rockefeller tree where is it from

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is a Norway spruce that changes location each year, but it’s always donated from somewhere in the northeastern U.S. — most recently from upstate New York, Massachusetts, and nearby states.

Where it comes from (in general)

Each year, Rockefeller Center selects a large Norway spruce from a private home, farm, or public land in the Northeast. The tree is usually 70–90 feet tall and at least 40–50 years old when chosen. It’s donated by a family or community that agrees to let the tree be cut and transported to New York City for the holiday season.

After the holidays, the tree is milled into lumber and donated to Habitat for Humanity to build homes, so it continues to “give back”.

Recent years’ origins

Here are where the Rockefeller tree came from in recent seasons:

• 2025 tree : From upstate New York (exact town/state not widely publicized yet, but typically in the Hudson Valley or Adirondack region).

• 2024 tree : A 78‑foot Norway spruce from Easton, Connecticut.

• 2023 tree : A 74‑foot Norway spruce from West Stockbridge, Massachusetts — the first time Massachusetts supplied the tree.

• 2022 tree : From West Orange, New Jersey.

• 2021 tree : From Christiansburg, Virginia (a rarer southern source).

How it’s chosen

Rockefeller Center accepts nominations from the public; families can submit their tree if it meets size and health requirements. A team of arborists visits the site to inspect the tree, and if approved, it’s cut in late November and trucked into Manhattan with a police escort.

The tree is then erected in mid‑November in Rockefeller Plaza and officially lit in early December during the famous tree‑lighting ceremony.

Fun historical note

The very first Rockefeller tree in 1931 wasn’t from a distant forest — it was a small 20‑foot balsam fir bought by construction workers on the Rockefeller Center site in Midtown Manhattan. Since 1933, though, the tradition has been to bring in a large, donated evergreen from outside the city.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.