how many Americans own 40 acres or more of land?
March 7, 2009 3:25 PM Subscribe
how many Americans own 40 acres or more of land?
I'm trying to find statistics about the nature of private land ownership in the US and can't figure out where I need to look or if this information exists. I want to know what percentage of adult Americans own a sizeable chunk of land - my hunch is that most don't, and that the number is dwindling. Any help is appreciated.
US Census I only found homeownership statistics, which is different.
USDA Census helps with farm ownership numbers, but no other.
I'm trying to find statistics about the nature of private land ownership in the US and can't figure out where I need to look or if this information exists. I want to know what percentage of adult Americans own a sizeable chunk of land - my hunch is that most don't, and that the number is dwindling. Any help is appreciated.
US Census I only found homeownership statistics, which is different.
USDA Census helps with farm ownership numbers, but no other.
I own 41 acres of land, but it is on the side of a mountain and so fits into Flunkie's definition above. Sorry this is not more helpful.
posted by jessamyn at 3:45 PM on March 7, 2009
posted by jessamyn at 3:45 PM on March 7, 2009
I want to know what percentage of adult Americans own a sizeable chunk of land...I don't mean this as a nitpick, but I'm curious: do you say "adult" to exclude minors, or do you just mean non-corporate persons?
posted by onshi at 3:58 PM on March 7, 2009
There are GIS databases of "tax parcels," which are the tax designations given to pieces of property. If you had the right database (which may or may not exist), you could match tax parcels to individual ownership and use GIS software functions to compute the area of each.
posted by Derive the Hamiltonian of... at 3:59 PM on March 7, 2009
posted by Derive the Hamiltonian of... at 3:59 PM on March 7, 2009
Best answer: BTW, CIA Factbook says the area of the U.S. is 2.26396048 × 10^9 acres, which means the theoretical maximum number of individuals who could own 40 acres of U.S. territory is ~56.6 million or 18.6% of the July 2008 estimate of US population. Subract Flunkie's 30% estimate of federal land ownership, and that leaves ~39.6 million or 13.0%.
posted by onshi at 4:04 PM on March 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by onshi at 4:04 PM on March 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
Best answer: To further explain, the tax parcel databases I have seen (for parts of Oregon) contained a set of geographic coordinates to define the shape of each parcel and some zoning and other information attached to the parcel. GIS software can easily compute the area of each parcel, provided that you know how to use it (able to choose the appropriate projection, etc).
I think ESRI's online databases (www.geographynetwork.com) would be the place to start looking for this data, keeping in mind that you might have to compile/create the dataset you need yourself out of smaller sets and that your analysis might require use of GIS software.
posted by Derive the Hamiltonian of... at 4:06 PM on March 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
I think ESRI's online databases (www.geographynetwork.com) would be the place to start looking for this data, keeping in mind that you might have to compile/create the dataset you need yourself out of smaller sets and that your analysis might require use of GIS software.
posted by Derive the Hamiltonian of... at 4:06 PM on March 7, 2009 [1 favorite]
40 acres in private, individual ownership is, by overwhelming odds, likely to be a farm or ranch almost by definition if it's arable. That's a lot of land for, say, a backyard swimming pool or your own golf course.
Ted Turner has hundreds of thousands of acres and I believe they are all farmed, ranched or environmental preserves. I know someone with 50 acres in Vermont; they farm goats and make goat cheese and maple syrup. My grandparents had several hundred acres but more or less farmed cattle. I just don't know why you'd have that much land and not do something with it.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:24 PM on March 7, 2009
Ted Turner has hundreds of thousands of acres and I believe they are all farmed, ranched or environmental preserves. I know someone with 50 acres in Vermont; they farm goats and make goat cheese and maple syrup. My grandparents had several hundred acres but more or less farmed cattle. I just don't know why you'd have that much land and not do something with it.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:24 PM on March 7, 2009
@ DarlingBri: There are probably quite a few landlords (mostly corporate I suppose) whose total land ownership exceeds 40 acres, but I guess the OP's stipulation of a singular "chunk" excludes these.
What an interesting question!
posted by onshi at 4:28 PM on March 7, 2009
What an interesting question!
posted by onshi at 4:28 PM on March 7, 2009
totally off topic... but..
I wonder what the global stats are... I mean.. 40 acres is a lot of land.. so the highest numbers of non-corporate owned swaths of lands are probably in undeveloped nations? or maybe I'm totally wrong.. But I'm going to guess India has the largest number of individuals who own more than 40acres of land..
on topic...
perhaps the way to get the answer in the US is to look up land ownership records in the states that are most likely to have >40 acre lots (eg. Montana, Utah, etc?)...
Or get an average prices per acre in a state.. and try to find the number of individuals with a net worth more than that price? That might give you an upper bound?
any other approaches?
posted by mhh5 at 4:45 PM on March 7, 2009
I wonder what the global stats are... I mean.. 40 acres is a lot of land.. so the highest numbers of non-corporate owned swaths of lands are probably in undeveloped nations? or maybe I'm totally wrong.. But I'm going to guess India has the largest number of individuals who own more than 40acres of land..
on topic...
perhaps the way to get the answer in the US is to look up land ownership records in the states that are most likely to have >40 acre lots (eg. Montana, Utah, etc?)...
Or get an average prices per acre in a state.. and try to find the number of individuals with a net worth more than that price? That might give you an upper bound?
any other approaches?
posted by mhh5 at 4:45 PM on March 7, 2009
But I'm going to guess India has the largest number of individuals who own more than 40 acres of land.
You don't seem to be taking population density into account. My guess would be Australia or NZ - small populations, vast land masses.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:14 PM on March 7, 2009
You don't seem to be taking population density into account. My guess would be Australia or NZ - small populations, vast land masses.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:14 PM on March 7, 2009
My dad owns 40 acres and it's not for farming or ranching. It's wooded and he uses it for hunting.
It's actually a pretty common practice up here. (Northern Wisconsin)
posted by Bonzai at 7:15 PM on March 7, 2009
It's actually a pretty common practice up here. (Northern Wisconsin)
posted by Bonzai at 7:15 PM on March 7, 2009
Following up on onshi's post: the world's total landmass is 5.1 x 10^8 km^2, which means there's enough land for about 3.15 billion people to own 40 acres apiece.
Put another way, there's enough land in the world for each man, woman, and child to get 15-20 acres. About 10% of land is supposedly arable, so that's almost 2 acres per person. [source]
posted by miyabo at 8:03 PM on March 7, 2009
Put another way, there's enough land in the world for each man, woman, and child to get 15-20 acres. About 10% of land is supposedly arable, so that's almost 2 acres per person. [source]
posted by miyabo at 8:03 PM on March 7, 2009
If it helps you get a sense of perspective, there are 640 acres in a square mile.
posted by aquafortis at 8:05 PM on March 7, 2009
posted by aquafortis at 8:05 PM on March 7, 2009
Owning a back 40 is definitely not uncommon, as Bonzai says. It is mostly hunting land. Also Wisconsin.
posted by sulaine at 8:10 PM on March 7, 2009
posted by sulaine at 8:10 PM on March 7, 2009
Someone who owns forty acres is either immensely wealthy, a rancher or farmer or something, owns unusable land in the middle of a desert or a mountain, or some combination thereof.
One certainly does not have to be immensely wealthy to own 40 acres of land in a rural area. You can buy a trailer on 40 acres somewhere isolated for less than an ordinary house in a city, but most people don't want to live in those rural areas. I'm not talking about places where there are rivers running through your backyard or anything, but there is plenty of land in the middle of boring (to most people) plains far from where the immensely wealthy want to build vacation homes.
For an ordinary person, fulfilling a dream of owning 40 acres won't be exactly cheap, but it is certainly doable if that is indeed what they really want to do. You can find something that size for what some people spend on a fancy car.
As far as the number of people who own 40 acres or more, you should consider a few things: Are you going to count only owners of parcels larger than 40 acres, or include people who own, say, 4 ten-acre parcels? What about people who basically own the land as an individual or couple but have it in an LLC?
posted by yohko at 9:59 PM on March 7, 2009
One certainly does not have to be immensely wealthy to own 40 acres of land in a rural area. You can buy a trailer on 40 acres somewhere isolated for less than an ordinary house in a city, but most people don't want to live in those rural areas. I'm not talking about places where there are rivers running through your backyard or anything, but there is plenty of land in the middle of boring (to most people) plains far from where the immensely wealthy want to build vacation homes.
For an ordinary person, fulfilling a dream of owning 40 acres won't be exactly cheap, but it is certainly doable if that is indeed what they really want to do. You can find something that size for what some people spend on a fancy car.
As far as the number of people who own 40 acres or more, you should consider a few things: Are you going to count only owners of parcels larger than 40 acres, or include people who own, say, 4 ten-acre parcels? What about people who basically own the land as an individual or couple but have it in an LLC?
posted by yohko at 9:59 PM on March 7, 2009
There are GIS databases of "tax parcels," which are the tax designations given to pieces of property. If you had the right database (which may or may not exist), you could match tax parcels to individual ownership and use GIS software functions to compute the area of each.
These databases often already come with owners names. But they are created county by county, and sometimes they are incomplete. For example, last I heard, in the San Francisco Bay Area, the regional government agency that works closely with land use planning (ABAG) doesn't even have a full set. And that is only for a nine-county region -- imagine trying to get that dataset for the whole country! I think some for-profit groups do compile them, but they will charge a lot.
I'll keep thinking... I saw a good paper on the average parcel size of new development about two years ago by ... the EPA? ... the USDA? The authors might have a few good suggestions about data sources.
You might also try a few of the national data sources about wealth and savings and see if any of them ask about land ownership.
posted by salvia at 3:04 AM on March 8, 2009
These databases often already come with owners names. But they are created county by county, and sometimes they are incomplete. For example, last I heard, in the San Francisco Bay Area, the regional government agency that works closely with land use planning (ABAG) doesn't even have a full set. And that is only for a nine-county region -- imagine trying to get that dataset for the whole country! I think some for-profit groups do compile them, but they will charge a lot.
I'll keep thinking... I saw a good paper on the average parcel size of new development about two years ago by ... the EPA? ... the USDA? The authors might have a few good suggestions about data sources.
You might also try a few of the national data sources about wealth and savings and see if any of them ask about land ownership.
posted by salvia at 3:04 AM on March 8, 2009
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Of course most people don't own forty acres. Someone who owns forty acres is either immensely wealthy, a rancher or farmer or something, owns unusable land in the middle of a desert or a mountain, or some combination thereof.
There isn't even nearly enough land in the United States for most Americans to possibly own forty acres - not even if you ignore the fact that a huge amount of land is owned by no particular person (the federal government owns about 30% of all land, then there are state governments, county governments, town governments, corporations, et cetera).
posted by Flunkie at 3:38 PM on March 7, 2009