Where land is genuinely cheap, ranked by average value per acre across 3,072 US counties. Truly cheap land is rarer than people think, and almost all of it sits in one part of the country.
The 12 states with at least one sub $1,000 county: AK, AZ, CA, CO, MT, NM, NV, SD, TX, UT, WA, WY. Not one is east of the Plains. If your goal is the lowest possible price per acre, that is where to look, with the tradeoff that the cheapest land is remote, dry and usually off grid.
Sort by any column, filter by state, or search a county. Full data as CSV.
| # | County | State | $ / acre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aleutian Islands County | Alaska | $189 |
| 2 | Navajo County | Arizona | $325 |
| 3 | Apache County | Arizona | $329 |
| 4 | Coconino County | Arizona | $344 |
| 5 | Gila County | Arizona | $356 |
| 6 | Mineral County | Nevada | $374 |
| 7 | Guadalupe County | New Mexico | $379 |
| 8 | De Baca County | New Mexico | $385 |
| 9 | Sweetwater County | Wyoming | $387 |
| 10 | Sierra County | New Mexico | $406 |
| 11 | Cibola County | New Mexico | $406 |
| 12 | Hidalgo County | New Mexico | $414 |
| 13 | Harding County | New Mexico | $447 |
| 14 | Pima County | Arizona | $504 |
| 15 | Grant County | New Mexico | $575 |
| 16 | Eureka County | Nevada | $577 |
| 17 | Mckinley County | New Mexico | $605 |
| 18 | Catron County | New Mexico | $620 |
| 19 | Elko County | Nevada | $647 |
| 20 | Big Horn County | Montana | $649 |
| 21 | Garfield County | Montana | $672 |
| 22 | Sandoval County | New Mexico | $704 |
| 23 | Converse County | Wyoming | $709 |
| 24 | Rosebud County | Montana | $716 |
| 25 | Graham County | Arizona | $736 |
| 26 | San Juan County | New Mexico | $745 |
| 27 | San Juan County | Utah | $748 |
| 28 | Carter County | Montana | $753 |
| 29 | Otero County | New Mexico | $754 |
| 30 | Prairie County | Montana | $762 |
| 31 | Curry County | New Mexico | $763 |
| 32 | Socorro County | New Mexico | $768 |
| 33 | Quay County | New Mexico | $783 |
| 34 | Torrance County | New Mexico | $784 |
| 35 | Niobrara County | Wyoming | $791 |
| 36 | Luna County | New Mexico | $796 |
| 37 | Hot Springs County | Wyoming | $823 |
| 38 | Natrona County | Wyoming | $825 |
| 39 | San Miguel County | New Mexico | $836 |
| 40 | Blaine County | Montana | $849 |
| 41 | Union County | New Mexico | $852 |
| 42 | Oglala Lakota County | South Dakota | $871 |
| 43 | Chaves County | New Mexico | $887 |
| 44 | Lincoln County | Colorado | $900 |
| 45 | Uintah County | Utah | $901 |
| 46 | Eddy County | New Mexico | $907 |
| 47 | Lincoln County | New Mexico | $915 |
| 48 | Ferry County | Washington | $929 |
| 49 | Wibaux County | Montana | $934 |
| 50 | Roberts County | Texas | $950 |
| 51 | Weston County | Wyoming | $953 |
| 52 | Powder River County | Montana | $957 |
| 53 | Campbell County | Wyoming | $959 |
| 54 | Inyo County | California | $961 |
| 55 | Carbon County | Wyoming | $971 |
| 56 | Golden Valley County | Montana | $977 |
| 57 | Colfax County | New Mexico | $977 |
| 58 | Lea County | New Mexico | $979 |
| 59 | Dawson County | Montana | $981 |
| 60 | Treasure County | Montana | $996 |
| 61 | Costilla County | Colorado | $996 |
| 62 | Val Verde County | Texas | $1,000 |
| 63 | Crowley County | Colorado | $1,003 |
| 64 | Las Animas County | Colorado | $1,005 |
| 65 | Harding County | South Dakota | $1,006 |
| 66 | Mcpherson County | Nebraska | $1,006 |
| 67 | Custer County | Montana | $1,017 |
| 68 | Hooker County | Nebraska | $1,028 |
| 69 | Platte County | Wyoming | $1,028 |
| 70 | Roosevelt County | New Mexico | $1,039 |
| 71 | Albany County | Wyoming | $1,040 |
| 72 | Fallon County | Montana | $1,043 |
| 73 | Mohave County | Arizona | $1,045 |
| 74 | Crockett County | Texas | $1,050 |
| 75 | Oldham County | Texas | $1,053 |
| 76 | Mccone County | Montana | $1,055 |
| 77 | Valencia County | New Mexico | $1,055 |
| 78 | Petroleum County | Montana | $1,059 |
| 79 | Cottle County | Texas | $1,059 |
| 80 | Thomas County | Nebraska | $1,065 |
| 81 | Hill County | Montana | $1,066 |
| 82 | Hudspeth County | Texas | $1,068 |
| 83 | Presidio County | Texas | $1,070 |
| 84 | Daniels County | Montana | $1,076 |
| 85 | Musselshell County | Montana | $1,077 |
| 86 | Fall River County | South Dakota | $1,082 |
| 87 | Washoe County | Nevada | $1,083 |
| 88 | Bent County | Colorado | $1,087 |
| 89 | Arthur County | Nebraska | $1,091 |
| 90 | Beaver County | Oklahoma | $1,100 |
| 91 | Jeff Davis County | Texas | $1,101 |
| 92 | Roosevelt County | Montana | $1,108 |
| 93 | Richland County | Montana | $1,109 |
| 94 | Dewey County | South Dakota | $1,109 |
| 95 | Grand County | Utah | $1,110 |
| 96 | Lander County | Nevada | $1,115 |
| 97 | Motley County | Texas | $1,118 |
| 98 | Phillips County | Montana | $1,124 |
| 99 | Grant County | Nebraska | $1,129 |
| 100 | King County | Texas | $1,130 |
Pool every county by Census region and the order is stark. The rural West is less than half the Northeast. Cheap land is a western phenomenon. Median value per acre by region:
Free to cite and reuse under CC BY 4.0 with credit to FrontierAcre and USDA NASS. A line you can quote:
Only 2% of US counties (61 of 3,072) average under $1,000 an acre, and all 12 states that contain one are in the West or Great Plains. (FrontierAcre, USDA 2022 Census data.)
Suggested citation: FrontierAcre (2026). The Cheapest Counties to Buy Land in America. frontieracre.com/cheapest-land-by-county.html. Built on the USDA 2022 Census of Agriculture.
Figures are the average value of farm real estate (land and buildings) per acre for each county, from the USDA 2022 Census of Agriculture, the most complete count USDA NASS takes. We rank 3,072 of the roughly 3,143 US counties; the rest are withheld by USDA to protect counties with very few farms. See the full picture in the Price Per Acre by County index and the State of US Land Values report. To put a number on a specific parcel, use the estimator.
