Value of Private Land in the U.S. Mapped
In the 1800s, U.S. Congress passed various laws to encourage and accelerate the settlement of the West by disposing of national lands. As a result, about 1.29 billion acres (0,52 billion ha) of public domain land was transferred out of national ownership between 1781 and 2018. The total included transfers of 816 million acres (330 million ha) to private right, 328 million (133 million ha) acres to states generally, and 143 million acres (58 million ha) in Alaska under state and Native selection rights.
Nowadays, private individuals and corporations own about 60,2% of U.S. land. In total, about 77 million owners hold 1.3 billion acres (0.53 billion ha) of private land. Over 63% of the privately owned land is in farms and ranches. Another 32% of the privately owned land is in forests.
Below, the map shows the percentages of private lands in each U.S. state.
Percentage of Private Lands by every U.S. state
