Test Prep Courses/DSST Environmental Science PrepCourse
- AuthorReed Hepler
Reed Hepler received an M.L.I.S. from IUPUI, with emphases in Digital Curation and Archives Management. He received a Bachelor’s in History from USU, with minors in Religious Studies and Anthropology. He also earned a Certificate in Museum Studies. He has worked in museums, libraries, archives, and historical sites for the past four years.
View bio - InstructorRebecca Gillaspy
Dr. Gillaspy has taught health science at University of Phoenix and Ashford University and has a degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic.
View bio
Learn about U.S. federal land and how much land the U.S. government owns. Explore the history of federal land, state statistics and a map of government owned land.Updated: 11/21/2023
Table of Contents
- U.S. Federal Land
- How Much Land Does the U.S. Government Own?
- Lesson Summary
Frequently Asked Questions
How much land in the U.S. is federal land?
Between one quarter and one-third of the land in the United States is federal land. Most of the land is administered and managed by the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service.
Does the U.S. government own land?
The United States government owns a lot of lands within the borders of the country. It acquired this land in many ways, including taking it from Native Americans, buying it from other countries, and having it ceded from individual states.
What are examples of federal land?
There are many types of federal land throughout the United States. Examples of federal land use include national parks, federal prisons, and forest reserves.
Can you buy government owned land?
One can buy government land through two specifically regulated processes: auctions and sales. In the past, the federal government land to states and private institutions through grants.
Table of Contents
- U.S. Federal Land
- How Much Land Does the U.S. Government Own?
- Lesson Summary
Federal land is land that is owned by the government of the United States for various purposes, including resource production and management, environmental protection and preservation, and public enjoyment. As a result of the many purposes of federal land, there are dozens of bureaucratic agencies and divisions of agencies that carry out operations on federal land. The two most prevalent agencies are the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture.
The purpose of the Department of the Interior is to manage and conserve the land owned by the federal government. Under its auspices are the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service. The Department of Agriculture manages the forest land in the United States through the actions of the Forest Service.
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History of U.S. Federal Land
The history of United States federal land is a history of conflict between the United States and other countries, the United States and Native Americans, and the United States and individual states and organizations of constituents. It also bought land from other countries, such as the land in the Louisiana Purchase. The fourth method was through winning it in wars, such as the land ceded at the end of the Mexican-American War through the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
One of the first events that involved the federal control of land was the creation of settlement townships with the Land Ordinances of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Through these acts, the federal government used land which had been ceded to it by individual states and created other states through the formation of townships and territories. This system encroached upon the land which had been inhabited by Native Americans in the region, and they pushed back against this, eventually resulting in the initiation of the trend of relocation of Native Americans to reservations.
The federal government also has a significant amount of land in individual states, which the states and their constituents have resisted for various reasons. Most of the protests have occurred in the western region of the country, where states are mostly made up of federal land. Throughout the history of the United States, and up to the present day, the federal government has used the concept of ''eminent domain'' to justify gathering private lands for public use, especially for purposes of transportation such as the building of freeways and railroads.
One of the most notable protests against federal ownership and use of lands is the group of protests led by Cliven and Ammon Bundy in 2014 and 2016. They stated that private citizens had a right to use land that had been claimed by the federal government, and their actions in Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho led to repeated armed run-ins with federal officers, including police, members of the Forest Service, and members of the Department of the Interior.
Some of the land owned by the federal government has been returned to states or individuals. One of the most common methods for privatizing land or giving it to the states was through land grants, which were lands given to the states to fund programs or institutions meant for the benefit of the public. One can buy land through regulated auctions and sales hosted by the government.
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How many acres of land are in the United States? The area of the entire United States is just over 2.4 billion acres, including the bodies of water and waterways within the national boundaries. Estimates of the percentage of this land owned by the federal government range from twenty-seven to twenty-eight percent, but in any case, the United States owns between a quarter and a third of its total land, around six hundred forty million acres.
Uses of private land include:
- Grazing of livestock
- Housing
- Farming
The main purposes of the land owned by the federal government are:
- Federal Prisons
- National Parks
- National Wildlife Refuges
- Land Development
- Natural Resources
- Military Reservations
Government Owned Land by State
The data below is taken directly from a federal report published in 2020. It was gathered in 2018 and is the most recent data available.
| State | Total Acreage of Federal Land | Percent of Land owned by the Federal Government | Primary Federal Land-Management Agency in the State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 880,188 | 2.7 | Forest Service |
| Alaska | 222,666,580 | 60.9 | Fish and Wildlife Service |
| Arizona | 28,077,992 | 38.6 | Bureau of Land Management |
| Arkansas | 3,159,486 | 9.4 | Forest Service |
| California | 45,493,133 | 45.4 | Forest Service |
| Colorado | 24,100,247 | 36.2 | Forest Service |
| Connecticut | 9,110 | 0.3 | National Park Service |
| Delaware | 29,918 | 2.4 | Fish and Wildlife Service |
| Florida | 4,491,200 | 12.9 | National Park Service |
| Georgia | 1,946,492 | 5.2 | Forest Service |
| Hawaii | 829,830 | 20.2 | National Park Service |
| Idaho | 32,789,648 | 61.9 | Forest Service |
| Illinois | 423,782 | 1.2 | Forest Service |
| Indiana | 384,726 | 1.7 | Forest Service |
| Iowa | 97,509 | 0.3 | Fish and Wildlife Service |
| Kansas | 253,919 | 0.5 | Department of Defense |
| Kentucky | 1,100,160 | 4.3 | Forest Service |
| Louisiana | 1,353,291 | 4.7 | Forest Service |
| Maine | 301,481 | 1.5 | National Park Service |
| Maryland | 205,362 | 3.2 | Department of Defense |
| Massachusetts | 62,680 | 1.2 | National Park Service |
| Michigan | 3,637,599 | 10 | Forest Service |
| Minnesota | 3,503,977 | 6.8 | Forest Service |
| Mississippi | 1,552,634 | 5.1 | Forest Service |
| Missouri | 1,702,983 | 3.8 | Forest Service |
| Montana | 27,082,401 | 29 | Forest Service |
| Nebraska | 546,852 | 1.1 | Forest Service |
| Nevada | 56,262,610 | 80.1 | Bureau of Land Management |
| New Hampshire | 805,472 | 14 | Forest Service |
| New Jersey | 171,956 | 3.6 | Fish and Wildlife Service |
| New Mexico | 24,665,771 | 31.7 | Bureau of Land Management |
| New York | 230,992 | 0.8 | Department of Defense |
| North Carolina | 2,434,801 | 7.8 | Forest Service |
| North Dakota | 1,733,641 | 3.9 | Forest Service |
| Ohio | 305,502 | 1.2 | Forest Service |
| Oklahoma | 683,289 | 1.5 | Forest Service |
| Oregon | 32,244,257 | 52.3 | Bureau of Land Management |
| Pennsylvania | 622,160 | 2.2 | Forest Service |
| Rhode Island | 4,513 | 0.7 | Fish and Wildlife Service |
| South Carolina | 875,316 | 4.5 | Forest Service |
| South Dakota | 2,640,005 | 5.4 | Forest Service |
| Tennessee | 1,281,362 | 4.8 | Forest Service |
| Texas | 3,231,198 | 1.9 | National Park Service |
| Utah | 33,267,621 | 63.1 | Bureau of Land Management |
| Vermont | 465,888 | 7.8 | Forest Service |
| Virginia | 2,373,616 | 9.3 | Forest Service |
| Washington | 12,192,855 | 28.6 | Forest Service |
| West Virginia | 1,134,138 | 7.4 | Forest Service |
| Wisconsin | 1,854,085 | 5.3 | Forest Service |
| Wyoming | 29,137,722 | 46.7 | Bureau of Land Management |
Map of Government-Owned Land
This map of the United States shows which land is owned and managed by the federal government, and which land is owned by the states or private citizens.
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U.S. federal land is land owned by the government of the United States. The United States federal government owns between a quarter and a third of the total land in the United States, approximately six hundred forty million acres of it. The total land area of the United States is just over 2.4 billion acres. There are multiple purposes for this land, including the harvesting of natural resources, preservation of the environment, and development of the land by contractors. The two most prevalent agencies are the Department of the Interior, including the Bureau of Land Management; the Fish and Wildlife Service; and the National Park Service, and the Department of Agriculture, through the actions of the Forest Service. The main purpose of the Department of the Interior is to manage and preserve all the federal land owned by the federal government.
The uses of private land are:
- Housing
- Farming
- Grazing of livestock
The uses of public (federally-owned) land are:
- Federal Prisons
- National Parks
- National Wildlife Refuges
- Land Development
- Natural Resources
- Military Reservations
The history of the federal government in the United States is said by some to be one of oppression and overreach, and this is demonstrated by the continuous actions of the federal government that oppressed Native Americans. States and organizations of constituents also resent the ownership of federal land within state borders, stating that the federal government has no business owning so much land and the resources that come from it.
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Video Transcript
Land Area of the United States
I have a question for you: if I told you there were 2,271,343,000 of these in the United States, what would you guess I was referring to?
If you guessed (A) people, I'm afraid that's incorrect. At the start of the year 2013, the estimated population of the U.S. was just over 315 million people. If you chose (B) vehicles or (D) types of insects, I'm sorry, but those answers were also incorrect. The correct answer is (C) acres. The total land area of the United States of America is just shy of 2.3 billion acres. That's a lot of land, and in this lesson we are going to explore just who owns that land and what it is used for.
Federally-Owned Land
In the United States, land that is owned or administered by the federal government is referred to as federally-owned land. The federal government owns and manages about one-third of the total U.S. territory. Much of this federal land is in the West as seen on the map below.
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It is interesting to note that more than 50% of the land area for some western states, such as Nevada, Alaska, Utah, Oregon and Idaho is owned by the federal government.
Now, even though the land is owned by the government, much of it can still be used by the citizens of America. One of the public uses of federally-owned land is for national parks. Unlike cities or other highly populated areas, national parks are lands protected from development and open to visitors from around the world. One favorite destination for tourists is Yellowstone National Park, located mainly in the western state of Wyoming, with some parts of the park extending into Montana and Idaho. This park is the home of Old Faithful, which is one of the many geysers within the park that sends column of hot water and steam into the air. These geysers are one of the reasons Yellowstone was declared as America's first national park back in 1872.
Federal land is also used as wildlife refuges, which are public lands and waters set aside to conserve and protect fish, wildlife and plants. As of 2022, wildlife refuges protect about 835 million acres of land and water in the United States. Other federal lands are used as military reservations, federal prisons, Indian reservations or leased to companies or corporations for commercial exploitation, including agriculture, forestry and mining. Because this land is owned by the federal government, the proper care of the land falls on the shoulders of the Department of the Interior, which is the federal agency that manages and conserves most federally-owned land.
Privately-Owned Land
Land that is not owned by the federal government may be owned by state or local governments, but much of the remaining land is privately-owned land. Privately-owned land is defined as land owned by an individual or group that is kept for their exclusive use. Privately-owned land is where many Americans live. Now, the amount of acres one owns is not limited, and there are some individuals and families that own millions of acres of U.S. land. This is in contrast to the majority of individuals who own smaller plots of land or live in urban areas. Currently, 77 million people own 62% of the land in the U.S. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Urban areas make up only 3 percent of the entire land area of the country but are home to more than 80 percent of the population. Conversely, 97 percent of the country's land mass is rural but only 19.3 percent of the population lives there.
We see that the uses of privately-owned land include housing, but they are certainly not limited to this use. The use of private land is, for the most part, left up to the owner, as long as that use does not harm the environment or infringe on the rights of others. Land ownership is a sense of pride for many Americans, and The Homestead Act was an important step toward land ownership for many Americans starting in the year 1862.
The Homestead Act was a special act of Congress that made public lands in the West available for ownership in 160-acre tracts of federal land. The land was available to those who resided on the land for five years after the initial claim. The act opened up settlements in the West and led to more uses of privately owned land. For example, the easy landscape and balanced temperatures of the prairies opened up private land for use in farming. The low rainfall areas of some western states naturally produced forage plants that became suitable ranchland for grazing of livestock.
Lesson Summary
Let's review. The total land area of the United States of America is just less than 2.3 billion acres.
In the United States, land that is owned or administered by the federal government is referred to as federally-owned land. The federal government owns and manages about one-third of the total U.S. territory. Uses of federally-owned land include national parks, which are lands protected from development, and wildlife refuges, which are public lands and waters set aside to conserve and protect fish, wildlife and plants. Other federal lands are used as military reservations, federal prisons, Indian reservations or leased to companies or corporations for commercial exploitation, including agriculture, forestry and mining. The Department of the Interior is the federal agency that manages and conserves most federally-owned land.
Privately-owned land is defined as land owned by an individual or group that is kept for their exclusive use. The uses of privately-owned land include housing, farming and grazing of livestock. The Homestead Act of 1862 was an important step toward land ownership for many Americans. The Homestead Act made public lands in the West available for ownership in 160-acre tracts of federal land.
Learning Outcomes
After reviewing this lesson, you could have the ability to:
- Highlight the differences between federally-owned and privately-owned land
- Recall where the majority of federally-owned land is in the United States
- Particularize the uses of both federally-owned and privately-owned land
- Cite the importance of the Homestead Act of 1862
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