Aquaculture has been one of the fastest-growing food production systems, experiencing significant production intensification in recent years. Aquaponics integrates an aquaculture subsystem with a hydroponics component. Aquaponic industries can significantly reduce or eliminate the need for wastewater discharge. Nevertheless, both aquaculture and aquaponics involve high energy input for aeration, water pumping, heating, and lighting, which are essential for optimizing culture conditions for the aquatic animals and plants, possibly leading to an elevated global warming effect. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a standardized environmental management approach by the International Organization for Standardization that has been employed broadly across various fields and industries. There are a few applications of LCA in aquaculture in the US, and none focused on the culture of fish. Hence, the objectives of this study are the development of quantitative metrics from current aquaculture and aquaponics farms in the North Central Region (NCR) of the US (Figure 1). The five studied farms identified in this study include a barramundi farm in Indiana, a rainbow trout farm in Wisconsin, a yellow perch aquaponic farm in Ohio, a yellow perch aquaculture farm in Ohio, and a largemouth bass farm in Illinois. The metrics indicate that electricity consumption is a major driver of environmental impact across most categories for fish cultured in RAS and aquaponics systems, especially for warm-water species that require thermal regulation in temperate climates. The environmental impacts of aquaculture operations across different species in the Midwest are distinctly influenced by factors such as electricity usage, feed production, and nutrient management practices. All of the aquaculture operations using different aquaculture species exhibit a reliance on electricity due to energy-intensive processes such as heating or cooling of facilities, aeration, lighting, and water pumping. By optimizing energy usage, enhancing feed efficiency, and improving wastewater treatment, these systems can become more sustainable and significantly reduce their environmental footprint, paving the way for more environmentally friendly aquaculture operations.