State By State Government Land Ownership

 

 

The table below details government land ownership on a state by state basis.

 

The total acres of federal and state ownership, the percentage of the state that each constitutes and a statewide ranking for each of these categories are included.

 

Where possible, acreage figures refer only to land area and do not include water areas, leases or easements.

 

In several cases, however, federal and state agencies were uncertain if the figures provided included the latter or were unable to provide differentiated figures.

 

Acreage owned by federal agencies and tribal lands are also depicted in the chart.

 

The BLM is the largest landholder with 268,462,800 acres or 38.2% of the federal estate.

Copyright 1995 by National Wilderness Institute.

 

All values are in thousands (000's) of acres except percentages and ranking.

 

State

 Total Area of State Tot. Area Owned by Federal & State Gov't. % of State's Tot. Area State Rank Owned by Federal Gov't. % of State's Tot. Area State Rank Owned by State % of State's Tot. Area State Rank BLM USFS NPS Other Fed. Tribal Lands
AK 365,039.4 349,826.9 %95.8 #1 244,626.9 %67.0 #3 105,200.0 %28.8 #2 89,712.2 24,355.1 51,533.8 79,025.8 86.8
AL 32,480.0 2,306.1 %7.1 #38 1,910.3 %5.9 #32 395.8 %1.2 #35 111.0 1,287.8 6.5 505.0 0.2
AR 33,328.0 5,750.7 %17.3 #21 5,098.2 %15.3 #17 652.5 %2.0 #30 291.2 3,502.5 101.4 1,203.1 -
AZ 72,730.9 41,311.2 %56.8 #6 32,228.0 %44.3 #8 9,083.9 %12.5 #6 14,254.2 11,887.4 2,672.6 4,413.8 19,866.2
CA 99,822.7 52,085.9 %52.1 #8 49,842.3 %49.9 #6 2,243.6 %2.2 #29 17,255.8 24,402.3 4,574.6 3,609.6 520.9
CO 66,387.2 28,769.1 %43.3 #10 25,851.4 %38.9 #9 2,917.7 %4.4 #24 8,314.8 16,042.1 596.7 897.8 795.2
CT 3,100.8 191.6 %6.2 #40 18.7 %0.6 #49 172.9 %5.6 #17 - - 6.0 12.7 1.6
DE 1,251.2 91.6 %7.4 #37 30.7 %2.5 #41 60.9 %4.9 #21 - - - 30.7 -
FL 34,558.1 10,095.8 %29.2 #14 5,359.0 %15.5 #16 4,736.8 %13.7 #4 25.3 1,256.1 2,320.1 1,757.5 154.2
GA 37,068.2 3,617.0 %9.7 #33 3,267.3 %8.8 #26 349.7 %0.9 #40 - 1,846.1 40.8 1,380.4 -
HI 4,110.7 781.5 %19.0 #17 757.3 %18.4 #13 24.2 %0.6 #43 - - 235.4 521.9 -
IA 35,760.0 1,007.2 %2.8 #47 740.8 %2.1 #44 266.4 %0.7 #41 0.4 - 1.7 738.5 3.6
ID 52,960.6 37,268.0 %70.4 #4 34,519.6 %65.2 #4 2,748.4 %5.2 #19 11,861.7 21,673.2 99.2 885.5 642.2
IL 35,579.5 1,477.0 %4.1 #46 1,071.1 %3.0 #38 405.9 %1.1 #37 0.2 840.0 - 230.9 -
IN 22,956.8 1,037.3 %4.5 #43 731.6 %3.2 #7 305.7 %1.3 #35 - 644.3 10.3 77.0 -
KS 52,366.7 889.3 %1.9 #49 577.0 %1.1 #47 312.3 %0.6 #42 - 116.3 0.7 460.1 7.2
KY 25,428.5 2,988.4 %11.8 #29 2,888.0 %11.4 #22 110.5 %0.4 #46 - 2,101.7 93.4 693.0 -
LA 27,882.2 2,973.4 %10.7 #32 2,228.8 %8.0 #28 744.6 %2.7 #27 309.6 1,024.6 10.1 884.5 0.4
MA 5,016.3 317.2 %6.3 #39 85.3 %1.7 #45 231.9 %4.6 #22 - - 33.2 52.1 0.2
ME 19,753.6 1,127.7 %5.7 #41 238.5 %1.2 #46 889.2 %4.5 #23 - 93.3 69.3 75.9 163.6
MD 6,256.0 475.5 %7.6 #36 131.1 %2.1 #43 344.4 %5.5 #18 - - 41.7 89.4 -
MI 36,357.8 10,231.9 %28.1 #15 5,743.1 %15.8 #14 4,488.8 %12.3 #7 74.9 4,895.3 632.1 140.8 5.1
MN 50,954.9 11,975.0 %23.5 #16 6,595.9 %12.9 #21 5,379.1 %10.6 #9 153.4 5,466.8 141.6 834.1 728.8
MO 44,094.7 4,966.6 %11.2 #30 3,937.0 %8.9 #25 1,029.6 %2.3 #28 2.3 3,059.8 63.4 811.5 -
MS 30,025.0 3,255.4 %10.9 #31 3,146.9 %10.5 #24 108.5 %0.4 #48 57.3 2,309.9 107.9 671.8 20.7
MT 93,155.8 34,910.1 %37.5 #12 29,712.7 %31.9 #12 5,196.4 %5.6 #16 8,077.3 19,104.3 1,221.3 1,310.8 2,683.2
NE 49,201.9 1,402.6 %2.8 #48 1,155.7 %2.3 #42 246.9 %0.5 #44 7.5 442.5 5.9 699.8 23.8
NV 70,275.8 61,674.2 %87.8 #2 61,548.0 %87.6 #1 126.2 %0.2 #49 47,966.2 6,275.3 777.0 6,529.5 1,152.0
NH 5,740.2 1,029.6 %18.0 #19 865.4 %15.1 #18 164.2 %2.9 #26 - 825.1 10.2 30.1 -
NJ 4,748.2 870.1 %18.3 #18 130.2 %2.7 #39 739.9 %15.6 #3 - - 35.2 95.0 -
NM 77,673.6 36,843.1 %47.4 #9 28,143.1 %36.2 #10 8,700.0 %11.2 #8 12,878.4 10,366.7 372.9 4,525.1 7,522.6
NY 30,223.4 11,225.2 %37.1 #13 130.2 %0.4 #50 11,095.0 %36.7 #1 - 13.4 36.4 80.4 118.2
NC 31,179.5 4,554.8 %14.6 #26 4,418.8 %14.2 #19 136.0 %0.4 #46 - 3,165.2 380.5 873.1 56.6
ND 44,156.2 4,038.2 %9.1 #34 3,226.1 %7.3 #31 812.1 %1.8 #31 66.5 1,105.8 71.6 1,982.2 214.6
OH 26,209.9 1,577.9 %4.2 #45 1,156.2 %2.6 #40 421.7 %1.6 #32 - 834.2 18.8 303.2 -
OK 43,954.6 2,012.6 %4.6 #42 1,577.2 %3.6 #35 435.4 %1.0 #39 2.5 464.9 9.9 1,099.8 99.1
OR 61,441.9 37,080.1 %60.4 #5 34,084.2 %55.5 #5 2,995.9 %4.9 #20 15,721.1 17,507.7 194.9 660.5 660.7
PA 28,684.8 4,644.6 %16.1 #24 988.0 %3.4 #36 3,656.6 %12.7 #5 - 742.9 48.5 196.6 -
RI 668.8 63.4 %1.5 #50 3.9 %0.6 #48 59.5 %0.9 #12 - - - 3.9 1.8
SC 19,271.0 2,265.1 %11.8 #28 2,058.9 %10.7 #23 206.2 %1.1 #38 - 1,375.5 26.3 657.1 -
SD 48,574.7 4,295.7 %8.9 #35 4,205.8 %8.7 #27 89.9 %0.2 #50 279.1 2,364.0 263.6 1,299.1 2,401.1
TN 26,380.8 3,719.3 %14.1 #27 1,997.3 %7.6 #29 1,722.0 %6.5 #14 - 1,212.2 344.1 441.0 -
TX 167,625.0 7,078.0 %4.2 #44 6,253.0 %3.7 #34 825.0 %0.5 #46 - 1,994.5 1,172.6 3,085.9 4.6
UT 52,587.5 39,548.1 %75.2 #3 35,723.3 %67.9 #2 3,824.8 %7.3 #13 22,147.6 9,199.7 2,022.6 2,353.4 2,286.5
VA 25,342.7 4,329.9 %17.1 #22 3,983.0 %15.7 #15 346.9 %1.4 #34 - 3,223.1 319.2 440.7 -
VT 5,919.4 932.9 %15.8 #25 837.7 %14.2 #20 95.2 %1.6 #33 - 815.7 8.3 13.7 -
WA 42,612.5 17,849.1 %41.9 #11 13,984.0 %32.8 #11 3,865.1 %9.1 #11 333.5 10,063.6 1,932.4 1,654.5 2,101.0
WI 34,761.0 6,189.4 %17.8 #20 2,543.5 %7.3 #30 3,645.9 %10.5 #10 160.2 2,023.0 72.7 287.6 338.1
WV 15,415.7 2,552.1 %16.5 #23 2,102.9 %13.6 #21 449.2 %2.9 #25 - 1,869.4 46.3 187.2 -
WY 62,147.2 34,766.8 %55.9 #7 30,902.0 %49.7 #7 3,864.8 %6.2 #15 18,398.4 9,703.6 2,393.2 406.8 1,909.4
TOTAL 2,263,221.9 900,270.2 %39.8 - 703,355.9 %31.1 - 196,924.1 %8.7 - 268,462.6 231,496.9 75,176.9 129,220.4 44,570.2

Notes:

 
Figures for total areas of states reflect land acreage only and are from the US Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1991 (11th ed.) Washington, DC, 1991, p.201.
 
Figures in Federal & State owned column: In most cases it was not possible to separate the figures when agencies overlapped.
 
Figures in State Owned column: Where possible figures are limited to land acreage only. For Idaho and Wisconsin, figures also include land owned by lesser government entities. For New York, figure includes an extensive amount of private lands of inholders in state parks.
 
Figures in BLM column are from US Bureau of Land Management, Public Land Statistics: 1992 (vol. 177) US Dept. of Interior, Washington, DC, 1993.
 
Figures in USFS column are from US Forest Service, Land Areas of the National Forest System as of September 1993. US Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, DC, 1994.
 
Figures in NPS column are from National Park Service, Land Resources Division, Master Deed Listing: Listing of Acreages by State as of 9/30/94, US Dept. of Interior, Washington, DC, 1994.
 
Figures in Other federal column are from the following: Annual Report of Lands Under the Control of the US Fish and Wildlife Service as of September 30, 1994, US Dept. of Interior, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC 1994. Military Real Property Controlled as Installations, Department of the Air Force, Washington, DC, 1994. Summary of State Acreage by District, US Dept. of the Army, US Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC, 1994. Listing of Acreages by Installation, US Dept. of the Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Alexandria, VA, 1994. Department of Energy Lands, US Dept. of Energy, Washington, DC, 2/2/95.
 
Figures in Tribal Lands column are from Acreages of Indian Lands by Area and State, US Dept. of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, DC, 1990.