How USDA estimates farmland cash rents
USDA NASS land values and cash rents, through 2026.
Our take written by Farming Land Sale
NASS's target population is farms and ranches with $1,000 or more in agricultural sales or potential sales that rent land from others on a cash-rent basis, and it turns their answers into a rent per acre by dividing total rent paid by total acres rented. Share rents, grazing fees per head or per animal unit month, free rent and rentals that include buildings are outside the survey.
Beginning with the 2021 estimate year, NASS incorporated model-based county-level estimates into its county-rate estimation process, and those estimates were benchmarked against official state-level estimates. For the 2026 non-irrigated cropland rows our percentiles of the CV_% column are 4.0, 6.0 and 9.4, and NASS's quality measures, quoted above, report 4.0%, 6.0% and 9.4%.
Our reading of the USDA figures on this page. It adds no facts of its own and isn't advice about any parcel, lease or sale.
Check before you rely on a figure: the NASS input values are reproduced as NASS prints them in the field excerpts, with each record's LOAD_TIME (when NASS inserted it into Quick Stats); calculated figures and unit conversions are labeled "ours". Verify any figure in NASS Quick Stats or the NASS report before acting on it.
The survey
The Cash Rents Survey is conducted on an annual basis.
This survey provides the basis for estimates of the current year’s cash rents paid for irrigated cropland, non-irrigated cropland, and permanent pastureland.
The Cash Rents Survey data collection period begins in mid-February and ends in June.
The target population for the cash rents estimate program is all farms and ranches with $1,000 or more in agricultural sales (or potential sales) who rent land from others on a cash rent basis.
The sample size for the Cash Rents Survey is approximately 242,000.
Land rented for a share of the crop, on a fee per head, per pound of gain, by animal unit month (AUM), rented free of charge, or land that includes buildings such as barns are excluded from the survey.
Why counties get a rent at all
The 2008 Farm Bill mandated that NASS provide mean rental rates for all counties with 20,000 acres of cropland plus pasture.
The Farm Service Agency (FSA) uses cash rent county estimates to determine market-based rates in administering USDA programs, such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
These estimates may be used by individual producers in planning for their agricultural operation or by Agricultural Extension Services or university staff in developing operating budgets for agricultural operations in their locale.
From answers to estimates
For example, cash rent per acre values are calculated as the ratio of total rent paid to total acres rented.
Beginning with the 2022 estimate year, model-based state-level estimates were incorporated into the NASS cash rental rates process.
Beginning with the 2021 estimate year, model-based county-level estimates were incorporated into the NASS estimation process for county-level rates.
These county-level estimates were benchmarked against state-level official estimates established by the ASB.
District and county mean rates must reconcile to a previously published state mean cash rental rate for each category.
Due to the scarcity of irrigated pastureland, estimates are not established for irrigated and non-irrigated pastureland.
State and county level cash rent estimates are published, in so far as they meet disclosure rules and publication standards.
How precise the county rents are
Nationwide, NASS published 2,403 county-level non-irrigated cash rental rates estimates including other counties. The 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles for reported coefficients of variation were 4.0%, 6.0%, and 9.4%, respectively.
| Land category | County rows (ours) | Rows with a CV_% (ours) | 25th percentile CV (ours) | Median CV (ours) | 75th percentile CV (ours) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| irrigated cropland | 700 | 693 | 4.7 | 6.8 | 9.7 |
| non-irrigated cropland | 2,403 | 2,401 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 9.4 |
| pasture | 1,901 | 1,893 | 5.4 | 7.3 | 10.4 |
Ratio of the standard error to the estimate, expressed as a percent.
NASS defined county groups, unique within a state, 2-digit ag statistics district code.
includes 998 for OTHER (COMBINED) COUNTIES
Source document: Cash Rents Methodology and Quality Measures (NASS, 2026): Released October 6, 2026, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)
source
Method note How these figures are built
Data dates: the 2026 land values and 2026 state, region and U.S. cash rents carry LOAD_TIME 2026-07-31 (Released July 31, 2026, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)
source); the 2026 county cash rents carry LOAD_TIME 2026-08-21. Records for earlier years have their own LOAD_TIME, shown in their field excerpts; LOAD_TIME is when NASS inserted the record into Quick Stats, not the year the figure describes. Verify any figure in NASS Quick Stats or the NASS report before you rely on it.
The NASS inputs are VALUE fields from the Quick Stats file qs.economics_20261017.txt.gz, shown as NASS prints them, in dollars per acre unless a column says otherwise; calculated figures and unit conversions (such as totals shown in millions) are labeled as ours. Our checker re-read all 23,311 records in NASS's current file on October 19 and matched the state, region and U.S. land values to the tables of the Land Values 2026 Summary. Percent changes, ratios, shares and counts are our calculations, labeled "ours". Nothing is adjusted for inflation. Full method →
More from the same USDA data
- Rent-to-value calculator
- County cash rents explorer
- What an acre of U.S. farmland is worth, year by year
- Cropland and pasture: two prices for farmland
- Irrigated and non-irrigated cropland
- Farmland value changes, 2021 to 2026
- Cash rent as a share of land value
- Cash rents for U.S. farmland, year by year
- Farmland by NASS region
- The total value of America's farmland and buildings
- How USDA measures what farmland is worth