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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 from national ownership between 1781 and 2018. The total included transfers of 816 million acres (330 million ha) to private rights, 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, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
Percentage of Private Lands by every U.S. state
Rhode Island has the highest percentage of private land in the United States.
The percentages of private lands in each U.S. state‘
Rank
State
% that is Private Land
1
RI
98.5
2
KS
98.1
3
IA
97.2
4
NE
97.2
5
IL
95.9
6
OH
95.8
7
TX
95.8
8
IN
95.5
9
OK
95.4
10
ME
94.3
11
CT
93.8
12
MA
93.7
13
AL
92.9
14
DE
92.6
15
MD
92.4
16
SD
91.1
17
ND
90.9
18
GA
90.3
19
LA
89.3
20
MS
89.1
21
MO
88.8
22
KY
88.2
23
SC
88.2
24
TN
85.9
25
NC
85.4
26
VT
84.2
27
PA
83.9
28
WV
83.5
29
VA
82.9
30
AR
82.7
31
WI
82.2
32
NH
82
33
NJ
81.7
34
HI
81
35
MN
76.5
36
MI
71.9
37
FL
70.8
38
NY
62.9
39
MT
62.5
40
WA
58.1
41
CO
56.7
42
NM
52.6
43
CA
47.9
44
WY
44.1
45
AZ
43.2
46
OR
39.6
47
ID
29.6
48
UT
24.8
49
NV
12.2
50
AK
4.2
The value of private land varies significantly across the country. Land values fall off wholly in the high plains as soon as you cross into dry land that requires irrigation for farming (approximately the 100th meridian). The concentration of low land values in eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia is in line with some of the most severe poverty in Appalachia. The tremendous land values in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The map below, created by Reddit user KenFyr, shows the value of private land in the United States.
Value of private land in the contiguous U.S.
The 100 largest private landowners in the United States have 40 million acres (16 million ha), or about 2 percent of the nation’s landmass. For comparison, 10 years ago, the top 100 landowners had less than 30 million acres (12 million ha).
Noticing the difference between the land poverty of Canadians – where only 11% of the land is privately owned, and the U.S., where 60% of the land is privately owned. Not that it seems to be making a huge difference in the home ownership crisis. Here, most of the land is sequestered by the Goverment – there most is sequestered by the wealthy. The net result for the ordinary man is pretty much the same.
Noticing the difference between the land poverty of Canadians – where only 11% of the land is privately owned, and the U.S., where 60% of the land is privately owned. Not that it seems to be making a huge difference in the home ownership crisis. Here, most of the land is sequestered by the Goverment – there most is sequestered by the wealthy. The net result for the ordinary man is pretty much the same.