA; ⁵ Department of Geosciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA

Corresponding authors: azg0223@auburn.edu (AG), steinhan@oregonstate.edu (NS) & williams@auburn.edu (GW)

National surveys play a key role in tracking losses of managed Apis mellifera honey bee colonies in the United States. They have also revealed trends in regional loss patterns (Overturf et al., 2022), identified key risk and protective factors associated with colony health (Seitz et al., 2016; Steinhauer et al., 2021), and found an association between winter losses and Varroa destructor control methods (Haber et al., 2019). The 2025-2026 US Beekeeping Survey carries on the tradition of a long-standing national honey bee colony loss survey that was created by the Bee Informed Partnership, in collaboration with the University of Maryland, Auburn University, and the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) in 2007 (e.g., vanEngelsdorp et al., 2010; Steinhauer et al., 2014; Kulhanek et al., 2017; Bruckner et al., 2023; Aurell et al., 2024). Led by Auburn University, Oregon State University, and AIA since 2024, the survey continues to monitor colony losses and beekeeping practices across the United States for a 19th year (Giacobino et al., 2024, 2025).

The 2025-2026 US Beekeeping Survey was accessible on the AIA website (https://apiaryinspectors.org/US-beekeeping-survey) to collect beekeepers’ responses from April 1 to April 30, 2026; it covered the period between April 1, 2025 and April 1, 2026. Two versions of the survey were available: one for small-scale beekeepers managing 50 or fewer colonies, and one for large-scale beekeepers managing more than 50 colonies. Key questions allowed the survey to estimate managed colony loss and to track implementation of key management practices by beekeepers.

A total of 2,327 beekeepers provided valid responses from across the United States. These beekeepers collectively managed 318,493 colonies on October 1, 2025, representing 13.2% of the estimated 2.41 million managed honey-producing colonies in the country in 2025 (USDA NASS, 2026).

Like previous surveys, colony loss rates were calculated as the ratio of the total number of colonies lost and the number of colonies managed at risk over a defined period. Loss rates should not be interpreted as a change in population size, but rather as a mortality rate. High levels of loss do not necessarily result in a decrease in the total number of colonies managed because beekeepers can potentially replace lost colonies during the year. In all cases, losses are reported with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) that were obtained from the distribution of bootstrapped estimates for each group of respondents (n-out-of-n method, 1000 rep.). Due to the stochastic nature of bootstrap analyses, 95% CI would be expected to vary slightly if recalculated.

Over the entire year (April 1, 2025 - April 1, 2026), beekeepers in the United States lost an estimated 39.9% [30.1-53.1 CI] of their managed honey bee colonies (Fig. 1). This was 15.7 percentage point (pp) lower than last year’s annual losses, which at the time were the highest ever reported. The losses registered this year were also 2.4 pp lower than the running 15-year average annual loss rate of 42.3%.

The losses of managed colonies during summer 2025 (April 1, 2025 - October 1, 2025) were estimated at 23.3% [18.05-29.2 CI] (Fig. 1). This was 5 pp lower than last year’s losses and 0.4 pp lower than the running 15-year average summer loss of 23.7% that has been reported by beekeepers since the summer of 2010.

During winter 2025-2026 (October 1, 2025 - April 1, 2026), an estimated 30.3% [21.4-41.5 CI] of managed colonies were lost (Fig. 1). This winter loss rate was 0.4 pp higher than the running 18-year average winter loss of 29.9% reported by beekeepers since 2007-2008. However, the 2025-2026 winter loss rate was 10 pp lower than the previous year's rate, which was the highest recorded since the survey began. The percentage of colony loss that was viewed as “acceptable” by beekeepers over winter during 2025-2026 was 21.1%; this is roughly consistent with views from previous years. During winter 2025-2026, 48% of the beekeepers surveyed reported winter loss above this threshold.

Figure 1. Seasonal managed Apis mellifera honey bee colony loss rates (%) in the United States across years (A) and by beekeeper operation type (B-D): backyard (managing up to 50 colonies), sideline (managing 51-500 colonies), and commercial (managing >500 colonies). The loss rate was calculated as the total number of colonies lost divided by the number of colonies at risk during the season. Colonies at risk were composed of living colonies at the start of a defined period, as well as new colonies made or acquired, while excluding colonies sold or parted with. Annual loss covers the whole period from April 1 to the next April 1 (in red); summer (April 1 for backyard or date of the first split reported for sideline and commercial - October 1, in yellow); winter (October 1 - April 1 for backyard or date of the first split reported for sideline and commercial, in blue). Error bars represent the 95% confidence interval obtained from a bootstrap resampling of the data (n-out-of-n, 1000 rep). Note: Data shown from 2008 to 2023 were collected and published previously by the Bee Informed Partnership, University of Maryland, and Auburn University (lighter, transparent color).

Losses by operation type for 2025-2026

The honey bee industry in the United States can be loosely divided into three groups of beekeepers: backyard (managing less than 50 colonies), sideline (managing between 51-500 colonies), and commercial (managing more than 500 colonies). Commercial and sideline beekeepers (5.2% of the surveyed beekeepers) collectively managed 95% of surveyed colonies in 2025-2026, whereas backyard beekeepers (94.8% of the surveyed beekeepers) collectively managed the remaining 5% of surveyed colonies in the 2025-2026 survey. Individual operations experienced annual loss rates ranging from both extremes (0-100%). For 50% of operations, annual loss rates ranged between 20 - 67% for backyard, 26-54% for sideliner, and 25-58% for commercial beekeepers. In comparison, during the previous season (2024-2025), the middle 50% of annual loss rates ranged from 25-77% (backyard), 21-56% (sideliner), and 39-62% (commercial). These results indicate that, relative to the previous year, annual losses among backyard and commercial operations shifted toward a lower range, although many of these operations still reported losses exceeding 50%.

During 2025-2026, backyard beekeepers experienced a higher annual colony loss rate (54.8% [46.5-62.2 CI]) compared to commercial beekeepers (38.7% [28.3-52.2 CI]). This pattern differed from that observed during the previous two years but was more consistent with trends reported in earlier survey years. Backyard beekeepers experienced losses that were 3.4 pp higher than in 2024-2025, whereas commercial beekeepers experienced losses that were 17.5 pp lower than the previous year. Compared with the 15-year average, results from 2025-2026 represented a higher-loss year for backyard beekeepers (5.7 pp higher than the average of 49.1%) but a lower-loss year for commercial beekeepers (2.5 pp lower than the average of 41.2% for commercial operations).

During summer 2025, backyard beekeepers experienced an estimated loss of 35.4% [26.2-45.6 CI], which was 9.4 pp higher than last year’s losses and 14.2 pp higher than their 15-year average summer loss of 21.2%. Meanwhile, commercial beekeepers experienced an estimated loss of 22.5% [16.8-29.2 CI], which was 6.2 pp lower than last year’s losses and 1.4 pp lower than their 15-year average summer loss of 23.9%.

Like the first 15 years of survey data, and in contrast to the last two years, winter loss rates in 2025-2026 were higher for backyard beekeepers than for commercial beekeepers. Backyard beekeepers experienced an estimated loss of 32.9% [29.1-38.3 CI], which was 4.6 pp lower than their running 18-year winter loss of 37.5%. Commercial beekeepers experienced an estimated winter loss of 30.0% (20.8-40.9 CI), which was only 1.1 pp over their running 18-year average winter loss of 28.9%. Compared with winter losses from the previous year, results from 2025-2026 represented a lower-loss year for both operation types (3.6 pp lower for backyard beekeepers and 10.7 pp lower for commercial beekeepers).

Figure 2. Colony loss rates (%) of managed Apis mellifera honey bee colonies in states, territories, and districts of the United States during 2025-2026. Green and orange colors represent loss rates below and above 30%, respectively. The greyed panels indicate states and territories that had their results redacted because they had fewer than 10 valid respondents. NCU: non-continental U.S. (redacted); MSO: multi-state operation; MSO were counted in each state in which they reported keeping colonies but were also reported as a separate subgroup.

Conclusions

Our estimates indicate that annual losses reported by beekeeping operations in the United States during the survey period — 39.9% — were slightly lower than average, with both winter and summer losses remaining close to the average loss rates reported across survey years (30% and 24%, respectively). The lower annual losses observed this year, especially compared to the last two years which consecutively represented the highest losses on record, appear to be primarily driven by reduced winter losses; they were 10 pp lower than those reported in the previous year. The last survey period in which annual losses reported fell below 40% was 2021-2022.

When results are broken down by operation type, we observed a pattern in 2025-2026 that differed from the previous two years – backyard beekeepers experienced higher annual colony losses than commercial beekeepers. Compared with the previous year, losses increased slightly for backyard operations but declined substantially for commercial operations. From a long-term perspective, 2025-2026 represented a higher-loss year for backyard beekeepers but a lower-loss year for commercial beekeepers.

In addition, seasonal patterns differed by operation type. Summer losses were higher for backyard beekeepers than for commercial beekeepers, with backyard operations showing an upward trend relative to the previous year and their long-term values, while commercial operations showed a downward trend compared with the previous year; their losses were closer to their long-term values. During winter 2025-2026, the same general pattern was observed, with higher losses in backyard than commercial operations; both operation types showed lower losses compared with the previous year.

In conclusion, while annual losses were lower than those recorded during the previous two years, they still remained high, with American beekeeping operations losing approximately 40% of their colonies on average. This systematic pressure to make up for high levels of losses is possibly reflected in the national honey bee population reported in 2025 – approximately 2.41 million colonies, according to USDA NASS Honey Reports – which is the lowest number since 2008, when 2.3 million managed colonies were reported (USDA NASS, 2009). This ongoing trend presents a growing challenge to the sustainability of the U.S. beekeeping industry, particularly in meeting demand for crop pollination services and honey production.

For more information about the survey, including access to downloadable figures and interactive maps, go to: https://aub.ie/us-beekeeping-survey. Additionally, an interactive dashboard website was developed to summarize results from previous survey years (2023-2024 and 2024-2025), including colony losses by year, operation type, and state, as well as beekeeping practices associated with Varroa mite monitoring and control. The dashboard can be accessed at: https://aub.ie/us-beekeeping-survey-app.

Resources: 

Full Abstract (PDF)

Data Table-State Data (Excel)