These People Own the Most Land in America
Trailing just Russia and Canada, the United States is the third-largest country in the world by landmass, covering nearly 2.3 billion acres. The largest overall landowner in the country is the U.S. government, with different departments -- the Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Defense and others -- controlling different parts of federal land. While state governments also own much land, there are also private landowners who own hundreds of thousands of acres of land across the country -- and a handful own over 1 million acres each.
To determine the largest landowners in the United States, GOBankingRates reviewed data from The Land Report magazine's 2022 Land Report 100. The report's estimates are based on information from other published reports, online databases, tax records and information provided by various landowners, and include only rural land holdings.
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All told, the 50 individuals, families and heirs on this list own over 31 million acres -- or about 1.4% of the country's total landmass. For reference, 1 square mile is equal to 640 acres.
The property owned by the nation's largest landowners tends to cluster in certain areas -- particularly the southwest and West Coast. The southern and western parts of Texas, as well as New Mexico, are popular among ranchers. Large swaths of California, Wyoming and Montana are used by owners to raise livestock, farm, ranch and produce timber. Almost no land in the Midwest or Northeast belongs to America's major landowners, with the notable exception of the northern part of Maine.
Many of the people and families on this list are ranchers or oil company owners and are not household names. Yet a handful, like Jeff Bezos and Ted Turner, are prominent billionaires who bought huge tracts of land either for a business venture or simply for their own private use.
D.K. Boyd
Land area: 261,937 acres
Roughly equal to: San Antonio, Texas
Rancher and oilman D.K. Boyd owns over a quarter million acres of American land, including ranches in the Texas Panhandle and New Mexico.
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Galt Family
Land area: 262,000 acres
Roughly equal to: 2,500 times the size of Vatican City
The Galts are a family of cattle ranchers with a number of large properties in Montana, including the Martinsdale Ranch. Errol Galt is the former Montana Fish, Wildlife and Game commissioner.
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Taylor Sheridan
Land area: 266,255 acres
Roughly equal to: Statenville, Georgia
Taylor Sheridan, the creator behind acclaimed works like "Yellowstone," "1883," and "1923," made a significant move in 2022. He acquired the legendary Four Sixes Ranch of King County, Texas, which was originally established by Samuel Burk Burnett in 1870.
Benjy Griffith III
Land area: 269,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Twice the size of Guam
Benjy Griffith III owns Southern Pine Plantations and started the Griffith Foundation. The foundation has given more than $50 million to help community groups create economic and educational opportunities. He owns land in his home state of Georgia, as well as Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Montana, Texas and Virginia.
True Family
Land area: 272,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Three times the size of Raleigh, North Carolina
The True family runs oil drilling operations in several Western and Southern states, like Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Louisiana and more.
Malone Mitchell 3rd
Land area: 273,000 acres
Roughly equal to: The size of Hong Kong
Malone Mitchell 3rd founded Riata Energy in 1985 and sold his interest in 2006 for $500 million. The Mitchells' Longfellow Ranches offer hunting opportunities for elk and mule deer.
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Lee Family
Land area: 275,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Twice the size of Chicago
The Lee family owns an estimated 275,000 acres in New Mexico. The Lees are sheep and cattle ranchers who owe some of their wealth to the discovery of uranium and coal on their property in the western part of the state.
Jones Family
Land area: 275,000 acres
Roughly equal to: The size of Hong Kong
The Jones family, now in its sixth generation, possesses a land expanse of 275,000 acres. Established in 1890 by W.W. and Lou Ella Jones, the legendary Alta Vista Ranch is situated in South Texas.
Babbitt Heirs
Land area: 275,000 acres
Roughly equal to: 80 times the size of Los Angeles International Airport
The Babbitts are long-time Arizona cattle ranchers who have been in the area since 1886. They own several large ranches in the northern part of the state.
Bill Gates
Land area: 275,000 acres
Roughly equal to: The size of Hong Kong
Bill Gates and his Red River Trust hold a substantial land portfolio, spanning 275,000 acres of North Dakota farmland.
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Kokernot Heirs
Land area: 278,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Three times the size of Detroit
The Kokernot family's 06 Ranch brand has been registered in Texas since 1837. Both the family's 06 Ranch and Leoncita Cattle Company ranch are in West Texas.
Cogdell Family
Land area: 282,000 acres
Roughly equal to: One-eighth the size of Puerto Rico
Born to a Methodist minister, D.M. Cogdell, Sr. was a horse trader and excelled in the realm of land trading. The foundation of his Tule Ranch paved the way for a wide array of ventures overseen by subsequent generations, including beef cattle, horse breeding and oil and gas.
Llano Partners
Land area: 284,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Three and a half times the size of Philadelphia
Under the livestock feeding company Llano Partners Ltd., Hughes Abell owns and operates ranching operations in New Mexico, Texas and Florida. Abell currently serves as the president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.
Fasken Family
Land area: 284,493 acres
Roughly equal to: Twice the size of the Isle of Man
David Fasken, a Canadian, bought a ranch in West Texas in 1913. The discovery of oil on that ranch added to the family's wealth, and now Fasken Oil & Ranch is a major oil drilling company that has heavily employed fracking technology. The Faskens have several major properties in West Texas.
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Bass Family
Land area: 285,000 acres
Roughly equal to: One-tenth the size of Connecticut
The Bass family fortune, like those held by many of the entries on this list, comes from oil and cattle ranching. Ed Bass helped build the brand-new $540 million Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
Killam Family
Land area: 312,000 acres
Roughly equal to: One quarter the size of Grand Canyon National Park
The Killam family deals largely in cattle and oil, with ranches in Texas and Oregon.
Barta Family
Land area: 315,000 acres
Roughly equal to: One-fifth the size of Delaware
The Barta family, which owes its wealth to its prescription services company, Sav-Rx, also owns one of the largest cattle ranching operations in Nebraska. The family owns numerous properties throughout the northern and eastern parts of the state.
Robinson and Freed Families
Land area: 350,000 acres
Roughly equal to: The size of Los Angeles
Collectively, the Robinson and Freed families own 314,000 acres in partnership. Their land primarily consists of six cattle ranches in Utah.
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Mike Smith
Land area: 351,000 acres
Roughly equal to: The size of the Faroe Islands
Mike Smith owns over 350,000 acres, which are primarily spread throughout eastern Texas. His properties include the 11,800 acre Broseco Ranch, which contains two lakes that are 100 acres in size.
Collins Family
Land area: 370,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Twice the size of Chicago
The late Truman Collins was a lumberman who became the largest private landholder in Pennsylvania before his death in 1914. Today, his living family members own about 370,000 acres of land in northern California and western Pennsylvania.
Cullen Heirs
Land area: 388,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Twice the size of the Maldives
The heirs to the late Texas oil titan Hugh Roy Cullen own nearly 400,000 acres of land across the country.
Hughes Family
Land area: 390,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Half the size of Yosemite National Park
Dan Hughes, patriarch of the Hughes family, was a wildcatter and oil tycoon in Texas. Together, his family owns 390,000 acres.
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Holding Family
Land area: 395,000 acres
Roughly equal to: The size of Oklahoma City
The wife and children of the late Robert Earl Holding, who bought Sinclair Oil Corp. for $78 million in 1976, own nearly 400,000 acres. Their land includes the 190,000 acre Sunlight Ranch in Montana, just outside of Yellowstone National Park.
Shannon Kizer
Land area: 397,000 acres
Roughly equal to: The size of Charlotte, North Carolina
Shannon Kizer owns 302,000 acres across five states: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Kizer's farming and ranching operations produce peanuts, corn, wheat, dairy and cattle.
Stefan Soloviev
Land area: 408,000 acres
Roughly equal to: The size of Houston, Texas
Though he resides in New York City, Stefan Soloviev owns over 400,000 acres of land across New Mexico, Kansas and Texas. Much of the land is used to grow crops like wheat, corn and sorghum.
Zane and Tanya Kiehne
Land area: 414,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Twice the size of Singapore
Zane and Tanya Kiehne own ranches that span seven counties in New Mexico and seven counties in Texas and consist mostly of mountainous terrain that is home to a variety of wildlife.
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Jeff Bezos
Land area: 420,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Three times the size of Guam
Amazon founder and outgoing CEO Jeff Bezos is not only one of the richest men in the world, with a net worth of $169 billion, but he is also one of the biggest private landowners in the United States. Bezos owns 420,000 acres. Much of his land is in West Texas.
Fisher Family
Land area: 440,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Ten times the size of Washington, D.C.
The Fisher family owns 440,000 acres of land, primarily timberland in northwestern California. Donald and Doris Fisher co-founded the clothing brand Gap Inc.
Simplot Family
Land area: 443,000 acres
Roughly equal to: The size of the island of Maui
Jack Simplot was a potato farmer who forged a deal with the former CEO of McDonald's to supply the restaurant chain with french fries. Today, the Simplot family oversees a $2.5 billion farming operation and owns over 443,000 acres, largely in southern Idaho.
D.R. Horton
Land area: 508,410 acres
Roughly equal to: The size of Mauritius
D.R. Horton owns over half a million acres of land. His holdings include the 292,779-acre Great Western Ranch in New Mexico and Camp Horton, a ranch near Fort Stockton, Texas, where he hosts a children's summer camp.
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Martin Family
Land area: 550,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Half the size of Anchorage, Alaska
The Martin family, owners of the nearly 100-year-old RoyOMartin Lumber Company, own over half a million acres of land, primarily in Louisiana.
Stimson Family
Land area: 552,000 acres
Roughly equal to: One-third the size of Delaware
Founded by Thomas Douglas Stimson, the Stimson Lumber Company, which today operates out of the Pacific Northwest, has remained in the family for six generations. Today, the Stimson family owns 552,000 acres, primarily in Montana, Idaho and Oregon.
Westervelt Heirs
Land area: 556,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Half the size of Rhode Island
Herbert Westervelt started a paper company in the late 1800s. The company, now known as Westervelt Company, has operations in renewable energy, lumber and wildlife services. Westervelt's heirs own over half a million acres across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina.
Thomas Peterffy
Land area: 581,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Twice the size of San Antonio, Texas
Thomas Peterffy arrived in the United States as a refugee from Hungary in 1965. Peterffy made a fortune as a successful investor and innovator on Wall Street. He became one of the largest landowners in the United States when he purchased 561,000 acres of land in northern Florida for $700 million in 2015. He bought more land recently.
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O'Connor Heirs
Land area: 587,800 acres
Roughly equal to: Seven times the size of Philadelphia
Heirs of the late Thomas O'Connor, who immigrated to the United States from Ireland in the late 1800s, own over half a million acres, including the O'Connor Ranch in south Texas. The family patriarch owned half a million acres in Texas, and the family fortune grew considerably when his son discovered oil on family land.
Ford Family
Land area: 600,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Twice the size of Los Angeles
The descendants of the late Kenneth Ford own 600,000 acres, primarily in Oregon. Ford made a career in the timber business during the Great Depression.
Lykes Heirs
Land area: 615,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Three times the size of New York City
The Lykes heirs own a 300,000 plus acre ranch in Florida, which includes sugar cane and cattle operations, as well as a 264,555-acre ranch in West Texas. The Lykes heirs are descendants of the late Dr. Howell Tyson Lykes, who left a career in medicine to raise cattle and grow citrus.
Wilks Brothers
Land area: 675,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Four times the size of El Paso
Brothers Farris and Dan Wilks launched Frac Tech, a natural gas extraction company, in 2002 and sold it for $3.5 billion in 2011. Since then, they have been acquiring land. The largest landowners in both Montana and Idaho, the Wilks brothers also own ranches in Oregon, Tennessee and Texas.
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Briscoe Family
Land area: 738,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Three times the size of Dallas
The combined landholdings of the heirs of former Texas governor, the late Dolph Briscoe Jr., total 738,000 acres. Their holdings include the 100,000-acre Catarina Ranch in southern Texas.
Pingree Heirs
Land area: 830,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Two and a half times the size of Phoenix
David Pingree, known as the Merchant Prince of Salem, built an empire that exceeded 1 million acres in the 1800s. Today, between his fifth, sixth and seventh generation of descendants, Pingree's heirs own some 830,000 acres, mostly in Maine, through Seven Islands Land Co., a lumber company.
King Ranch Heirs
Land area: 911,215 acres
Roughly equal to: Three times the size of Los Angeles
The King Ranch heirs own ranches in southern Texas that spread across over 900,000 acres. The ranch spawned from land was originally purchased by Captain Richard King in 1853 and subsequently passed down through generations.
Brad Kelley
Land area: 1,000,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Rhode Island
Brad Kelley's investment group purchased the well-known Calumet Farm, a thoroughbred horse breeding and training facility in Kentucky, in 2012. Today, most of Kelley's 1 million acres are located in Kentucky.
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Singleton Family
Land area: 1,110,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Three times the size of Houston
The Singleton family owns a number of ranches, mostly in New Mexico. The family's 1.1 million acres of land also includes land in California.
Buck Family
Land area: 1,236,000 acres
Roughly equal to: The size of Trinidad and Tobago
Peter Buck made his fortune as a founding partner of the Subway restaurant franchise. Buck is the owner of Tall Timbers Trust, one of the largest owners of timberland in Maine. All told, Buck owns over 1.2 million acres, primarily in Maine.
Irving Family
Land area: 1,267,792 acres
Roughly equal to: Twice the size of Luxembourg
The Irving family is the sixth-largest private landholder in the United States. In addition to the over 1.2 million acres the family owns, primarily in Maine, the Irvings also own about 2 million acres in Canada.
Stan Kroenke
Land area: 1,627,500 acres
Roughly equal to: The size of Delaware
Real estate mogul and owner of the Los Angeles Rams Stan Kroenke owns 1.6 million acres of land in the United States, including a 124,000-acre ranch in Montana and additional land in Wyoming. Kroenke is married to Ann Walton Kroenke, an heiress to the Walmart fortune.
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Reed Family
Land area: 1,661,000 acres
Roughly equal to: A third of the size of Vermont
For five generations, the Reed family has owned and operated the logging company Green Diamond Resource Co. The family's 1.7 million acres of land are primarily spread across Washington, Oregon and California.
Ted Turner
Land area: 2,000,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Twice as large as Rhode Island
CNN founder Ted Turner owns 2 million acres of land largely in New Mexico, South Dakota, Nebraska and Georgia. Much of Turner's land is used as grazing land for over 50,000 head of buffalo -- the largest private bison herd in the world.
John Malone
Land area: 2,200,000 acres
Roughly equal to: Half the size of Lake Ontario
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. Malone's 2.2 million acres are largely located in Maine, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming and include profitable cattle ranches.
Emmerson Family
Land area: 2,411,000 acres
Roughly equal to: A third of the size of Hawaii
The Emmerson family owns and operates Sierra Pacific Industries, a company that logs usable lumber after forest fires and sells it to lumber retailers. Through Sierra Pacific, the family owns some 2.4 million acres in California and Washington.
Laura Beck contributed to the reporting for this article.
Photo Disclaimer: Please note photos are for representational purposes only. As a result, some of the photos might not reflect the locations listed in this article.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: These People Own the Most Land in America
