USDA’s latest Farms and Land in Farms data shows the US lost -15,000 farms in 2025. Land in farms also declined, with roughly -2.5 million fewer acres than in 2024. Other changes appear a little deeper in the numbers, including the ongoing trend of increasingly bigger farms and a decline in smaller operations. The average farm size for 2025 is 469 acres, up from 466 acres in 2024 and 440 acres in 2020. Average farm size increased in the +$1,000,000 or more sales class and decreased in all other sales classes compared to 2024. Bottom line, larger farms are getting larger, while smaller farms are struggling to stay in the game…
Below are highlights from the Farms and Land in Farms 2025 Summary, which is available HERE.
Interesting, How Many Farms Generate Under $100,000 in Annual Sales… Total Number of Farms in the U.S. for 2025 is estimated at 1,865,000, down -15,000 farms from 2024. Compared to 2020, total US farms have declined by more than -127,000 (1.865 million in 2025 vs 1.992 million in 2020). In 2025, 48.0% of all farms had sales of less than $10,000, mostly unchanged from 48.1% in 2024. A full 78.8% all farms had less than $100,000 in sales, little changed from +78.9% in 2024. Only 9.9% of all farms had sales of $500,000 or more, up just slightly from 9.8% 2024, but up from 7.4% in 2020. About 3.9% of US farms in 2025 had sales of $1 million or more, unchanged from the previous year.
Total Land in Farms, at 873.95 million acres, is down -2.50 million acres from 2024. Compared to 2020, total land in farms ins down -19.16 million acres (873.95 million in 2025 vs 893.10 million in 2020). In 2025, 36% of all farmland was operated by farms with $1 million or more in sales, up slightly from 35.8% in 2024 but substantially higher than 25.4% in 2020.
Average Farm Size for 2025 is 469 acres, up from 466 acres the previous year, and 448 acres in 2020. Average farm size increased in both the $100,000-$249,000 sales class and the $1 million or more sales class. For the $100,000-$249,000 sales class, average farm size rose to 802 acres from 799 in 2024, though that is down from 976 acres just five years ago, or -17.8%, the most of any economic class. For the +$1 million or more sales class, average farm size increased to 2,733 acres from 2,727 in 2024. Again, that is down from 2,915 acres in 2020, or about -6.2%. Average farm size was unchanged for all other economic sales classes. In case you are wondering, Average Farm Size since 2020 has declined in the $10,000 to $99,999 revenue category by about -13.5%; in the $250,000 to $499,999 revenue category, the average farm size has fallen by -10.9%; while in the $500,000 to $999,999 revenue category, acreage has decreased by -7.9%.
No US State Reported an Increase in Farms from 2024 to 2025. However, two states lost a significant number of farms – Minnesota (-1,300) and Texas (-2,000). Other notable declines were seen in Colorado (-900), Kansas (-700), Indiana (-500), Iowa (-500), Montana (-500), Illinois (-400), Ohio (-400), and Tennessee (-400). (Source: USDA, NASS. Economics, Statistics, and Market Information “ESMIS”)
