Who Is the Largest Landowner in the US
The largest landowner in the US is the federal government, which holds roughly 640 million acres, or about 28 percent of the total land area of the country, according to the latest data from the Congressional Research Service and the Bureau of Land Management Bureau of Land Management.
Within private ownership, the largest individual landowner is CNN founder Ted Turner, who owns about 2 million acres across multiple ranches in the western United States, while the largest corporate landowner is often cited as either John Malone's Liberty Media or another major private holding company with extensive timber and ranchland portfolios Forbes.
Largest Private Landowners and Corporate Holdings
John Malone, through Liberty Media and related entities, controls more than 2.2 million acres of land across the US, making him one of the biggest private landowners, with holdings focused on timber, ranching, and natural resources Forbes.
Other major private landowners include the Emmerson Family, which controls large timberlands in the Pacific Northwest, and companies such as Weyerhaeuser and Plum Creek Timber, which collectively manage millions of acres of forest and real estate SEC filings.
Federal and Institutional Land Ownership
The Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service, and other federal agencies manage the bulk of government land, with the BLM alone overseeing more than 245 million acres, primarily in western states such as Alaska, Nevada, Utah, and Oregon Bureau of Land Management.
In addition to federal holdings, large institutional investors, pension funds, and real estate investment trusts own substantial acreage, often focused on agricultural land, timber, and mineral rights, with total institutional ownership growing in recent years as farmland becomes an alternative asset class SEC filings.