Short answer
The US had 1,865,000 farms in 2025, according to USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (Farms and Land in Farms, February 2026), down 15,000 from 2024 and down from 6.8 million in 1935. The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 1,900,487. 48% of farms sell less than $10,000 a year, while 115,030 farms with $1 million or more in sales operate 36% of the 874 million acres of farmland.
- 1,865,000 farms in 2025 (NASS), averaging 469 acres; the 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 1,900,487.
- 115,030 farms had $1 million or more in sales in 2025 and operated 36% of farmland.
- 86% are small family farms, but large-scale family farms (under 5% of farms) produce half the value.
- Beef cattle (534,633) and hay and other crops (434,803) are the most common farm types.
- Texas has the most farms (229,000); Iowa has the most with $1 million or more in sales (10,800).
On this page
This page is for anyone who needs the number of farms in the US, and for companies that sell to farms: equipment and precision agriculture, seed, crop inputs and animal health, grain storage, irrigation, lending and insurance, software and services. It reconciles the official counts, breaks them down by sales, type, size and state, explains why there's no free list of farm names and what to use instead, and works through an example. For the large public companies in the sector, see the largest agriculture companies.
How many farms there are in the US
| Count | Number | Year | Source | What it counts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farms (annual estimate) | 1,865,000 | 2025 | USDA NASS, Farms and Land in Farms | Places that produced and sold, or normally would have sold, $1,000 or more of agricultural products |
| Farms (census) | 1,900,487 | 2022 | USDA NASS, Census of Agriculture | The same definition, counted in full every five years |
| Farms (survey typology) | 1,872,321 | 2024 | USDA ERS, America's Farms and Ranches at a Glance | Estimates from about 18,250 farms in the Agricultural Resource Management Survey |
| Crop and animal production worksites with covered employees | 80,455 | 2025 average | BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages | 51,376 crop and 29,079 animal production establishments reporting to unemployment insurance |
| Farms with $1 million or more in sales | 115,030 | 2025 | USDA NASS | Sales include government payments |
| Peak number of farms | 6.8 million | 1935 | USDA ERS | Historical high |
The two NASS figures use the same definition, which has been in place since the 1974 Census and isn't adjusted for inflation. Ranches, institutional and research farms and land fully enrolled in conservation programs count as farms.
Why the counts differ
- The census and the annual estimate are different products. The Census of Agriculture counts every farm every five years; the annual estimate updates the total between censuses. NASS put 2022 at 1,900,650 in its annual series against 1,900,487 in the census.
- Most farms have no employees. QCEW counts only worksites with employees covered by unemployment insurance, and it excludes certain farm workers. Its 80,455 crop and animal establishments are close to the number of farms with $500,000 or more in sales (184,050), not to the 1.865 million total.
- The Census Bureau's business counts leave farms out. County Business Patterns excludes crop and animal production (NAICS 111 and 112), so the business counts most market sizing starts from have no farms in them at all.
- Family farm typology uses income, not sales. ERS groups farms by gross cash farm income, which adds other farm income and contract fees to sales, so its size classes don't match NASS sales classes exactly.
Farms by sales
| Annual sales, 2025 | Farms | Share of farms | Share of farmland | Average size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 to $9,999 | 895,990 | 48.0% | 8.4% | 82 acres |
| $10,000 to $99,999 | 574,530 | 30.8% | 17.3% | 263 acres |
| $100,000 to $249,999 | 123,970 | 6.6% | 11.4% | 802 acres |
| $250,000 to $499,999 | 86,460 | 4.6% | 12.8% | 1,296 acres |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 69,020 | 3.7% | 14.1% | 1,789 acres |
| $1,000,000 or more | 115,030 | 6.2% | 36.0% | 2,733 acres |
The $1 million class was the only one that gained farms in 2025. Half of all farmland (50.1%) is operated by farms selling $500,000 or more.
Family farms and who produces most
| Farm type (ERS typology), 2024 | Farms | Share of farms | Share of production value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small family farms (income under $350,000) | 1,618,780 | 86.4% | 17% |
| Midsize family farms ($350,000 to $999,999) | 113,966 | 6.1% | 18.4% |
| Large-scale family farms ($1 million or more) | 86,808 | 4.7% | 50.2% |
| Nonfamily farms | 52,767 | 2.8% | 14.2% |
Most small family farms are retirement farms (216,811) or farms whose principal producer works mainly off the farm (730,704). By legal status, the 2022 census found 1,609,899 farms run by a family or individual, 125,457 partnerships and 127,648 corporations, 108,693 of them family-held.
Farms by type
| Farm type (NAICS), 2022 Census of Agriculture | Farms |
|---|---|
| Beef cattle ranching and farming | 534,633 |
| Hay and all other crop farming | 434,803 |
| Oilseed and grain farming | 330,930 |
| Other animal production (including horses and aquaculture) | 189,878 |
| Fruit and tree nut farming | 97,343 |
| Sheep and goat farming | 79,398 |
| Poultry and egg production | 75,597 |
| Greenhouse, nursery and floriculture | 50,785 |
| Vegetable and melon farming | 41,793 |
| Dairy cattle and milk production | 23,153 |
| Hog and pig farming | 21,865 |
| Cattle feedlots | 11,186 |
Oilseed and grain farms average 845 acres, against 463 for all farms. By acreage, the census found 801,504 farms under 50 acres and 83,308 with 2,000 acres or more.
Farms by state
| State | Farms, 2025 | Land in farms (1,000 acres) | Average size (acres) | Farms with $1 million or more in sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 229,000 | 125,000 | 546 | 4,500 |
| Iowa | 86,200 | 29,900 | 347 | 10,800 |
| Missouri | 85,500 | 26,600 | 311 | 4,200 |
| Ohio | 73,600 | 13,500 | 183 | 3,200 |
| Oklahoma | 69,700 | 32,800 | 471 | 1,300 |
| Illinois | 69,600 | 26,100 | 375 | 8,100 |
| Kentucky | 67,700 | 12,300 | 182 | 2,050 |
| Minnesota | 64,000 | 25,300 | 395 | 8,200 |
| Tennessee | 62,500 | 10,700 | 171 | 1,400 |
| California | 62,100 | 23,600 | 380 | 8,400 |
The state with the most farms and the state with the most large farms are different places. Texas has more than twice as many farms as any other state, while Iowa, California, Minnesota and Illinois each have more million-dollar farms than Texas.
Where to get a list of farms
There is no federal list of farm names. Census of Agriculture answers are confidential by law, and NASS publishes counts only in a form that can't identify a farm. Names come from narrower sources:
| Source | What it gives you | Format |
|---|---|---|
| NASS Quick Stats | Census and survey counts by county, farm type, size and sales; no names | Free web query and API |
| State livestock permit databases (for example, Iowa DNR's animal feeding operations database) | Regulated livestock and poultry sites, with locations, animal data and manure management plans | Free web search |
| State business registers | Farm corporations, LLCs and partnerships registered in the state | Varies by state |
| State agriculture department licenses | Dairy, nursery, pesticide applicator and other licensed operations | Varies by state |
| SEC EDGAR | The few public companies with farm SIC codes (0100 to 0291) | Free search by SIC |
The census counts 127,648 farms run as corporations and 103,144 as partnerships registered under state law; those are the farms a state business register can find. Only 27 SEC-registered companies carry farm SIC codes, and several, such as seed and cannabis companies, aren't farms in USDA's sense.
Who buys on a farm
As general guidance, the principal operator makes most decisions, often with a spouse, a son or daughter in the business, or a farm manager on larger operations. Advisers shape many of them:
| What you sell | Who decides | Who influences |
|---|---|---|
| Seed, fertilizer and crop protection | The operator | The agronomist at the farm's retailer or co-op, an independent crop consultant |
| Equipment and precision technology | The operator | The equipment dealer, other farmers nearby |
| Feed and animal health | The operator or herd manager | A nutritionist, the herd veterinarian |
| Lending, insurance and grain marketing | The operator, often with family members | The lender, crop insurance agent, accountant |
The census shows where the money goes. In 2022 farms spent $424.1 billion on production: $88.4 billion on feed, $51.4 billion on livestock purchases, $41.8 billion on hired labor, $36.1 billion on fertilizer, lime and soil conditioners, $23.6 billion on chemicals and $18.4 billion on fuel.
Worked example: grain bin monitoring in Iowa
Illustrative example. The company and its rates are invented; the counts are NASS figures for 2025.
The seller: Binwise (binwise.example) sells sensors that monitor stored grain for temperature and moisture. The territory: Iowa.
- Count the market. Iowa has 86,200 farms, but only 10,800 have $1 million or more in sales and another 8,000 sell $500,000 to $999,999. Binwise targets those 18,800, which are the farms with enough storage to justify sensors.
- Find the names. No federal list exists, so Binwise starts with farm corporations and LLCs in the Iowa business register, adds growers its partner dealers already serve, and checks each against county land records.
- Do the arithmetic. If Binwise identifies an illustrative 6,000 of the 18,800 by name and reaches 60% of those, that's 3,600 operators. A 2% response rate gives 72 conversations; closing a quarter gives 18 farms. At an illustrative $4,500 per farm for hardware and a first year of monitoring, that's $81,000.
- Time it. As general guidance, contact operators after harvest, when grain is in the bins and next year's budget is being set, rather than in planting season.
Finding the right person at each operation and what's changed (new bins, a new generation taking over) is the slow part; Bebop finds the contacts and researches each company in a list.
Next step: see how to turn a count into named accounts in our guide to building a prospect list.
Sources
- Farms and Land in Farms, 2025 Summary, USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, February 2026
- 2022 Census of Agriculture, Volume 1, US: Table 1 (historical highlights), Table 74 (legal status) and Table 75 (NAICS farm type), USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, February 2024
- America's Farms and Ranches at a Glance: 2025 Edition (EIB-299), USDA Economic Research Service, 10 February 2026
- The number of U.S. farms continues slow decline, USDA Economic Research Service, 12 March 2025
- Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2025 annual averages, NAICS 111 and 112, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed 30 October 2026
- Handbook of Methods: QCEW concepts (scope and exclusions), US Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed 30 October 2026
- County Business Patterns methodology (industry coverage), US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- 7 U.S. Code § 2276, Confidentiality of information, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, accessed 30 October 2026
- Animal Feeding Operations database, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, accessed 30 October 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many farms are in the US?
1,865,000 in 2025, according to USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service, down 15,000 from 2024. The 2022 Census of Agriculture, a full count, found 1,900,487. A farm is any place that sold, or normally would have sold, $1,000 or more of agricultural products in the year. Farms operate 873,950,000 acres, an average of 469 acres each.
How many farms are there by state?
Texas has the most, with 229,000 farms in 2025, followed by Iowa (86,200), Missouri (85,500), Ohio (73,600), Oklahoma (69,700) and Illinois (69,600), according to NASS. Large farms are concentrated elsewhere: Iowa has 10,800 farms with $1 million or more in sales, California 8,400, Minnesota 8,200 and Illinois 8,100, against 4,500 in Texas. Rhode Island has the fewest farms, 1,000.
How many family farms are in the US?
About 97% of US farms are family farms, where the producer and relatives own the majority of the business, according to USDA ERS's 2025 edition of America's Farms and Ranches at a Glance. Of 1,872,321 farms in 2024, 1,618,780 were small family farms, 113,966 midsize and 86,808 large-scale family farms; 52,767 were nonfamily farms. Large-scale family farms produced half the value of farm output.
How many large farms are in the US?
115,030 farms had sales of $1 million or more in 2025, 6.2% of all farms, according to NASS, and they operated 36% of US farmland, an average of 2,733 acres each. By ERS's income-based typology, there were 86,808 large-scale family farms in 2024, including 8,788 very large farms with $5 million or more in gross cash farm income.
Has the number of US farms gone down?
Yes. USDA ERS says US farms peaked at 6.8 million in 1935 and fell sharply until the early 1970s, then more slowly. NASS estimates 2,023,200 farms in 2018 and 1,865,000 in 2025. Land in farms fell from 898.9 million to 874.0 million acres over the same years, so the average farm grew from 444 to 469 acres.
Is there a list of all farms in the US?
No. Census of Agriculture responses are confidential by law, so USDA publishes counts by county, type and size through NASS Quick Stats but never farm names. Names come from narrower sources: state livestock permit databases, state business registers for farm corporations and LLCs, state agriculture department licenses, and the customer lists of dealers, co-ops and lenders.