Where to find iron ore in Minecraft

Iron is one of the most fundamental materials in all of Minecraft. Without iron ore and tools, players are going to spend a lot of time breaking wooden and stone tools.

Although ores were re-worked slightly in Minecraft's 1.17 update, they operate more or less the same. In pre-1.17 builds, players would mine iron ore blocks with a pickaxe and receive the iron ore block itself, which could then be smelted into ingots in a furnace.

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After the 1.17 update, iron ore blocks now drop raw iron instead, which is also smelted in a furnace the same way. Regardless, before players can smelt their raw iron, they'll need to find the ore blocks first.

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Minecraft guide to finding iron ore in the Overworld

Without raw iron, iron ingots are much harder to obtain in Minecraft (Image via Mojang)

During world generation in Minecraft, iron ore blocks are placed in small clusters or "blobs" roughly 40 times per chunk in 0-13 blobs. These clusters can be found in a wide range of height levels, anywhere between levels 128 to 320. In many situations, iron ore is considered to appear most heavily around layer 255 with the distribution dropping the closer players get to levels 128 or 320.

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As of Minecraft 1.18, iron ore generates in batches of three. The first batch of blobs generates as outlined above, the second forms six times per chunk in blobs of 0-13 between levels -24 to 54 and are most common around height level 15. The third batch generates three times per chunk in blobs of roughly 0-5 and generate in levels between -63 to 64.

Compared to its original iteration in Minecraft, iron ore has become much more plentiful based on the generation data. Thanks to the improvements enacted to the surface level and mountain ranges in Minecraft 1.18, iron ore is now much more visible at ground level and beyond in the Overworld.

If players are experiencing difficulties finding iron ore underground, it doesn't hurt to search above-ground stone structures such as mountains, cliffs, or even just ground-level stone blocks.

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A little diligence and some digging or traveling should result in iron ore appearing before players sooner rather than later. It's easier than ever to find iron ore in Minecraft, so keep your eyes peeled and your pickaxe at the ready. The search shouldn't take long.