Where you can buy unpasteurized (raw) milk depends almost entirely on which state or country you live in. Federal law in the United States prohibits selling raw milk across state lines, but individual states set their own rules, and they vary dramatically. Some allow raw milk on grocery store shelves, others restrict sales to the farm itself, and a handful ban it outright.
How to Find Raw Milk Near You
The most practical starting point is an online directory. The Raw Milk Institute maintains a list of farms that follow its voluntary testing standards, searchable by state. Two other widely used directories, Realmilk.com and GetRawMilk.com, cover a broader range of producers including smaller operations that may not carry any formal listing. These sites typically show the farm’s location, what animals they milk, and whether they sell on-site or deliver.
Beyond directories, many raw milk producers advertise at local farmers’ markets, through farm co-ops, or on social media. If you live in a state that permits retail sales, you may also find raw milk in natural food stores or specialty grocers, sometimes in a refrigerated section with a required warning label.
State Laws: Retail, Farm Sales, and Herdshares
States generally fall into one of four categories. Some permit retail store sales, meaning raw milk can sit on a shelf alongside pasteurized brands. Others allow sales only at the farm where the milk was produced, so you need to drive to the dairy to pick it up. A growing number of states expressly allow herdshare arrangements (more on those below). And some states prohibit the sale of raw milk to consumers entirely.
Because these laws change, your best move is to check your state’s department of agriculture website or search for your state’s name plus “raw milk law.” The CDC has also published a state-by-state map tracking these regulations, though it covers data through 2019 and some states have updated their rules since then.
How Herdshare Programs Work
In states where selling raw milk is illegal, many consumers use a workaround called a herdshare. You buy a partial ownership stake in a herd of cows or goats. For the price of the share plus a monthly boarding fee, you receive a weekly distribution of your herd’s milk. Because you technically own a piece of the herd, you’re not “buying” milk. You’re collecting a product from animals you co-own.
The legal footing of herdshares is uneven. States like Colorado and Michigan explicitly allow them. In states that neither permit nor prohibit herdshares, the arrangement exists in a gray area. Only three U.S. courts have ruled on herdshare agreements, and they split: two struck down the agreements as disguised milk sales, while one allowed the arrangement to stand. Courts tend to look closely at whether the contract genuinely reflects shared ownership and risk, or whether it’s just a retail transaction dressed up in legal language. Agreements are more likely to hold up if the shareholder takes on some financial risk if the herd loses value, receives benefits beyond just milk, and doesn’t link any payment directly to picking up a jug.
What About Outside the United States?
In Canada, selling raw milk for human consumption is prohibited nationwide, though some provinces have herdshare arrangements similar to those in the U.S. In the United Kingdom, raw milk can be sold directly from farms and at farmers’ markets in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, but it must carry a warning label. Scotland bans its sale. Across the European Union, raw milk sales are permitted in many countries under strict hygiene rules. EU regulations require that raw cow’s milk contain no more than 100,000 bacteria per milliliter and no more than 400,000 somatic cells per milliliter, with mandatory testing for antibiotics.
What to Look for in a Producer
Not all raw milk farms operate at the same standard. Since pasteurization isn’t there as a safety net, the hygiene and testing protocols at the farm matter a great deal. Reputable producers typically test their milk regularly for total bacteria count and somatic cell count. For context, the legal limit for bacteria in Grade A raw milk is 100,000 per milliliter, but well-managed farms routinely achieve counts of 10,000 or less. Somatic cell counts above 200,000 to 300,000 generally indicate udder infections in the herd, even though the legal ceiling is 750,000.
When evaluating a farm, look for producers who post their test results publicly or share them on request, keep their herds on pasture, and maintain clean milking and bottling facilities. Farms listed through the Raw Milk Institute voluntarily submit to third-party testing and follow a risk analysis plan, which provides an extra layer of accountability, though it is not a government certification.
Safety Risks to Understand
Raw milk can carry Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, and Campylobacter. These aren’t theoretical risks. Between 2009 and 2021, 143 outbreaks confirmed or suspected to be linked to raw milk consumption were reported to the CDC. Sixteen of those were Salmonella outbreaks, with a median of 10 illnesses per outbreak. As recently as late 2023, a multi-state Salmonella outbreak was traced to a single commercially distributed raw milk brand in California.
The people most vulnerable to serious complications are young children, pregnant women, older adults, and anyone with a weakened immune system. For healthy adults, a foodborne illness from raw milk typically means a few days of severe gastrointestinal symptoms, but for high-risk groups, infections like listeriosis can be life-threatening.
Does Raw Milk Have More Nutrients?
This is one of the main reasons people seek out raw milk, but the nutritional differences are smaller than many advocates claim. Standard pasteurization (known as Holder pasteurization, which heats milk to about 145°F for 30 minutes) does not significantly reduce protein, fat, or most vitamin levels. In direct comparisons, protein content between raw and pasteurized milk is nearly identical. The amino acid lysine and the B vitamin thiamine do decline with more aggressive heat treatments like ultra-high-temperature processing, but standard pasteurization leaves both largely intact.
Where raw milk does differ is in its active enzymes and bacterial profile. Pasteurization inactivates enzymes like lactoperoxidase and destroys both harmful and beneficial bacteria. Some people report finding raw milk easier to digest, though controlled studies on this are limited. The nutritional case for raw milk is less about vitamins and more about these living components that heat destroys.