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The old saying about land is that “they aren't making any more of it.”
While many view investments in land as a solid choice for consistent returns, these groups have taken it to the extreme.
According to the 2019 Winter Land Report, these are the 13 largest private land owners in the United States.
Today, we'll be covering how much land they own, where it is, what type of land it is as well as how they amassed their properties.
Want to be a private landowner yourself?Get started with AcreTrader!
Top Landowners In The US
Table of Contents
Landowners
Total Acres
1. John Malone
2,200,000
2. Emmerson Family
2,078,032
3. Ted Turner
2,000,000
4. Reed Family
1,726,295
5. Stan Kroenke
1,380,000
6. Irving Family
1,247,880
7. Peter Buck
1,236,000
8. Brad Kelley
1,139,984
9. Singleton Family
1,110,000
10. King Ranch Heirs
911,215
11. Pingree Heirs
830,000
12. Wilks Brothers
705,475
13. Briscoe Family
640,000
1. John Malone – 2,200,000 Acres
Billionaire John Malone has the title of the largest private land owner in the United States. His fortune was made in the media space, where he still today owns many media assets we all consume today.
Currently the chairman and largest shareholder of Liberty Media, he also owns 28% of Discover Communications. He also owns 8% of the sports team the Atlanta Braves.
Thanks to his land ownership and media assets, his net worth is now a staggering $9.2 Billion.
After spending a summer in Pennsylvania, he decided to go on a massive land-buying spree that largely has not stopped. He owns land in Florida, New Mexico, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, Colorado, and Wyoming.
This is a combination of farmland, ranch land, and timberland.
Archie Aldis “Red” Emmerson and his family collectively own over 2 Million acres of land.
Particularly, they invest in timberland. His company Sierra Pacific Industries is the largest private lumber production firm in the United States. They own 14 different sawmills sprawling across the country.
Red started SPI with his father back in 1949.
Despite being 89 years old, Red drives his pickup truck to work himself before 8 am, 6 days a week.
Red and his team also capitalize on wildfires, going in when most people are getting out. Forbes estimates that the Emmerson Family has made more money from logging after forest fires than anyone else in America.
3. Ted Turner – 2,000,000 Acres
Ted Turner is most well known for his involvement in television production. He was the founder of the Cable News Network, the very first 24-hour cable news channel.
Most of the land that Turner owns is ranches. These are referred to as “Turner Ranches.” Each one operates as a working business, supported by bison, hunting, fishing and tourism.
The ranches are also using cutting-edge practices for water conservation as well as timber management, as well as releasing native species back into the wild land.
Across all of the ranches, Turner Enterprises is managing over 45,000 bison.
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4. Reed Family – 1,726,295 Acres
What happens when a failed logger marries into a family with massive control in the logging industry? You get the 4th largest landowner in the United States.
Reed was hired in 1897 to manage the Simpson Logging Company. Reed married Simpson's daughter in 1901. After Simpson died in 1906, Reed assumed control of Simpson Logging.
In 2014, a 600,000 acre timberland purchase in Oregon is what landed them on this list.
This family owns prime forest land across California, Washington and Oregon.
Kroenke Ranches is quickly becoming one of America's largest renewable energy landlords.
In 2016, he completed what was deemed the most expensive ranch sale ever. The 510,000-acre ranch he purchased is believed to be the largest ranch behind a single fence in the United States.
Stan earned his wealth from sports. He is the owner of the NFL team Los Angeles Rams.
6. Irving Family – 1,247,880 Acres
This family owns land specifically in the state of Maine. This makes them the single largest landowner in this state.
Outside of the United States, this family owns a whopping 2 million acres of land in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Canada. They also own all 3 English-language newspapers in New Brunswick.
One of the key initiatives of the Irving Family is planting trees. In the US and Canada, they plant around 20 Million trees annually. To date, they have planted over 1 Billion trees.
Outside of newspapers, they are also largely involved in the oil business.
7. Peter Buck – 1,236,000 Acres
Next on the list, we have the co-founder of Subway!
Peter Buck and his family own a lot of timberland, and are rapidly expanding their land portfolio. In 2020, they acquired an additional 311,000 acres of timberland in Maine.
Outside of Maine, Buck's foundation has also purchased land in New York and Connecticut.
8. Brad Kelley – 1,139,984 Acres
Brad Kelley is a tobacco billionaire, however, he has been selling much of his land in recent years. He may not be on this list for much longer as a result.
Kelley owns ranches in Texas, Florida, and New Mexico.
9. Singleton Family – 1,110,000 Acres
The Singleton Ranches started in 1986 with their first land purchase in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Singleton wanted to specifically preserve the ranching heritage that has been around in New Mexico for hundreds of years.
Singleton raises and breeds horses and cows on this land today.
Dr. Singleton passed away in 1999, but now his 5 children continue operating his ranches on his behalf carrying on his mission.
Henry Earl Singleton was an electrical engineer. At one point, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He was the co-founder of Teledyne, Inc a publicly traded industrial conglomerate.
10. King Ranch Heirs – 911,215 Acres
Henry King amassed his fortunes as a steamboat captain. He diversified his wealth into land over the course of many years. However, most of his fame comes from the sprawling King Ranch, dating back to the 1800s.
The reputation of King Ranch is a hallmark of Texas history, and hosts many cultural touchstones, including museums, wildlife walks, hunting tours, education programs, and many other cultural-community functions.
King Ranch Heirs now own ranches in Texas, California, and Florida that derive income from ranching, hunting, farming, ecotourism, and oil operations.
11. Pingree Heirs – 830,000 Acres
Land presents an opportunity to build wealth not only for yourself, but also for your posterity. This is certainly the case for the Pingree Heirs.
David Pingree was a merchant in Massachusetts in the mid-1800s. He became known as the Merchant Prince of Salem due to the vast size of his business. Throughout his lifetime, he amassed nearly a million acres of land throughout the northeast.
Today, his descendants own roughly 830,000 acres of land passed on from generation to generation. The land is primarily located in Maine and held through Pingree's company, Seven Islands Land Co.
12. Wilks Brothers – 705,475 Acres
The Wilks Brothers, Farris and Dan, became billionaires after selling their hydraulic fracking company, Frac Tech, in 2011. They made $3.5 billion in exchange for their 70% interest in the company.
Since, the brothers have been acquiring land primarily in Montana and Idaho. However, they also own land in Oregon, Tennessee, and Texas where they actually reside.
13. Briscoe Family – 640,000 Acres
Former Texas governor, Dolph Briscoe Jr., was once ranked as the largest landowner in Texas. He inherited much of the land from his father, Dolph Sr. Since the passing of Dolph Jr., the legacy lives on with his children: Dolph III, Janey, and Cele.
Their family operations are headquartered on Catarina Ranch, which is approximately 100,000 acres and located in Texas. The Catarina ranch is actually the second largest ranch in Texas, behind the King Ranch.
Largest Private Land Owners: Sum Totals
The United States has roughly 2.4 billion acres of total land mass. Together, these 13 largest private land owners have a combined 16.9 million acres!
While each of them own significant portions of land, their stories are all unique.
It truly does go to show how much a universal asset land really is.
To learn more about land investments, be sure to check out our complete farmland investing guide.
The 2022 Land Report 100, compiled each year by The Land Report magazine, released its annual list of landowners who own the most acres in the United States. The nation's largest private landowners are the Emmerson family in California who own over 2.4 million acres.
The 2022 Land Report 100, compiled each year by The Land Report magazine, released its annual list of landowners who own the most acres in the United States. The nation's largest private landowners are the Emmerson family in California who own over 2.4 million acres.
The nation's largest private landowners, California's Emmerson family, are a prime example of this trend. Through their Sierra Pacific Industries, the Emmersons increased their landholdings by more than 100 square miles to over 2.4 million acres.
John Malone used his telecom fortune to acquire 2,200,000 acres of land. Like the second-biggest landowner in the country, John Malone made his fortune in telecommunications and media, and was CEO of cable provider Tele-Communications, Inc.
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is not only one of the richest men in the world, with a net worth of $190 billion at the time of this writing, but also he is one of the biggest private landowners in the United States. Bezos owns 420,000 acres. Much of his land is in West Texas.
King Ranch, largest ranch in the United States, composed of a group of four tracts of land in southeastern Texas, totaling approximately 825,000 acres (333,800 hectares). The King Ranch was established by Richard King, a steamboat captain born in 1825 in Orange county, New York.
There are nearly 1.3 billion acres of privately owned agricultural land in the United States. Under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act, foreign investors in U.S. agricultural land must report their transactions to USDA. USDA then publishes an annual report with data from these disclosures.
The Federal Government owns about 33 percent of the 2.3 billion acres; private individuals own 60 percent; State and public agencies and American Indians own the rest. HOW IS THE LAND USED? About 7-8 million farm, ranch, and forest owners hold close to 95 percent of all privately held land in 14-17 million parcels.
China owns roughly 384,000 acres of U.S. agricultural land, according to a 2021 report from the Department of Agriculture. Of that, 195,000 acres, worth almost $2 billion when purchased, are owned by 85 Chinese investors, which could be individuals, companies or the government.
Approximately 27.1% of land in Florida is owned by the federal government, leaving 72.9% of Florida's land to private ownership. The Bureau of Land Management oversees the largest portion of federally owned land in Florida at 39.7%.
The largest real estate company in the USA is Coldwell Banker. Founded in 1906, Coldwell Banker has over 100 years of experience buying and selling homes that they share with the people they work for. It has a total of 3000 offices and even exists in more than 49 countries.
Currently, investors are attracted to farmland due to its low correlation with the stock market's volatility. This makes it an exceptional tool for diversifying portfolios. Farmers have pricing power for their crops. Food is not a discretionary item on any budget.
After gaining permission from the Vatican, Burhans underwent a comprehensive of bringing the Church into the 21st century. A live database provides a visual of all its land holdings. Conclusion: The Catholic Church owns the most land, far more than McDonald's and billionaire Bill Gates.
American billionaires are buying large ranches across Wyoming, Montana and Texas, creating a new class of luxury assets, writes Bloomberg. Why it matters: The wealthy are often buying the land from "asset-rich, cash poor" small farmers whose families have owned the land for decades.
1. Waggoner Ranch: The Waggoner Ranch is located in North Texas and is on 535,000 acres. It was built in 1849 and originally was owned by Dan Waggoner.
When Yellowstone is not filming on the 2,500-acre ranch, the owners rent out some of the cabins on the property to visitors. Guests can spend their time fishing, horseback riding, and hiking through the area's beautiful mountains.
“The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has no business purchasing land near military bases or for agricultural purposes – or for any other reason,” said Rep. Bill Johnson. “It is a critical matter of national security that we prevent the CCP from buying large swaths of American land.
Located in Hemet, California, the 2,000 acre ranch is nestled in the small agricultural community of Sage — a 20-minute drive from Temecula wine country. Wayne's former home is 3,000 square feet, features three bedrooms, three full bathrooms and a number of luxury amenities.
What Is the Oldest Business in the United States? The Shirley Plantation is the oldest company in America. It began operating almost 400 years ago, in 1638. The Shirley Plantation is the oldest family-owned business in the United States and the oldest active plantation in Virginia.
Across America, subsidiaries of the church reportedly hold 1m acres of agricultural land. This is thought to include land in Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah and Texas. Church companies are also thought to hold land outside the US, including in Canada and Brazil.
New Estimates of Value of Land of the United States (PDF)
Estimates suggest that this 1.89 billion acres of land are collectively worth approximately $23 trillion in 2009 (current prices), with 24% of the land area and $1.8 trillion of the value held by the federal government.
In the US, if no one specifically owns land it owned by the state or federal government by default so there is no unowned in the US. Government owned land that is not designated for a specific purpose is called the 'public domain' and at the federal level is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
Chinese entities owned 42,596 acres of Missouri agricultural land as of 2021 — just a little under half of the roughly 100,000 agricultural acres owned by all foreign entities, according to the Missouri Department of Agriculture.
The United States had 895.3 million acres of land in farms in 2021. The United States had 895.3 million acres of land in farms in 2021. Texas had the most land in farms in the United States in 2021 followed by Montana and Kansas. Texas accounted for more than 14% of the land in farms in the United States in 2021.
The largest agricultural landowner is the Chinese dairy farm 'Mudanjiang City Mega Farm', which is owned by Russian and Chinese owners. More than 9 million hectares belong to the company.
Joe's 382,834 acres brings the church's Florida holdings to 672,834 acres, or almost 2 percent of the state's land mass. The total does not include smaller isolated church parcels for its Orlando and South Florida temples and other interests. St.
Miami, Florida, which includes the city and the island of Miami Beach came in the number one spot on the list. The Henley and Partner's report stated that during December 2022, there were over 800 centi-millionaires with homes in the Florida city. Miami has also seen a millionaire growth rate of 75% from 2012 to 2022.
At the top, Orange County, California-based Donald Bren remains the wealthiest real estate billionaire in the country with an estimated $16.2 billion net worth, nearly $1 billion higher than last year.
1. The Family Of Queen Elizabeth II Of Great Britain. Although recently deceased, the Queen's royal family will inherit the leadership, which makes them the technical owners of the country. The total size of the British Commonwealth is an astounding 6.75 Billion acres.
Donald Bren, chair of Southern California-based Irvine Company, is the wealthiest American real estate titan, just cracking the top 100 (#97) with a $17.4 billion fortune, an increase of $1.2 billion from last year.
Livestock is probably the most common way farmers make money from their land. And while animals have a few more expenses and a higher overhead, they usually bring in top dollar in terms of net income.
The best states for farmland include Montana, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, North Dakota, Texas, Iowa, Kentucky, Wyoming, and California. Consider factors like profitability, cost of operation, infrastructure, and availability when selecting a location.
Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Michael Burry all invest in Farmland. Yet, most individual investors don't. I present the 3 reasons why I invest in farmland and how I do it.
Popes usually get paid hendsomely, the current wage he gets is $32,000 on a monthly basis but he refused to get any of that money. Instead, Pope Francis decided to either donate this money to the church, use it to endow a foundation, placed in trust or pass it on to a family member.
The role of the Vatican Bank is perhaps the most controversial and little-understood part of the Vatican's finances. Also known as the Institute for the Works of Religion, the Vatican Bank is a private bank located in Vatican City founded by Pope Pius XII in 1942.
Financial statements from 2021 show that the Institute for the Works of Religion, also known as the Vatican Bank, earned a net profit of 18.1 million euros and had a total of roughly 2.8 billion euros in assets, which amounts to more than $3 billion after adjusting for inflation.
High net worth investors typically keep millions of dollars or even tens of millions in cash in their bank accounts to cover bills and unexpected expenses. Their balances are often way above the $250,000 FDIC insured limit.
“Homes in the mountains serve as sanctuaries of privacy and security for newcomers and second homeowners,” says Philip White, CEO of Sotheby's International Realty. “The clean air and space are also a big draw.”
The 2022 Land Report 100, compiled each year by The Land Report magazine, released its annual list of landowners who own the most acres in the United States. The nation's largest private landowners are the Emmerson family in California who own over 2.4 million acres.
Ford family • Land area: 580,000 acres • Roughly equal to: Two-and-a-half times larger than Indianapolis. The descendants of the late Kenneth Ford own 580,000 acres primarily in Oregon. That's quadruple the roughly 4 million, or 5.7%, he owned in 2012, according to FactSet.
After gaining permission from the Vatican, Burhans underwent a comprehensive of bringing the Church into the 21st century. A live database provides a visual of all its land holdings. Conclusion: The Catholic Church owns the most land, far more than McDonald's and billionaire Bill Gates.
Across America, subsidiaries of the church reportedly hold 1m acres of agricultural land. This is thought to include land in Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah and Texas. Church companies are also thought to hold land outside the US, including in Canada and Brazil.
Due to this sale, the Ford family is now worth an estimated $1billion, according to Yahoo!. After Williams died in 2014, the team was given to his wife, Martha Firestone Ford, and then passed on to Shiela following her passing in 2020.
Contrary to popular belief, Ford does not have an ownership stake in King Ranch, and King Ranch is to this day a privately owned organization. Ford simply licenses the right to use the King Ranch name, which the company has trademarked.
We decided to look at the Catholic Church because with 1.36 billion members around the world, Catholics make up the biggest denomination in the biggest religious group on the planet. It's also one of the wealthiest.
John Malone is the largest private landowner in the United States. Malone made his fortune as a media tycoon, building the company Tele-Communications, Inc, or TCI, and acting as its CEO before selling it to AT&T for $50 billion in 1999.
The Mormon church stands to own nearly 2 percent of Florida by completing a deal to buy most of the real estate of the St. Joe Co. for more than a half-billion dollars.
Mormon church has $100bn 'clandestine hedge fund', says whistleblower. A former investment manager for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says that the organization stockpiled more than $100bn in funding intended for charity work but never spent it on such projects.
The Church and its affiliated entities also pay property taxes on property that is not used for religious, educational or charitable purposes, including taxes on undeveloped land and properties held for investment or commercial purposes.
Introduction: My name is Patricia Veum II, I am a vast, combative, smiling, famous, inexpensive, zealous, sparkling person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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