The Shocking Fact About America’s Largest Landowners

The U.S. covers about 2.26 billion acres—60% of that (1.3 billion acres) is privately held by rich people and firms. The majority of that land is made up of farms and ranches, and the remainder is usually forests.

U.S. farmland is effective. As of 2024, the common worth of farm actual property within the U.S. hit $4,170 an acre, greater than double what it was in 2007.

“Farmland is greater than a enterprise asset for many households in agriculture. Typically, farmland is a tangible image of legacy, objective, and stewardship along with a technique for rising the enterprise,” says Natalina Sents Bausch, digital director at Profitable Farming.

The Land Report analyzes information and transactions and releases a report of the highest 100 landowners within the U.S. Among the many record is Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Invoice Gates, who owns essentially the most farmland within the U.S., with over 260,000 acres in non-public agricultural land. Additionally on the record is Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos, who owns 420,000 acres of land, together with the 165,000-acre Corn Ranch in Far West Texas, which serves because the launch website for Bezos’ Blue Origin rockets.

Whereas Gates and Bezos are comparatively recognizable, the highest 10 landowners within the U.S. are people most individuals have doubtless not heard of. Some households have owned agricultural land and firms for generations, courting again over 100 years.

So, who’re the individuals, firms, and overseas international locations behind a lot of the land within the U.S.?

1. Emmerson Household: 2.4 Million Acres

Crimson Emmerson and his household are the most important landowners within the U.S., with 2.4 million acres in timberland throughout California, Oregon, and Washington. The Emmersons handle the land they personal by way of their firm, Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI), which is among the largest producers of lumber, renewable power, home windows, and millwork within the nation.

The Emmersons grew to become the nation’s largest landowners in 2021, once they acquired 175,000 acres in Oregon from Seneca Timber Firm, surpassing Liberty Media chairman John Malone‘s 2.2 million acres.

2. John Malone: 2.2 Million Acres

Media mogul and telecomm big John Malone is the second-largest landowner within the U.S., with 2.2 million acres throughout Wyoming, New Mexico, Florida, and Colorado.

Malone is the board chair at Liberty Media Company and the corporate’s largest shareholder, with a market cap of about $22 billion (as of June 2025). Malone was the CEO of a media firm, Tele Communications, Inc., which he offered to AT&T for about $50 billion in 1999.

His Malone Household Land Preservation Basis companions with varied organizations, such because the Land Institute, on initiatives centered on sustainability and conservation.

3. Ted Turner: 2 Million Acres

Ted Turner, the media billionaire who based tv conglomerate Turner Broadcasting System and CNN, is third on the record of the nation’s largest landowners, with 2 million acres in private and ranch land. Turner ranches throughout Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, and South Dakota, centered on ecotourism, managing bison, and looking and fishing.

Turner owns 1.1 million acres in New Mexico, together with a bunch of luxurious hospitality properties, together with Vermejo Park Ranch, which is the most important ranch within the U.S.

4. Stan Kroenke: 1.8 Million Acres

Actual property and sports activities mogul Stan Kroenke is the fourth largest landowner within the U.S., with about 1.8 million acres throughout Texas, Wyoming, and Nevada. Kroenke’s Waggoner Ranch in Texas is among the largest ranches within the U.S., at 510,000 acres. Based in 1849, Waggoner remains to be a working ranch with oil manufacturing and cattle.

By means of his sports activities empire, Kroenke owns the NFL group LA Rams, the NBA group Denver Nuggets, and the U.Okay. soccer membership Arsenal, amongst others.

5. Reed Household: 1.7 Million Acres

The Reed Household is the fifth-largest landowner within the U.S., with a complete of 1.7 million acres owned throughout California, Oregon, Washington, and Montana.

The Reed household has owned and managed Seattle-based forest administration firm Inexperienced Diamond Useful resource Firm for greater than 130 years. Inexperienced Diamond produces about 2 million board toes of logs yearly and is targeted on sustainable forest administration, together with delivering logs to native mills and forest carbon offsets.

6. Irving Household: 1.3 Million Acres

The Irving household owns 1.3 million acres of timberland in Maine and is the state’s largest non-public landowner. The household’s forest merchandise enterprise, J.D. Irving Restricted, is over 140 years previous and has timberland holdings in New Brunswick, Canada, and Maine. The household’s Irving Woodlands group has planted greater than 1 billion bushes in Canada and the U.S.

7. Buck Household: 1.2 Million Acres

The Buck household owns 1.2 million acres of timberland in Maine. The holdings as soon as belonged to late billionaire and nuclear physicist, Peter Buck, who co-founded the favored sandwich chain, Subway. Buck’s wealth and land are due to his $1,000 funding in 1965 in a sandwich store owned by his buddy’s son, which later was Subway, one of many world’s largest chain eating places.

8. Singleton Household: 1.1 Million Acres

The household of Henry Singleton, an entrepreneur and electrical engineer, owns 1.1 million acres in New Mexico. Singleton, who died in 1999, was the co-founder of business conglomerate Teledyne in 1960.

He later purchased the historic 81,000-acre San Cristobal Ranch in New Mexico and ultimately expanded his land holdings to over a million acres, largely by way of buying former Spanish land grants. Singleton Ranches has land throughout New Mexico and California, and has cattle and horse operations.

9. King Ranch Heirs: 911k Acres

The King Ranch heirs personal 911,215 acres throughout Texas and Florida. Based in 1853 by Captain Richard King primarily for cotton cultivation, King Ranch remains to be one of many largest cotton producers within the U.S. right this moment. Its Florida operation produces sugar cane, sod, rice, and candy corn and is the most important producer of orange juice within the U.S.

In response to an excerpt from James Marten’s guide “Slaves and Rebels: A Peculiar Establishment in Texas, 1861 – 1865,” there have been enslaved individuals on King Ranch on the time.

10. Pingree Heirs: 830k Acres

The Pingree heirs, descendants of David Pingree Sr., personal 830,000 acres of land in Maine. Pingree Sr. was a delivery service provider who expanded into timberland within the 1800s by way of his firm, Seven Islands Land Firm, which the household owns and operates right this moment.

How A lot Land Is Owned by Indigenous Individuals Within the U.S.?

Solely about 2.6% of American land is owned by Indigenous individuals right this moment, on account of compelled migration and land dispossession that started with European colonization within the seventeenth century.

Native tribes have misplaced 99% of the land they traditionally occupied in america, in keeping with information from 2021 on the long-term impacts of land dispossession.

In response to the analysis, Indigenous lands right this moment even have much less entry to take part within the power financial system, with 24% fewer oil and gasoline assets in comparison with historic lands.

How A lot of U.S. Land Is Owned by Different International locations?

International international locations are investing in U.S. land, too. International entities and people have a stake in an estimated 40 million acres within the U.S.—about 3.1% of the privately held farm and forest land—within the nation, in keeping with 2021 information (most up-to-date accessible) from the USDA.

Canada owns the most important share (31%) of foreign-owned U.S. land at 12.8 million acres. The Netherlands, Italy, the UK, and Germany maintain one other 31% of foreign-owned land, totaling 12.4 million acres mixed. In the meantime, China owns just one% of foreign-owned land within the U.S.

Half of all of the U.S. land held by overseas traders is for timber or forest land, adopted by crops, pasture, and different agricultural land, whereas simply 2% is non-agricultural land.

The Backside Line

Land in america is a strong and infrequently ignored asset, concentrated within the fingers of a small group of rich people, firms, and overseas traders. Whereas households just like the Emmersons, Malones, and Turners dominate non-public possession, overseas international locations like Canada and firms additionally maintain a significant stake.

In the meantime, Indigenous communities, who as soon as occupied almost all U.S. territory, now management only a small fraction. Understanding who owns the land helps make clear wealth distribution, useful resource entry, and nationwide coverage points.