The USDA tracks the average value of U.S. farmland per acre in each state. This value includes both the property of the land itself as well as any buildings and other agricultural structures on the land. Below are the 5 states with the lowest average farmland values as of August 2022.

1. New Mexico ($610 / acre)

Including native American reservations, the poverty rate in New Mexico is almost 20%. That extreme poverty combined with a dry desert climate make New Mexico’s farmland the absolute cheapest in the entire U.S. at just $610 per acre on average.

2. Wyoming ($850 / acre)

Wyoming is the least populated state in the U.S. with just 581,000 residents. That’s less people than live in either Oklahoma City or Memphis, Tennessee, which helps explain why Wyoming farmland is so cheap at just $850 per acre.

3. Montana ($1,030 / acre)

Montana farmland is only worth $1,030 per acre, but there are about 58 million acres of farmland in Montana which is the second most of any state behind Texas. That means Montana’s farmland in total is worth $60 billion.

4. Nevada ($1,060 / acre)

Colorado may be dry, but Nevada is even drier. Nevada only gets about 10 inches of rainfall every year, and the vast majority of the state is just desert. Farmland in Nevada costs just $1,060 per acre.

5. Colorado ($1,770 / acre)

The average annual precipitation in Colorado is only 18 inches which is less than half of the global average. That extreme dryness, combined with extremely high elevations and thin air, means that Colorado farmland is not very productive and therefore not very valuable, costing just $1,770 per acre on average.

Now that you know which states have the cheapest farmland, check out the 10 states with most expensive farmland.