Federal land ownership by state (2024)

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The following article outlines federal land data for all 50 states. An overview of federal land policy and how federal land is managed can be accessed here.

The federal government owns around 620 million acres of land (about 27 percent) of the 2.27 billion acres of land in the United States. Around 92 percent of federally owned acres are in 12 Western states.^[1]^[2]

Four federal agencies—the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) within the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture—oversee roughly 95 percent, or 608 to 610 million acres, of federal land.^[1]^[2]

HIGHLIGHTS

Alaska had the most federal land (222.7 million acres) while Nevada had the greatest percentage of federal land within a state (80.1 percent).

Connecticut and Iowa tied for the lowest percentage of federal land at 0.3 percent each.

Federal land by state

The table below summarizes the total acres and percentage of federal land in each state as of 2013 (the most recent year for which data is available).

Alaska had the most federal land (222.7 million acres) while Nevada had the greatest percentage of federal land within a state (80.1 percent). In contrast, Rhode Island and Connecticut had the fewest acres of federal land: 4,513 acres and 9,110 acres, respectively. Connecticut and Iowa tied for the lowest percentage of federal land at 0.3 percent each.^[1]

Federal land ownership by state (as of 2018)
State	Federal land acreage	Total state acreage	Percentage of federal land
Alabama	880,188	32,678,400	2.7%
Alaska	222,666,580	365,481,600	60.9%
Arizona	28,077,992	72,688,000	38.6%
Arkansas	3,159,486	33,599,360	9.4%
California	45,493,133	100,206,720	45.4%
Colorado	24,100,247	66,485,760	36.2%
Connecticut	9,110	3,135,360	0.3%
Delaware	29,918	1,265,920	2.4%
District of Columbia	9,649	39,040	24.7%
Florida	4,491,200	34,721,280	12.9%
Georgia	1,946,492	37,295,360	12.9%
Hawaii	829,830	4,105,600	20.2%
Idaho	32,789,648	52,933,120	61.9%
Illinois	423,782	35,795,200	1.2%
Indiana	384,726	23,158,400	1.7%
Iowa	97,509	35,860,480	0.3%
Kansas	253,919	52,510,720	0.5%
Kentucky	1,100,160	25,512,320	4.3%
Louisiana	1,353,291	28,867,840	4.7%
Maine	301,481	19,847,680	1.5
Maryland	205,362	6,319,360	3.2%
Massachusetts	62,680	5,034,880	1.2%
Michigan	3,637,599	36,492,160	10.0%
Minnesota	3,503,977	51,205,760	6.8%
Mississippi	1,552,634	30,222,720	5.1%
Missouri	1,702,983	44,248,320	3.8%
Montana	27,082,401	93,271,040	29.0%
Nebraska	546,852	49,031,680	1.1%
Nevada	56,262,610	70,264,320	80.1%
New Hampshire	805,472	5,768,960	14.0%
New Jersey	171,956	4,813,440	3.6%
New Mexico	24,665,774	77,766,400	31.7%
New York	230,992	30,680,960	0.8%
North Carolina	2,434,801	31,402,880	7.8%
North Dakota	1,733,641	44,452,480	3.9%
Ohio	305,502	26,222,080	1.2%
Oklahoma	683,289	44,087,680	1.5%
Oregon	32,244,257	61,598,720	52.3%
Pennsylvania	622,160	28,804,480	2.2%
Rhode Island	4,513	677,120	0.7%
South Carolina	875,316	19,374,080	4.5%
South Dakota	2,640,005	48,881,920	5.4%
Tennessee	1,281,362	26,727,680	4.8%
Texas	3,231,198	168,217,600	1.9%
Utah	33,267,621	52,696,960	63.1%
Vermont	465,888	5,936,640	7.8%
Virginia	2,373,616	25,496,320	9.3%
Washington	12,192,855	42,693,760	28.6%
West Virginia	1,134,138	15,410,560	7.4%
Wisconsin	1,854,085	35,011,200	5.3%
Wyoming	29,137,722	62,343,040	46.7%
United States	615,311,596	2,271,343,360	27.1%
Source: U.S. Congressional Research Service, "Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data"

Footnotes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Congressional Research Service, "Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data," February 21, 2020 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "CRSoverview" defined multiple times with different content
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 U.S. Congressional Research Service, "Federal Lands and Natural Resources: Overview and Selected Issues for the 113th Congress," December 8, 2014

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Federal land ownership by state (2024)

Federal land by state

See also

Footnotes