More than two-million landowners rented out 348 million acres of farmland in the United States in 2024.
That’s according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service’s 2024 Tenure, Ownership, and Transition of Agricultural Land– or TOTAL– survey released this week (March 12, 2026). Of these acres, 79% are owned by non-farming landlords.
Non-operating landlords include entities who rent out agricultural land under a variety of ownership arrangements, such as privately owned, trust, family entity, non-family entity, or other. Of the land rented out by non-operating landlords, over 251 million acres were rented out by private landowners, trusts, or family entities.
According to the survey results, rented farmland acres, combined with buildings on this land, are valued at more than $1.6 trillion. In 2024, landlords received a combined $34.1 billion in rental income while incurring $12.0 billion in total operating expenses.
NASS Administrator Joe Parsons said about 43 million (5%) of the nearly 900 million acres of farmland in the U.S. are slated for ownership transfer in the next five years. He said that’s not including farmland that is in– or is expected to be put into– wills or trusts.
Survey data shows 23 million acres of land are expected to be sold to a non-relative, while 20 million acres are expected to be sold to a relative or given as a gift. This means only a small percentage of farmland will be put up for sale.
The TOTAL survey also provides a glimpse into demographic information for 1.8 million non-farming entities, also known as principal landlords. According to the findings, the average age of these landlords is 69.2 years old while the 2022 Census of Agriculture shows the average age of farmers in this country is 58.1 years old. Only 12% of all principal landlords were under 55 years old and nearly 52% of all the them have never farmed.
Parsons said as the only source of detailed information on agricultural land ownership characteristics and economic data, the TOTAL survey provides important statistics to government, academia, the farming industry, and others regarding agricultural land ownership. He said the data is used for planning, policymaking, research, and market analysis.
Find the complete 2024 TOTAL results, in addition to key data highlights, methodology, and Frequently Asked Questions, on the USDA NASS website,
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Surveys/Guide_to_NASS_Surveys/TOTAL, or in the USDA NASS Quick Stats database, http://quickstats.nass.usda.gov.
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