As the world's third-largest country by landmass, it's no surprise that America is known as the land of plenty – and some people are lucky enough to own plenty of that land. In fact, relatively few people control the nation's ample acreage today.
From ranchers who have owned land for generations to newcomer billionaires splashing their cash, read on to discover America’s 50 biggest landowners using data from The Land Report 2024.
The Galt family has its fingers in many pies, with Errol Galt overseeing the Martinsdale Ranch in central Montana and son Wylie Galt (pictured) serving as a member of the Montana House of Representatives.
Politics runs in the family – Errol's great-aunt Jeannette made history as the first woman elected to Congress. Meanwhile, his grandfather Wellington Rankin, who died in 1966, was reportedly Montana’s largest landowner. The family still owns 262,000 acres in the state, which includes the well-known 71 Ranch.
Cliff Skiles, president of Cottonwood Cattle Company, came in at 83 on the 2021 Land Report with 195,000 acres. The company recently purchased the 71,000-acre Canadian River Ranch in the Texas Panhandle, bringing him into the Top 50.
The famed cattle ranch is one of the largest in the region and has been around for 150 years. The property has numerous creeks, dramatic cliffs, and free-ranging wildlife.
Hollywood's Taylor Sheridan, the producer, writer, and actor known for TV series Yellowstone, purchased Texas' historic 6666 Ranch in 2022. Previous owner Anne Marion had inherited the estate from her great-grandfather and kept the family business going, as well as founding the Burnett Oil Company in 1980.
Her interest in art led her to open the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and she also served on boards of trustees for various art galleries. Marion passed away in February 2020 and her family sold the ranch, which encompasses an entire county.
The Trues bought Double Four Ranch in Wyoming in 1957, stocking it with just 35 cows and one bull. Over the last 60 years it's grown into an enterprise of eight ranches, two farms, and a feedlot.
Pipelines, trucking, and drilling are the main occupations of this Wyoming-based bunch. Head of the clan Dave True (pictured) has also served in various roles on the board of trustees at the University of Wyoming, where both he and his wife Melanie studied.
Malone and Amy Mitchell founded Riata Energy, now SandRidge Energy, in their guest bedroom in 1985. Two decades later, they sold the company for $500 million and launched the Riata Corporate Group in 2006.
Today, the entrepreneurial couple owns the 273,000-acre Longfellow Ranches in West Texas, a working cattle operation with its own natural gas field.
In 2021, the Land Report revealed Microsoft founder Bill Gates was the largest private farmland owner in America. In 2018 he bought 14,500 acres in Washington for $171 million, according to The Guardian, and has since bolstered his estate by more than 250,000 acres.
Gates now has a total of 275,000 acres of farmland across 17 states, most of which has been bought by his investment firm.
When Floyd and Frances Lee bought New Mexico’s Fernandez Ranch, later renamed Floyd Lee Ranch, they weren’t expecting it to contain huge supplies of uranium, nor the stocks of coal they later discovered.
By the time the couple passed away towards the end of the 20th century, the family had also set up a successful sheep and cattle operation. The discovery and subsequent hard work were clearly fruitful, as the Lee family has since made a name for itself both in farming and mining.
The Jones family's estate once stretched over 300,000 acres, starting with the 1890s purchase of the 34,000-acre Alta Vista Ranch in Texas, which contains many historic structures dating back to the Spanish colonial era. The land is rich with wildlife, including white-tailed deer, quail, wild turkey, and many other birds.
The Jones' descendants still manage and reside on the family's ranches today and have expanded the business into oil and agriculture.
More than 130 years ago, Dave and Billy Babbitt arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona and quickly acquired numerous ranches. Today, these span an impressive 275,000 acres, and herds of cattle graze on the land. The Babbitts also run the Hashknife Horse program, which focuses on breeding working Quarter Horses.
In 2023, Babbitt Ranches announced plans to build a new wind energy center on 669 acres of its historic CO Bar Ranch.
Founded in 1984, Southern Pine Plantations has overseen transactions for timberland and farmland alike for the last 40 years. Owner Benjy Griffith III decided in the 1990s to expand into commercial development, a successful move for the firm.
The family largely has its holdings in the southeastern US, with some land in Montana too.
At its famous O6 ranch, a household name in Texas, the seventh generation of the Kokernot family still relies on traditional methods for herding cattle.
The Kokernots acquired the ranch in 1872 and followed this up with the purchase of the Leoncita Cattle Company, bringing the total acreage under their control to 278,000.
In 1954, ranch owner D.M. Cogdell Sr bought the 27,000-acre Tule Ranch near Tulia, Texas, moving his cattle from nearby Snyder. When he died in 1964, his daughter continued to operate the ranch in Snyder, and his sons took over the ranching interests in the Panhandle until they decided to split their inheritance in the 1970s.
Billy and his wife Bette kept the original Tule Ranch, adding more land over the years. The family continues to own Tule Ranch and others across the Texas panhandle to this day and has also branched out into the oil and gas industry.
The landholdings of Austin-based Llano Partners Ltd., headed by Hughes Abell, are spread across ranches in Texas, New Mexico, and Florida. While much of the family's business is centered on ranching, farming, and cattle-feeding operations, the firm also has investments in energy, timber, and real estate.
This Canadian family may have headed south but its fortune certainly hasn’t. The Fasken's legacy began in 1913 when Toronto-based David Fasken bought a ranch in Texas, only to discover it was home to an enormous oil reserve.
Today, the clan owns 284,493 acres and remains active in the oil and gas sector. In 2015, the Fasken family featured on Forbes' list of America's Richest Families, with a combined fortune of $3 billion.
In 1959, Sid, Ed (pictured on the left), Robert, and Lee Bass each inherited $2.8 million from their great-uncle, the oil tycoon Sid Richardson. Since then, the brothers have all achieved billionaire status, according to Forbes.
The richest among them is Robert, who has accumulated a net worth of $5.2 billion through landholdings, investments, and other businesses.
Another family that made big bucks in the oil industry, the Killams currently own 312,000 acres of land across Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Oregon, and New Mexico.
O.W. Killam started drilling for oil over a century ago and went on to buy his first 10,000-acre ranch in 1927. Today, his descendants control the family ranch and cattle company.
Barta Cattle Company in Nebraska was founded by Jim Barta, who made his money as founder of Sav-Rx Prescription Services and passed away at the end of 2019. Instead of flowers at the funeral, the family asked that guests donate to a scholarship fund to help young people study agriculture.
The rest of the family currently looks after 315,000 acres of land in Nebraska, Oregon, and Nevada.
Texas native Dan Allen Hughes Sr, who died in 2016, accumulated a billion-dollar fortune in natural gas and oil and pumped some of the proceeds into what is now the family's 319,000-acre land holdings across Texas.
The estate is currently owned and operated by his son, Dan Allen Hughes Jr, a noted conservationist who buys portions of land in Texas to protect them.
The Robinson and Freed families joined forces in the mid-20th century. They co-owned the Deseret Land and Livestock Ranch, which they sold on before purchasing several other ranches together.
Today their joint venture, the Ensign Group, boasts 350,000 acres and an impressive 11,000 mother cows.
Mike Smith hit the headlines in March 2018 with the high-profile acquisition of the luxury Broseco Ranch, which was listed for sale at $34 million. The property included a 2,000-strong cattle herd, lakes filled with bass, and a herd of whitetail deer.
In 2021, Smith added 41,000 acres to his estate, and in 2022 he bought the Flat Top Division of the historic Swenson Ranch in West Texas.
The family-owned Collins Company holds the accolade of being the first private forestry company in America to have all its forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. While headquartered in Oregon, the family actually got into the timber business in Pennsylvania back in 1855.
However, by the turn of the century, the family had expanded west and now has five manufacturing facilities in addition to its 370,000 acres of land across the US.
Hugh Roy Cullen (pictured) started his lucrative oil career in 1918 drilling wells and went on to discover the Tom O’Connor field in Texas. Fast-forward almost 100 years and the Texas-native Cullen family is among the top 30 biggest landowners in America.
Nowadays the Cullens mostly deal in coal, despite making their fortune thanks to Hugh’s oil empire.
The late family patriarch Robert Earl Holding (pictured) had interests in ski resorts and owned Sinclair Oil, providing the family with an enviable portfolio of real estate in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. Since Holding's death in 2013, the multimillion-dollar operation has been run by Holding's widow Carol and their three children.
Daughter Anne made headlines in 2023 when she appealed a court order to pay her ex-husband a $200 million divorce settlement. She argued it was wrong for the judge to consider her family inheritance as part of the property to be divided in the divorce proceedings.
Zane and Tanya Kienhe were newcomers to the Land Report in 2018. Just six years later, they've climbed the rankings thanks to land acquisitions in New Mexico and Texas.
Their company, Z&T Holdings, mainly owns mountainous properties filled with wildlife, and the Kienhes are committed to improving rangeland conditions across their acreage.
D.R. Horton, America's largest home builder, was founded by Don Horton (pictured) more than 40 years ago. Over the years, the firm's founder has been busily acquiring colossal swathes of land in the southwest of the US.
However, last year also saw him sell off the vast majority of Double V Ranch in New Mexico in a rare moment of downsizing for the businessman. His total acreage has dropped to 416,000.
The world's third-richest man, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos doesn't just own one of the biggest businesses on the planet. Thanks to his ownership of 420,000 acres in West Texas, he's also one of America's principal private landowners.
The land was acquired by Bezos' Blue Origin aerospace company and serves as the firm's base of operations, launch pad, and testing site.
A New Mexico native, Kizer also owns land in four other states – Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas – and runs a dairy cattle business. He also grows a variety of crops on his 397,000 acres of land, including corn, hay, peanuts, and wheat.
In 2023, he bought and sold several ranches, including a substantial portion of Double V ranch in New Mexico previously owned by Don Horton. His total land holdings in the US increased by 34,000 to 431,000 acres.
Doris Fisher and her late husband Donald, the couple who founded The Gap clothing store chain back in 1969, quietly snapped up hundreds of thousands of acres of land in California from the 1970s onwards. Doris and her children, who are each worth billions, now control a massive sustainable forestry business.
The family made headlines in 2019 when it was revealed that they, along with a number of other billionaires, had given millions of dollars to a "dark money" group that attempted to prevent the election of Barack Obama in 2012.
Potato tycoon John Richard Simplot, who died in 2008, founded his eponymous vegetable firm in 1929 and made a fortune supplying frozen French fries to McDonald's during the 1970s.
Simplot has since expanded into mining and manufacturing, spreading the Idaho-based company's operations around the world. The firm is still family-owned and employs more than 13,000 people worldwide.
In April 2018, Sheldon Solow passed the reins of his property development firm on to his son Stefan, who changed his surname to reflect the historic spelling. The firm controls swaths of land in New Mexico, Kansas, and Colorado, which Stefan has rapidly expanded acquisitions in recent years.
In 2023, he purchased the Le Ranch in New Mexico from D.K. Boyd. The transaction added 106,000 acres to Soloviev's holdings, knocking Boyd from the Top 50.
The Martin family owns the RoyOMartin group of companies, named for founder Roy O. Martin who bought the Creston Lumber Mill in Alexandria, Louisiana for $32,000 in 1923.
The company, which celebrated its centenary last year, has grown substantially over the last 100 years and is now headed by grandson Roy O. Martin III (pictured). Just making the top 20, the Martins own a total of 550,000 acres.
As major landowners, the Stimson family owns one of America's oldest, continuously operating wood products companies. The Stimson Lumber Company was established before the Civil War, and the clan now controls an ever-expanding portfolio of forested land across Montana, Oregon, and Idaho.
More than 650 people work for the sixth-generation firm, which boasts seven mills.
The family-owned Westervelt Company has been in business for 140 years. Established in 1884 by Herbert Westervelt as the Prairie States Paper Corporation, it's one of America's leading land resource organizations, with a total of 566,000 acres of forest across five US states.
The Alabama-based firm also owns acreage in New Zealand, where it focuses on forest stewardship, agriculture, recreation, and experiential tourism.
A digital investment pioneer, Hungarian refugee Thomas Peterffy has certainly made the US his home. Peterffy first drew attention when he started automating trading floors with computers, but he doesn’t spend all his time behind a screen.
In 2015, Peterffy also made waves in the land sector when he bought Foley Timber & Land, a vast swath of forest that covers five Florida counties. At 581,000 acres, it's almost as big as Rhode Island.
Family patriarch Thomas O'Connor lucked out big time when he was granted 4,428 acres of land in Victoria County, Texas back in 1834. By the time he died, his estate was the largest individual land and cattle holding and worth $4.5 million, the equivalent of more than $145 million today.
Over the years, the Irish immigrant's descendants have expanded the family's holdings to a hefty 587,800 acres.
Kenneth Ford, the Ford family patriarch, came from humble beginnings and established a small sawmill in Roseburg, Oregon back, in 1936. Fast forward more than 85 years and Ford's descendants own a total of 600,000 acres of forest in Western Oregon and Northern California.
However, the family is significantly lower on the Land Report list than it was a couple of years ago, having sold 170,000 acres of land to Australian firm Shasta Cascade Timberlands.
Dr Howell Lykes shut down his medical surgery in the 1870s and moved to Florida to take over his family's 500-acre ranch. Continuing to buy up swaths of land, the family started Lykes Bros in 1900.
Today, the doctor's heirs control 615,000 acres across the state and in Texas, which are devoted to citrus farming, sugar cane cultivation, and cattle ranching.
Former bricklayers Dan and Farris Wilks got into fracking in 2002 and made their fortunes from the industry's growth during the 2000s. In 2011, they became billionaires for the first time when they sold their company for $3.5 billion.
The brothers have invested a sizable chunk of their fortune in land ownership, as well as leading a $6 million investment in LandTrust, an AirBnB-style land-sharing marketplace.
Practically Texan royalty, the Briscoe family comes in at number 12 and currently boasts 738,000 acres, including the 100,000-acre Catarina Ranch in South Texas. Several illustrious ancestors played a key part in the state's history, including Andrew Briscoe, a signatory of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and Dolph Briscoe Jr. (pictured), a former governor of the state.
Today, their descendants control a seemingly ever-expanding portfolio of land.
Shipping magnate David Pingree started acquiring land in Maine over 150 years ago, building up a portfolio of almost a million acres across the state and in New Hampshire.
These days, around 830,000 acres in Maine remain and are controlled by Pingree's numerous descendants through the Seven Island Lands Company. The company mainly produces birch, ash, and maple, which are used for flooring.
Sprawling over 825,000 acres King Ranch is the largest ranch in Texas and is located between Corpus Christi and Brownsville. The gargantuan operation, which is bigger than the state of Rhode Island, was founded in 1853 by Captain Richard King and his partners.
His heirs still control the ranch, which makes money through ranching, farming, and hunting. King Ranch also deals in citrus fruits, with additional acreage owned in California and Florida, and is currently the largest producer of juice oranges in the US. In 2021, the ranch achieved another milestone when its breeding program produced its first American Quarter Horse Association world champion.
Brad Kelley, who has a net worth of $2.7 billion, sold his Commonwealth Brands tobacco company in 2001 for $1 billion. The reclusive tycoon has sold off 139,984 acres of land, dropping one spot in the Land Report's top 100 to number 9, but he still owns 1,000,000 acres of ranching land in Texas, Florida, and New Mexico.
Henry Singleton, the co-founder of conglomerate Teledyne Technologies, bought the 81,000-acre San Cristobal Ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1986. Singleton went on to acquire numerous ranches before passing away in 1999.
His five children inherited the land, which now comprises 1.1 million acres across New Mexico and California. His son William is the CEO of Singleton Ranches.
The co-founder of Subway and a nuclear physicist to boot, Dr Peter Buck was worth $1.7 billion by the time he died in November 2021. In 2019 his landownership hit the one million acres mark, most of which is in Maine.
His two sons, William and Christopher, are believed to have inherited the land.
The Canadian Irving family controls a whopping 1.267 million acres of land in the US. Its holdings include a giant tract of wooded land in Northern Maine – which it harvests sustainably under the Forest Stewardship Council program – and 1.9 million acres in Canada.
In 2018 the Irvings planted their one billionth tree in their continued efforts to be a sustainable business.
Dating back six generations, the Reed family's Green Diamond Resources Company owns 1.6 million acres of land in eight states across the Pacific Northwest and the South, having substantially increased their holdings with the purchase of SDS Lumber Company in November 2021.
Like the Irving family and other key landowners in the top 50, the Reeds are all about sustainable forestry and conservation, harvesting less than 2% of their timberland a year.
Boasting a net worth of $15.7 billion, sports mogul and property magnate Stan Kroenke has established himself as America's fourth-biggest landowner in recent years. The billionaire acquired the historic Waggoner Ranch in Texas for an estimated $725 million in 2016 and has added another 72,500 acres over the last year.
Kroenke is married to Walmart heiress Ann Walton Kroenke, who's worth $9.4 billion.
CNN founder Ted Turner, who's currently worth $2.5 billion according to Forbes, is America's third-biggest private landowner. The media magnate controls 2 million acres of land across the US, primarily devoted to eco-friendly bison ranching to supply his Ted's Montana Grill chain of bison meat restaurants.
In fact, Turner has amassed the largest privately-owned bison herd on the planet, with a staggering 50,000 animals under his ownership.
The second-largest private landowner in the US, Liberty Media's John Malone owns a staggering 2.2 million acres of land. Malone surpassed fellow media mogul Ted Turner in 2011 to take the number-one spot, retaining his title until 2021 when he slipped one place in the rankings.
The tycoon, whose net worth is estimated at $10 billion, controls mammoth tracts of forested land in Florida, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Colorado.
The Emmerson family runs Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI), one of America's largest lumber, millwork, and biomass energy producers. All in all, the moneyed family owns more than 2.4 million acres of forested land. Most of it's in California, Oregon, and Washington, but the third-generation firm also has sawmills, window factories, and biomass-fueled power plants in several other states.
The Emmersons have been the largest landowners in the US since 2021.
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