Major Uses of Land in the United States, 1997. By Marlow Vesterby and

Kenneth S. Krupa. Resource Economics Division, Economic Research Service,

U.S. Department of Agriculture. Statistical Bulletin No. 973. 

Abstract

The United States has a total land area of nearly 2.3 billion acres. Major uses in

1997 were forest-use land, 642 million acres (28 percent); grassland pasture and

range, 580 million (26 percent); cropland, 455 million (20 percent); miscellaneous other uses, 300 million (13 percent); and special uses, 286 million acres

(13 percent). Cropland acreage decreased from 1992 to 1997, but by only 1 percent (5 million acres). Grassland pasture and range decreased 2 percent (11 million acres). Special uses (primarily parks and wildlife areas) increased by 5 million acres, continuing an almost uninterrupted upward trend since 1945.

Miscellaneous other uses increased 17 million acres, mostly due to expanding

urban area. Rural residential area (a new category) was estimated to be 73 million acres in 1997. Urban and rural residential area, together, accounted for

about 46 percent of miscellaneous other uses. Private land ownership was 60

percent of the total land area; Federal ownership was 29 percent; and State,

other public, and Indian trust lands, together, accounted for the remaining 11

percent of the land area.

Keywords: Land use, land use trends, cropland, pasture, rangeland, forestland,

agricultural land, nonagricultural land.

Acknowledgments

We thank all those who contributed to the success of this report. Several individuals in Federal and State agencies who manage or account for land in the

United States provided information and reviewed drafts.

Thanks especially go to Arthur B. Daugherty, author of the 1987 and 1992 editions. Art provided valuable technical and historical advice. Thomas H. Frey,

author or coauthor of five previous Major Land Use reports, reviewed the draft

and provided suggestions for improvement. We want to acknowledge the contributions of John Jones for technical assistance in producing the maps. 

Thanks go to ERS researchers William Anderson, Ralph Heimlich, and Robbin

Shoemaker; Dale Colyer, Professor at West Virginia University; Daryl Lund,

Natural Resources Conservation Service; David Darr and Brad Smith, Forest

Service; and Mark Harris and Daryl Brinkman, National Agricultural Statistics

Service, for helpful reviews and comments on various drafts.

1800 M Street, NW

Washington, DC 20036-5831 August 2001
Preface

The Economic Research Service (ERS) has served as a source of major land use

estimates in the United States for over 50 years. The major land use series is

the only consistent accounting of all major uses of land in the United States,

public and private. Francis Marschner made some of the earliest contributions

by reporting land use from 1922 through 1940 in the Atlas of American

Agriculture when he was with the ERS predecessor agency, the Bureau of

Agricultural Economics. A consistent series was started in 1945, and has since

been published at intervals coinciding with the periodic censuses of agriculture.

Marschner was also one of the researchers involved in the 1945 inventory

(Reuss, Wooten, and Marschner, 1948). A wide range of researchers, policy

analysts, and organizations have used the data, in econometric models and elsewhere, often as the authoritative source. The annual cropland portion of the

series has been consistently maintained since 1910. 

To ensure comparability with earlier estimates in the series, a standardized set of

procedures is used (Barnard and Hexem, 1988). Even so, comparability was

sometimes hindered by changes in the characteristics of data available over

time. This is inevitable since the estimates are not drawn from a single survey

but derived by reconciliation of several sources of data. In some instances,

more recent data than 1997 were available on cropland and were incorporated

when appropriate. 

Economic analyses often require consistent acreage estimates of land use. Prior

to 1945, acres of major land uses were not consistently available for all States

and all major uses of land. Various agencies had data on land use that differed

widely in definition, collection criteria, and acreage. No single agency provided

all land uses that would sum to total land in the United States. For example, the

Forest Service had data on forest land while the Bureau of Land Management

provided public grazing land acreage. The Census of Agriculture collected

information on cropland and rangeland, but only if it was included in “land in

farms,” missing agricultural land not in farms. Various other Federal and State

agencies provided data on parks, fish and wildlife areas, roads, railroads,

defense installations, and other categories. 

Data gathering techniques have improved markedly due to advances in technology, sampling, and computer tabulation. Other estimates of U.S. land use do

exist. The Natural Resources Conservation Service publishes the National

Resources Inventory (NRI), a successor to the Conservation Needs Inventory.

The NRI includes agricultural land not covered by the Census of Agriculture.

However, the NRI still does not cover Federal land, missing land uses on about

29 percent of total U.S. land area. Also, the NRI concentrates on the 48 contiguous States and Hawaii, omitting Alaska—365 million acres, or 16 percent of

the total U.S. area. ERS remains the only source of consistent major land use

estimates for all 50 States.

 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997
Contents

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv

How the Land Is Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Trends in Major Uses of Land. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Basic Regional Land Use Patterns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Cropland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Cropland Used for Crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Other Cropland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Trends in Cropland Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Regional Changes in Cropland Used for Crops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Changes in Principal Crops Harvested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Pasture and Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Cropland Pasture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Grassland Pasture and Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Forest Land Grazed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Trends in Pasture and Range Acreage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Forest Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Special and Miscellaneous Other Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Trends in Special Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Urban and Rural Residential Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Miscellaneous Other Land Uses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Major Uses of Land, by Class of Ownership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Appendix: Definitions and Explanation of the Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Appendix Tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 
Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Summary

ERS analysts construct land use estimates by collecting data from the census,

public land management and conservation agencies, and other sources. The data

are assembled, analyzed, and synthesized by State to calculate the use of several

broad classes and subclasses of agricultural and nonagricultural land over time.

This publication presents the results of the latest inventory (1997) of major land

uses. It analyzes trends in land use based on comparisons with earlier major land

use estimates. A specific set of land use categories is defined in the appendix.

Land area of the United States is nearly 2.3 billion acres. Major uses in 1997

were forest-use land, 642 million acres (28 percent); grassland pasture and

range, 580 million acres (26 percent); cropland, 455 million acres (20 percent);

miscellaneous other uses, 300 million acres (13 percent); and special uses, 286

million acres (13 percent). 

Cropland—including cropland used for crops, idled, and pasture—decreased by

5 million acres from 1992 to 1997 (1 percent). Cropland has declined slowly

but steadily since 1978—by about 3 percent. Cropland used for crops—cropland harvested, crop failure, and cultivated summer fallow—increased 11 million acres from 1992 to 1997, due to a proportionally large decrease in acres

idled in Federal programs. Harvested cropland increased 15 million acres

from 1992 to 1997, largely due to an 11-million-acre increase in soybean

acreage, attributed to the elimination of most acreage use restriction programs

by the 1996 FAIR Act. The practice of summer fallow, primarily in the Plains

States, continued a long-term decline to 21 million acres in 1997. The decline

in summer fallow is due to better wheat varieties, improved cultivation practices,

and other factors. Cropland failure and cropland pasture experienced no

notable acreage changes. While cropland used for crops trended upward for

most regions from 1992 to 1997, the Northeast continued a downward trend that

began in 1945, further concentrating acreage used for crops in major crop producing regions.

Grassland pasture and range decreased 11 million acres from 1992 to 1997,

nearly 2 percent. Cropland pasture, forest land grazed, and grassland pasture

and range, combined, totaled 788 million acres, down from 803 million acres in

1992. Western regions account for over 90 percent of this land. The decrease in

grassland and pasture use shifted mostly to cropland. However, some went to

forest and miscellaneous uses, including urban.

Forest-use land also decreased from 1992 to 1997, but only by 1 percent. When

special-use forested land in parks, wildlife, and related areas is included, total

forest land also increased by 1 percent. Nearly a third of the land area of the

United States, 746 million acres, is forested, including an estimated 105 million

acres in special-use area. Land in forests is about equally divided between the

humid eastern half of the country and the western half, including Alaska. 

Special uses—parks, wildlife areas, wilderness, rural roads, railroads, airports,

defense and related areas, farmsteads and farm lanes—increased nearly 2 percent from 1992 to 1997, continuing an upward trend dating from 1945. Federal

and State parks, and wildlife and wilderness areas comprise 80 percent of

special use land and account for most of the increase in area. Defense and
Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 

related areas decreased by almost 4 million acres, mostly in Arizona and

Nevada. Over 40 percent of special-use areas are in Alaska due to vast wildlife

areas and parks.

Miscellaneous other uses—urban, rural residential, and all unclassified land

such as marshes, open swamps, bare rock areas, and deserts—increased about 6

percent from 1992 to 1997. Nearly one-third of the increase was due to

increased urban area. Land in urban areas is estimated at 66 million acres in

1997, up from 59 million acres in 1992—an average rate of increase of 1.4 million acres per year. Rural residential land, a new land use category, was estimated to be about 73 million acres in 1997.

Regional patterns of major land uses vary greatly and reflect differences in soil,

climate, topography, and population settlement patterns. The Northeast, for

example, has about 12 percent of its area in cropland, compared with 60 percent

for the Corn Belt. The proportions are about reversed for forest land: 60 percent

in the Northeast, 19 percent in the Corn Belt. The regions with the next highest

shares of cropland after the Corn Belt are the Northern Plains (55 percent), Lake

States (33 percent), Southern Plains (27 percent), and Delta States (24 percent).

Forest land is most prevalent in the Northeast, Appalachian, and Southeast, with

each region having more than 58 percent of its area in forest. In these regions

the topography is often rolling-to-mountainous and precipitation is ample.

Class of ownership. Over 60 percent (1,366 million acres) of the land in the

United States is privately owned. The Federal Government owns nearly 29 percent (647 million acres), over one-third of which is in Alaska. State and local

governments own about 9 percent (195 million acres). Over 2 percent (55 million acres) is held in trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. There was minimal

change in ownership from 1992 to 1997.

How the Land Is Used

The United States has a land area of about 2.3 billion

acres (fig. 1). About 20 percent of the land area was

cropland in 1997, 26 percent was permanent grassland

pasture and range, and 28 percent was forest-use land

(33 percent is defined as total forest land when land in

parks and other land used for similar purposes is

included). The final 26 percent constituted land used

for a variety of special purposes and unclassified land,

including urban land (table 1). These proportions are

significantly affected by the land area of Alaska, which

has very little cropland and pasture but large areas of

forest-use, special-use, and miscellaneous other land

(app. table 1). 

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 1

Major Uses of Land in the 

United States, 1997

(Marking 52 years in land use estimates)

Marlow Vesterby and Kenneth S. Krupa

Figure 1

Major uses of land, 1997

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

48 States All States

Source: ERS, USDA, table 1.

Million acres

Miscellaneous land

Special uses

Forest-use land

Grassland pasture 

and range

Cropland

1,894

2,263

9%

29%

31%

7%

24% 20%

26%

28%

13%

13%

Table 1—Major uses of land, United States, 1997

Acreage Proportion of total

Land use 48 United 48 United

States States States States 

Million acres Percent

Cropland1 455 455 24.0 20.1

Grassland pasture 

and range2 578 580 30.5 25.6

Forest-use land3 552 642 29.2 28.4

Special uses4 142 286 7.5 12.6

Miscellaneous

other land5 167 301 8.8 13.3 

Total land area6 1,894 2,263 100.0 100.0

1All land in the crop rotation, including cropland used for crops, idle

cropland, and cropland used only for pasture. Alaska and Hawaii

total less than 0.4 million acres (see table 5). 2Permanent grassland and other nonforested pasture and range.

3Total forest land as classified by the U.S. Forest Service, excluding an estimated 105 million acres used primarily for parks, wildlife

areas, and other uses.

4Rural transportation areas, areas used primarily for recreation and

wildlife purposes, various public installations and facilities, farmsteads, and farm roads, including approximately 105 million

acres that overlap with forest land.

5Includes urban areas, areas in miscellaneous uses not inventoried, and marshes, open swamps, bare rock areas, desert, tundra,

and other land generally having low value for agricultural purposes.

6Includes streams and canals less than one-eighth mile wide, and

ponds, lakes, and reservoirs covering less than 40 acres.

Distributions by major use may not add to totals due to rounding.

Sources: Estimates are based primarily on reports and records of

the Bureau of the Census and Federal, State, and local land management and conservation agencies including AAR, 1997; BLM,

1998; BOC, 1999; FHWA, 1997; FS, 1998, 1999; FWS, 1997; GSA,

1998, 1999; NASS, 1998, 1999a, 1999b; SCS, 1994; NPS, 1997;

and various unpublished data sources.
Land used for agricultural purposes in 1997 totaled

nearly 1.2 billion acres, over 52 percent of total U.S.

land area (table 2). Cropland, grassland pasture, and

range accounted for most of the land used for agricultural purposes, but land used for agricultural purposes

also included forest land used for grazing and land in

farmsteads, farm roads, and farm lanes. In contrast,

the Bureau of the Census estimated 932 million acres

of “land in farms” in 1997 (USDA/NASS, 1999a).

The difference is mostly accounted for by grazing

lands, both forested and nonforested, that are not

defined by Census as being in farms, as well as cropland underenumerated by the Census (Barnard and

Hexem, 1988).

Land classified as cropland totaled 455 million acres

(table 1). This total represents all land in crop rotation, including cropland used only for pasture (fig. 2).

Cropland used for crops—harvested, failed, and summer fallow—totaled 349 million acres, 77 percent of

the acreage classed as cropland, including cropland

2 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Table 2—Agricultural and nonagricultural uses of land, United States, 1997

Acreage Proportion of total

Land use 48 States United States 48 States United States

Million acres Percent

Agricultural:

Cropland—

Cropland used for crops1 349 349 18.4 15.4

Idle cropland 39 39 2.0 1.7

Grazing land—

Cropland used only for pasture 67 68 3.6 3.0

Grassland pasture and range 578 580 30.5 25.6

Forest land grazed 140 140 7.4 6.2

Special uses—

Farmsteads, farm roads 7 7 0.4 0.3

Total agricultural land2 1,179 1,182 62.3 52.2

Nonagricultural:

Forest-use land—

Forest-use land not grazed3 412 501 21.8 22.1

Special uses—

Transportation uses4 25 25 1.3 1.1

Recreation and wildlife areas5 95 237 5.0 10.5

National defense areas6 15 16 0.8 0.7

Miscellaneous other land7 167 301 8.8 13.3

Total nonagricultural land2 715 1,081 37.8 47.8

Total land area2 1,894 2,263 100.0 100.0

1Cropland harvested, crop failure, and cultivated summer fallow. 2Breakdown of land uses may not add to totals due to rounding. 3Excludes 105 million acres of forest land in parks and land in other special uses (see app. table 1). 4Rural highways, roads and railroad rights-of-way, and rural airports. 5National and State parks and related recreational areas, national and State wildlife refuges, and national wilderness and primitive areas. 6Federal land administered by the Department of Defense for military purposes and land administered by the Department of Energy. 7Includes urban areas, miscellaneous uses not inventoried, and areas of little surface use such as marshes, open swamps, bare rock areas,

desert, and tundra.

Sources: Estimates are based primarily on reports and records of the Bureau of the Census and

Federal and State land management and conservation agencies. See sources for table 1.
pasture (table 2). The remaining 23 percent includes

idle cropland and cropland used only for pasture.

Livestock grazing was the primary use of an estimated

580 million acres of permanent grassland pasture and

range. (Forest land grazed is counted as forest land.)

Some grazing land also has other uses. When cropland

pasture (68 million acres) and forested grazing land

(140 million acres) are added to the permanent grassland acreage, total grazing land comprised about 788

million acres, 35 percent of the total U.S. land area.

Forest-use land not grazed (total forest land minus

land grazed and in special uses, such as in national and

State parks) amounted to 501 million acres and was

the predominant nonagricultural category of land

(table 2). 

Nonagricultural special-use areas (excluding 7 million

acres of special-use land in farmsteads and farm roads)

were estimated to account for more than 278 million

acres, over 12 percent of the Nation’s land area. Rural

transportation uses accounted for 25 million acres.

Federal and State parks, wildlife refuges, and related

acres occupied 237 million acres, and defense and

other public installations and facilities totaled 16 million acres.

The remaining 301 million acres of the Nation’s land

area included urban areas and minor acreage in various

special uses not inventoried, but consisting mainly of

Alaskan tundra, deserts, bare rock areas, swamps,

marshes, and other unclassified areas. 

Trends in Major Uses of Land

The most pronounced trends in major uses of land

(1959-97) have occurred in the upward trend in special-use areas and the downward trend in grassland

pasture and range (table 3). During 1982-97, cropland

used for crops plus idle cropland fell from 404 million

acres to 388 million. This change reversed the 1969-

82 trend, when cropland used for crops plus idle cropland increased 20 million acres.

Estimates of the combined acreage of cropland pasture, grassland pasture, and range decreased 10 million

acres during 1992-97, continuing a general downward

trend since 1949 (Daugherty, 1989). The 1997 total

was the lowest amount used for grazing since 1945,

when the Major Land Use series began. 

Forest-use land, exclusive of the forest area duplicated

in special uses, declined 6 million acres from 1992 to

1997. The 642 million acres of forest-use land differs

from the 747 million acres estimated by the Forest

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 3

Figure 2

Major uses of U.S. cropland

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1949 54 59 64 69 74 78 82 87 92 97

Million acres

Source: See sources to tables 1 and 3.

Total cropland

Failed Summer fallow

Harvested cropland

Cropland pasture

Idle cropland
Service (app. table 5) because the latter includes multiple-use areas in special uses such as parks and wildlife

refuges. Total forest land, including multiple-use

areas, declined from colonial times until about 1920,

increased from 1920 to 1960, and has trended downward again since the 1960s until 1987 (FS, 1982). In

1997, total forest land was estimated to be about 10

million acres more than in 1992 and 16 million acres

above 1987.

Special-use areas—primarily transportation, recreation, and other special uses—totaled 286 million

acres in 1997 (table 3). The large increase between

1978 (158 million acres) and 1987 (279 million acres)

came from establishing national parks, wilderness

areas, and wildlife refuges in Alaska in what was once

inventoried as forest or other unclassified land use.

Alaska now has nearly 50 percent of the acreage for

special uses (app. table 4). Since 1978, acreage in

special uses in Alaska has more than quadrupled from

35 million to over 143 million acres.

Land in urban areas, as measured by the Bureau of the

Census in conjunction with the decennial censuses of

population, totaled 55.9 million acres in 1990, up from

47.3 million acres in 1980 (U.S. Dept. Commerce/

BOC, 1993). Urban areas absorbed an average of 0.9

million acres per year from other land uses during the

1980s, compared with an average of 1.3 million acres

each year during the 1970s (Frey, 1983). Appendix

table 7 estimates urban land based on historic use of

land per capita in urban areas and the 1997 population.

At 65.5 million acres in 1997, this implies an average

increase of 1.4 million acres in urban land per year

since 1990. 

The National Resources Inventory (NRI) enables

trends in land use to be examined according to the

source and destination of changes in major uses

(USDA/NRCS, 2000). While the NRI does not

account for all land use (Federal land and Alaska are

omitted), and does not use the same definitions or data

gathering procedures used by Major Land Uses

(MLU), it does employ a special sampling technique

that allows the construction of land use transition

4 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Table 3—Major uses of land, United States, 1959-97

Land use 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1987 1992 1997

Million acres

Cropland1 458 444 472 465 471 469 464 460 455

Cropland used for crops 359 335 333 361 369 383 331 338 349

Idle cropland 34 52 51 21 26 21 68 56 39

Cropland pasture 65 57 88 83 76 65 65 67 68

Grassland pasture and

range2 633 640 604 598 587 597 591 591 580

Forest-use land3 728 732 723 718 703 655 648 648 642

Grazed forest-use land 245 225 198 179 172 158 155 145 140

Other forest-use land 483 507 525 539 531 497 493 503 501

Special-use areas4 123 144 141 147 158 270 279 281 286

Miscellaneous other land 5 329 306 324 336 345 274 283 283 301

Total land area1, 6 2,271 2,266 2,264 2,264 2,264 2,265 2,265 2,263 2,263

1Distribution of land uses may not add to totals due to rounding. 2Other grassland pasture and nonforested range (excludes cropland used only for pasture and grazed forest land). 3Excludes forest land in parks and other special uses of land. 4Includes land specified in appendix table 4. 5Includes urban areas, areas in miscellaneous uses not inventoried, and areas of little surface use

such as marshes, open swamps, bare rock areas, desert, and tundra. 6Totals differ over time due to remeasurement of the land area.

Sources: Estimates prior to 1997 are from Daugherty, 1991, 1995; Frey, 1973, 1979, 1982; Frey and Hexem, 1985; Frey, Krause, and

Dickason, 1968; and Wooten, Gertel, and Pendleton, 1962. See sources for table 1 for 1997. The estimates are not strictly comparable.
matrices. Transition matrices specify where each

inventoried change in land use came from and where it

went. The NRI shows a substantial drop in cropland,

23 million acres from 1982 to 1997 (table 4).

Rangeland also declined 10 million acres. Much of

this land went to miscellaneous uses, which includes

urban areas and roads. Forest land and other land also

increased, but by smaller amounts. According to the

NRI, cropland shifted 20 million acres to forest but

also gained 6 million acres from forest land uses, for a

net decrease of 14 million acres. 

Comparing MLU data with the NRI, MLU also shows

a decrease of cropland from 1982 to 1997, though just

14 million acres (table 3). However, MLU shows a

larger decrease in rangeland (including public rangeland), 17 million acres versus NRI’s 10 million. For

forest land, MLU shows a decrease of 13 million

acres, in contrast to the increase shown by the NRI.

Again, MLU includes public land in the forest category and employs different estimation procedures. The

MLU special-use category increased 16 million acres

in 1982-97, mostly because of increases in parks, fish

and wildlife areas, and wilderness areas. Much of the

MLU special-use land has no similar category in the

NRI, but is probably included in NRI’s other land

(Federal) and in forest land. Both the NRI and MLU

show increases in urban areas, although the definitions

are different (see appendix, “Definitions and

Explanation of the Data”). These comparisons serve

to emphasize that MLU estimates land use for all land

in the United States, including Federal, and for all 50

States (NRI omits Alaska).

Basic Regional Land Use Patterns

Land used primarily for agricultural production (cropland and nonforested grazing land) accounts for 46

percent (52 percent including forested grazing) of the

Nation’s total land area; forest-use land accounts for

28 percent; and all other land accounts for 26 percent

(table 5). But these proportions vary greatly by region.

Regions reflect differences in soils, climate, topography, and patterns of population settlement (fig. 3)1.

For example, proportions of cropland are vastly different in the Northeast (12 percent) and the Corn Belt (60

percent). Limited precipitation in semiarid areas, for

example the Southern Plains and Mountain regions,

means that a large proportion of the land is most suitable for grazing. Forest land is most prevalent in

regions such as the Northeast, Appalachian, and

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 5

Table 4—Land use transition matrix, 1982-971

Land use Cropland Rangeland Forest land Miscellaneous Other 1982

Million acres2

Cropland3 509 6 20 16 1 552

Rangeland 11 395 3 5 3 416

Forest land 6 2 380 12 2 403

Miscellaneous4 3 13 116 — 123

Other5 1 21 — 396 399

19976 529 406 407 149 402 1,893

— = Less than 500,000 acres. 1Excludes Alaska. NRI data are presented for comparison purposes with MLU data. The NRI uses different data gathering techniques and

slightly different definitions of land use.

2Numbers in bold indicate the acres that remained in the same use. Nonbold numbers across rows represent land moving out of the 1982

land uses. Nonbold numbers down columns represent land moving into the 1997 land uses.

3All crops, idle cropland, summer fallow, and pasture.

4Other farmland, rural land, urban land, and roads.

5Primarily Federal land not inventoried.

6Distributions may not add due to rounding.

Source: ERS, USDA, based on NRCS, 2000.

	



	


	

	



	
 
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6 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Figure 3

Farm production regions

Pacific

Northern Plains

Lake States

Corn Belt

Appalachian

Southeast

Southern Plains

Delta States

Mountain

Northeast

Table 5—Major uses of land, by region, 1997

Grassland Special uses and

pasture and Forest-use miscellaneous Total

Region Cropland1 range2 land3 other land land area4

Mil. Mil. Mil. Mil. Mil.

acres Pct. acres Pct. acres Pct. acres Pct. acres Pct.

Northeast 13.4 12 2.8 3 66.2 59 28.9 26 111.4 100

Lake States 40.7 33 5.0 4 49.2 40 27.2 22 122.1 100

Corn Belt 98.6 60 11.6 7 31.3 19 23.1 14 164.6 100

Northern Plains 107.8 55 68.3 35 4.3 2 13.8 7 194.3 100

Appalachian 28.0 23 5.4 4 71.5 58 18.8 15 123.7 100

Southeast 18.0 15 9.1 7 71.9 58 24.3 20 123.4 100

Delta States 22.0 24 5.5 6 50.7 56 13.0 14 91.2 100

Southern Plains 56.4 27 115.4 55 18.0 9 21.8 10 211.6 100

Mountain 45.4 8 302.7 55 112.6 21 87.3 16 547.9 100

Pacific 24.4 12 52.1 26 76.7 38 50.7 25 203.9 100

48 States4 454.7 24 578.0 31 552.4 29 309.0 16 1,894.1 100

Alaska 0.1 0 1.2 0 87.9 24 275.8 76 365.0 100

Hawaii 0.3 7 1.0 24 1.2 29 1.7 41 4.1 100

United States4 455.1 20 580.2 26 641.5 28 586.5 26 2,263.3 100

1Total cropland including cropland used for crops, cropland used only for pasture, and idle cropland. 2Open permanent pasture and range, both on farms and not on farms, excluding cropland pasture. 3Total forest land, excluding areas used for parks, wildlife refuges, livestock grazing, and other multiple purposes. 4Distribution of land uses and percentages may not add to totals due to rounding.

Sources: See sources for table 1.
Southeast, where the topography is conducive to growing trees and precipitation is ample. In similar fashion, there is variation among States within a region

(figs. 4-7). 

Cropland

Cropland includes five components. The sum of three

components—cropland harvested, crop failure, and

cultivated summer fallow—is cropland used for crops

or the acreage devoted to crop production in any year

(see appendix, “Definitions and Explanation of the

Data”). The other two components, cropland pastured

and idle cropland, are not directly involved in crop

production in a given year, but may rotate into production in another year. 

Cropland Used for Crops

In 1997, the last year in which total cropland was

inventoried, about 349 million acres, or 77 percent of

the Nation’s cropland base, were used for crops (table

6, app. table 2). Acreage used for crops was largest in

the Northern Plains, followed by the Corn Belt, Lake

States, Mountain, and Southern Plains regions. As a

proportion of total cropland, cropland used for crops

was above the national average in the Lake States,

Corn Belt, Northern Plains, Northeast, and Pacific

regions, and below average in the Mountain region and

in the four southernmost regions from the Southern

Plains east. Proportions ranged from a high of 86 percent in the Lake States to 57 percent in the Southern

Plains region. Most of the 39 million idled acres in

1997 was due to the Conservation Reserve Program, at

33 million acres. Total idled acreage was about 17

million acres less than in 1992 (table 3). This decrease

was mainly due to the elimination of Federal acreage

diversion programs. Some regions undergo substantial

change in cropland used for crops, depending mainly

on producer enrollment in Federal programs.

Cropland harvested, the dominant component of the

acreage used for crops, includes row and closely sown

crops, tree fruits and nuts, and vegetables. Cropland

harvested totaled over 321 million acres in 1997, up

from 306 million acres in 1992 (table 7). The increase

in cropland harvested came mostly from the 17-million-acre reduction in idled cropland. A small reduction in summer fallow from 1992 to 1997 also likely

went to cropland harvested. The regional distribution

of harvested acreage was similar to that of cropland

used for crops except in the Northern Plains,

Mountain, Pacific, and Southern Plains regions, which

had larger areas in cultivated summer fallow.

Harvested acreage was highest in the Corn Belt, with

the Northern Plains, Lake States, Southern Plains, and

Mountain regions ranked next in order. 

As with proportions of cropland used for crops, harvested acreage was above the national average (71 percent of total cropland) in the Lake States, Corn Belt,

and Northeast; about average in the Delta States,

Northern Plains, and Pacific regions; and below average in the Southeast, Appalachian, Mountain, and

Southern Plains regions. In 1997, the proportion of

cropland harvested ranged from 52 percent in the

Southern Plains to 84 percent in the Lake States and

Corn Belt.

Crop failure occurred on 6.5 million acres, or nearly 2

percent of the acreage planted for harvest in 1997.

This failure rate was a little below average for recent

years (app. table 6). About 55 percent of the failure

occurred in the Northern Plains and Southern Plains,

where annual precipitation is more uncertain. 

Cultivated summer fallow refers to cropland in subhumid regions that is cultivated for a season or more to

control weeds and accumulate moisture before small

grains are planted. This component totaled over 21

million acres in 1997. Summer fallow is a practice

used for dryland small grain production in extensive

areas of the semiarid West. Over 44 percent of summer fallow acres are in the Northern Plains, 37 percent

in the Mountain region, and the remainder in the

Pacific and Southern Plains regions (table 6). 

Other Cropland

The rest of the cropland acreage was used only for

pasture (68 million acres) or was idle (39 million

acres) in 1997 (see appendix, “Definitions and

Explanation of Data”). Much of the cropland used for

pasture is routinely rotated between crop and pasture

use, although the rotation period varies. Part of the

acreage, however, is marginal for crop use and may

remain in pasture indefinitely. Cropland used only for

pasture accounted for nearly 15 percent of all cropland

in 1997. The Appalachian, Southern Plains, Southeast,

and Delta regions were above the U.S. average. The

largest acreage was in such agriculturally diverse

regions as the Southern and Northern Plains and the

Corn Belt, but these were pastured for different reasons. Cropland pasture acreage in the Corn Belt and

adjacent areas reflects the high proportion of land classified as cropland. On many farms, the only land

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 7
8 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Percent cropland

0 to 18 19 to 36 37 to 54 55 to 72 73 to 90

Alaska and Hawaii are in the 0-18 category.

Source: ERS, USDA, based on app. tables 1 and 2.

Figure 4

Proportion of State land area in cropland, 1997

Percent pasture

Alaska is in the 0-5 category. Hawaii is in the 16-25 category.

0 to 5 6 to 15 26 to 50 51 to 72 16 to 25

Source: ERS, USDA, based on app. tables 1 and 3.

Figure 5

Proportion of State land area in grassland pasture, 1997
Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 9

Percent forest

0 to 18 19 to 36 37 to 54 55 to 72 73 to 90

Alaska and Hawaii are in the 19-36 category.

Source: ERS, USDA, based on app. table 1.

Figure 6

Proportion of State land area in forest-use land, 1997

Percent in other uses

Source: ERS, USDA, based on app. table 1.

Figure 7

Proportion of State land area in special uses and miscellaneous other land,1997

0 to 10 11 to 20

Alaska is in the 41-76 category. Hawaii is in the 31-40 category.

21 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 76
10 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Table 7—Major uses of cropland, selected years, 1949-97

Cropland used for crops

Total

Region Harvested Failed Fallowed1 Total2 Idle Pasture3 cropland2

Million acres

1949 352 9 26 387 22 69 478

1954 339 13 28 380 19 66 465

1959 318 10 31 359 33 66 458

1964 292 6 37 335 52 57 444

1969 286 6 41 333 51 88 472

1974 322 8 31 361 21 83 465

1978 330 7 32 369 26 76 471

1982 347 5 31 383 21 65 469

1987 293 6 32 331 68 65 464

1992 306 8 24 338 56 67 460

1997 321 7 21 349 39 68 455

1Cultivated summer fallow. 2Distribution may not add to totals due to rounding. 3Cropland used only for pasture.

Sources: Estimates of cropland used during 1949-92 are from table 3 sources plus Wooten, 1953; Wooten and Anderson, 1957; and those for

1997 are based on data from NASS, 1998, 1999a, 1999b.

Table 6—Cropland by major components and region, 1997

Cropland used for crops

Total

Region Harvested Failed Fallowed1 Total2 Idle Pasture3 cropland2

Million acres

Northeast 10.5 0.2 0 10.7 0.8 1.8 13.4

Lake States 34.5 0.6 0 35.0 3.2 2.5 40.7

Corn Belt 83.0 0.5 0 83.4 5.2 9.9 98.6

Northern Plains 77.7 2.1 9.3 89.1 9.0 9.8 107.8

Appalachian 16.6 0.3 0 16.9 2.1 8.9 28.0

Southeast 11.1 0.5 0 11.6 1.9 4.5 18.0

Delta States 16.1 0.2 0 16.3 1.7 4.1 22.0

Southern Plains 29.4 1.5 1.5 32.4 6.3 17.7 56.4

Mountain 25.4 0.6 7.8 33.7 6.1 5.6 45.4

Pacific 16.7 0.1 2.5 19.4 2.3 2.7 24.4

48 States2 321.0 6.5 21.1 348.6 38.7 67.5 454.7

Alaska — — 0 —— — 0.1

Hawaii 0.1 0 0 0.1 0.2 — 0.3

United States2 321.1 6.5 21.1 348.7 38.8 67.5 455.1

— = Fewer than 50,000 acres.

1Cultivated summer fallow.

2Distribution may not add to totals due to rounding.

3Cropland used only for pasture.

Sources: Estimates based on data from NASS, 1999a, 1999b.
available for pasture may be good quality cropland.

In contrast, cropland pasture in the Plains regions and

much of the South is associated with higher proportions of marginal cropland.

Idle cropland includes both land completely idled and

land seeded to soil improvement crops but not harvested or pastured. Idle cropland totaled nearly 39 million

acres in 1997, about 9 percent of U.S. cropland. This

is about the same as the U.S. average of 38 million

acres since the major land use series began in 1945.

The regional range was from 5 percent in the Corn

Belt to 13 percent in the Mountain States. Some cropland is idle each year because of adverse weather and

soil conditions at planting time or lack of economic

incentives. Almost all the 1997 land idled was under

Federal farm programs. Of the 39 million acres idled,

33 million were in the CRP. In 1992, 35 million of the

estimated 56 million acres of idle land were in the

CRP, with most of the remainder in annual acreage

reduction programs. Some CRP land not in idle cropland may be planted to trees and reported as woodland

in the census. 

Trends in Cropland Uses

Cropland acreage has remained relatively constant

since World War II. Its decline from 478 million acres

in 1949 to 444 million acres in 1964 was largely the

result of surplus production and subsequent acreage

control programs. Cropland acreage has been at or

above 455 million acres in each census year since

1969 (table 7). Excluding cropland pasture changes

the patterns slightly, to show a generally declining

acreage during 1949-74; an increase each census year

during 1974-82; and a decline during 1982-97. The

1974-82 increase was in response to expanding exports

and limited use of Federal acreage control programs.

In 1982, just 11 million acres were enrolled in Federal

programs. 

Irrigated land was at a record high of 55 million acres

in 1997 (app. table 8). Irrigated land increased nearly

9 million acres since 1987, while total cropland

decreased over the same period by nearly 2 percent.

Irrigated land was at record highs for every region

except the Southern Plains and Mountain States.

Although the total acreage classified as cropland has

not changed greatly for several decades, important

changes have occurred in component acreages. These

changes largely reflect the absence, presence, and

extent of set-aside requirements of Federal crop programs. Federal program enrollments, in turn, reflect

the status of supply and demand relationships for agricultural products, as well as changes in Federal farm

policies. 

The relationship of two components of total cropland—cropland used for crops and idled cropland—are

apparent by comparing their trends (app. table 6, fig.

8). (The idled cropland series is not available annually. Federal set-aside program acres shown in figure 8

are typically a large part of idled cropland and are

used as a proxy.) There is an inverse relationship

between the two components: as idled cropland

increases, cropland used for crops decreases.

Cropland used for crops was at a record high of 387

million acres in 1949 (app. table 6) when no acres

were idled by Federal programs (fig. 8). In 1972,

cropland used for crops was at a near-record low of

334 million acres when Federal programs idled 61 million acres. Cropland used for crops climbed to 387

million acres in 1981 when Federal programs idled no

cropland, and dropped to 333 million acres in 1983

when the Payment-in-Kind (PIK) program caused

Federal program set-aside acres to reach their historic

peak of 78 million acres. Since 1988, cropland used

for crops has trended upward while Federal program

acres idled has trended downward. 

Changes in cropland harvested parallel changes in

cropland used for crops, except when the latter is

affected by abnormally large changes in crop failure

and cultivated summer fallow. Thus, the 1949-97

totals range between 286 million and 352 million

acres, a range slightly wider than the range in cropland

used for crops.

Estimates of cultivated summer fallow peak at 41 million acres in 1969 (app. table 6). In 1997, cultivated

summer fallow totaled 21 million acres. Summer fallow occurs mostly in the Plains States where it is used

in alternate years with small grains, primarily wheat,

to conserve moisture and control weeds. Since 1969,

summer fallow had declined, leveling off at about 31

million acres from 1973 through 1987. It has since

gradually declined to 21 million acres in 2000. Wetter

years (which supply moisture ordinarily saved by summer fallow), better wheat varieties, and improved cultivation practices have contributed to this decrease.

Land marked by crop failure has ranged between 5

million and 22 million acres since 1945 (app. table 6).

Crops failed on 64 million acres in 1934 during the

Great Depression and Dust Bowl era. The possibility

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 11
of a large acreage failure is always present. Crop failure was around 10 million acres in 1988, 1993, 1996,

1998, and 2000 due to severe drought, extensive flooding, or wet weather. 

Acreage of idled cropland generally varies inversely

with that used for crops. Idled cropland increased during the 1950s and 1960s as acreage shifted from crop

production, and declined in the early 1970s as acreage

returned (table 7). Since 1987, idled acreage has

ranged from 39 to 68 million acres—almost 2 to 3

times the 1974-82 rates—in response to increased

enrollments in Federal crop programs and as a result

of acreage retired under 10-year CRP contracts.

Cropland used for pasture was 68 million acres in

1997, compared with a high of 88 million acres in

1969 and a low of 57 million acres in 1964 (table 7).

Acreage may not be strictly comparable, primarily

because of inconsistent classifications between cropland pasture and permanent grassland pasture (see

appendix, “Definitions and Explanation of the Data”).

Regional Changes in Cropland Used for Crops

The acreage used in crop production is subject to sharp

annual variations. This is exemplified by the record

high of 387 million acres in 1981 when no cropland

was idled by Federal programs, and the low in 1988 of

327 million acres when a record 78 million acres were

idled (app. table 6) (fig. 8). Acreage diversions were

at relatively high levels in 1964 when the Soil Bank

and other acreage reduction programs were in effect.

The CRP, a soil conservation program, was the only

program effectively idling cropland in 1997. 

Nationally, from 1964 to 1997, cropland used for crops

increased by almost 14 million acres (4 percent).

However, sharp downward shifts occurred in some

regions and larger increases in others (fig. 9). This

further concentrated acreage used for crops in major

crop producing regions. 

Cropland used for crops in the Northeast, Southeast,

Southern Plains, Mountain, and Pacific regions

declined by 6 million acres between 1964 and 1997

(table 8). But the remaining regions gained nearly 

20 million acres. Almost 60 percent of the 1964-97

increase, nationally, occurred in the Corn Belt (fig.

10), while the Delta States and Northern Plains each

accounted for another 14 percent (table 8). The net

gains from 1964-97 are attributable to conversion from

grassland pasture and range, and transfers from cropland pasture acreage in the Corn Belt and Delta States. 

For some regions, changes in cropland used for crops

represent year-to-year fluctuations that tend to balance

out over time. But for others, the long-term trend has

12 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

1933 1946 1959 1972 1985 1998

0

20

40

60

80

100

Million acres

Acreage reduction programs 

Conservation Reserve Program

Cropland Adjustment Program

Soil Bank

Agricultural Conservation Program

Conservation Adjustment Act Program

 For yearly detail of programs 1974-95, see ERS, 1997, table 1.1.14.

 Acreage Conservation Reserve; 0, 50/85-92 programs; Paid Land Diversion; and Payment-in-Kind programs.

Source: Crosswhite and Sandretto, 1991; updated by USDA, ERS, based on unpublished data from FSA.

Figure 8

Cropland acreage reductions by program type, 1933-2000 

2

2

1

1
been more dramatic. The Northeast has experienced a

long and steady decrease in cropland used for crops

(fig. 11). Urban pressures and a comparative disadvantage in many crops have resulted in the conversion

of Northeast cropland to other uses. 

Changes in Principal Crops Harvested

Trends in crops harvested are closely associated with

levels of cropland diverted through Federal programs

(fig. 8, table 9). In 1963, 56 million acres of cropland

were diverted through the Soil Bank and acreage

reduction programs, but in 1981 Federal programs

diverted no cropland. Strong growth in the export

market and rapid expansions through double cropping

of soybeans and small grains marked the 1970s and

early 1980s. The acreage of principal crops harvested

increased by 68 million acres during 1963-81, but then

decreased by 36 million acres from 1981 to 1997. The

CRP diverted almost 33 million acres from production

in 1997. The harvested acreage of principal crops

peaked at 354 million acres in 1981, when no cropland

was diverted. 

Federal programs diverted a record 78 million acres in

1988, which brought harvested acres down to a low of

287 million acres. Since then, Federal program

acreages have declined; 30 million acres (CRP) were

diverted in 1999, and harvested area rebounded to 316

million acres. It might be expected that cropland harvested would increase in direct proportion to the cropland freed by the decrease in Federal programs.

However, the increase in harvested acres from 1988 to

1999, 29 million acres, trails the 47-million-acre 

decrease in Federal programs, probably due to poor

market conditions and weather-related crop failures in

the 1990s. 

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 13

Decrease Increase Net

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

Million acres

Northeast, Southeast, Southern Plains,

Mountain, and Pacific States

Corn Belt, Northern Plains, 

Appalachian, Delta, and Lake States

National

Source: ERS, USDA, based on Frey, Krause, and Dickason, 1968;

and app. table 2.

Figure 9

Changes in cropland used for crops, increasing 

regions, decreasing regions, and national, 1964-97

Corn Belt

1945 49 54 59 64 69 74 78 82 87 92 97

21

22

23

24

25

Percent of U.S.

Source: ERS, USDA, based on app. table 2 and ERS Electronic

Data Product, Major Land Uses (EDP #89003)

http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/data-sets/land/89003/.

Figure 10

Corn Belt cropland used for crops,

share of 48-State total

Northeast

1945 49 54 59 64 69 74 78 82 87 92 97

0

2

4

6

8

Percent of U.S.

Source: ERS, USDA, based on app. table 2 and ERS Electronic 

Data Product, Major Land Uses (EDP #89003)

http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/data-sets/land/89003/.

Figure 11

Northeast cropland used for crops,

share of 48-State total
The 1963-81 and 1981-97 periods also exhibit changes

in the mix of crops. Of food crops, only soybeans,

some of which were double-cropped, registered substantial increases over time. Soybean acreage more

than doubled from 28.6 million acres in 1963 to 69.1

million acres in 1997 to supplant wheat as the second

leading U.S. crop—after corn (table 9). Wheat

acreage, some of which was double-cropped before

soybeans, increased by 17 million acres between 1963

and 1997. Total food crop production increased by 93

percent between 1963 and 1981, from 84 to 162 million acres. Feed crops, on the other hand, declined by

nearly 8 million acres. Other crops—cotton, flaxseed,

and tobacco—declined by 3.2 million acres. 

During 1981-97, the acreage of food crops declined by

10 percent, almost entirely from wheat. Feed crops

declined sharply during 1981-97, with oats declining

over 70 percent. The amount of other crops harvested

also continued to drop, with over 45 percent of the

1981-97 decline accounted for by dramatically reduced

flaxseed acreage.

The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform

(FAIR) Act of 1996 eliminated most acreage use

restrictions that had been in effect under previous farm

programs (Nelson and Schertz, 1996). The FAIR Act

and various market forces have affected the supply and

demand for the four agricultural crops that comprise

80 percent of total harvested acres in the United States

(fig. 12) (USDA/ERS, 2001). The harvested acreage

of soybeans has increased 15 percent since 1996.

Wheat acreage decreased by about the same amount

and corn decreased by 7 percent. Harvested hay

acreage was largely unaffected. The FAIR Act allowed

producers to increase more profitable soybean acreage

14 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Figure 12

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Million acres

Soybeans

Corn

Hay

Wheat

Trends in harvested crop acres, 48 contiguous

States, 1995-2000

Source: ERS, USDA, based on USDA/NASS, 2000. 

Table 8—Cropland used for crops, by region

Change

Region 1964 1981 1992 1997 1964-81 1981-97 1964-97 

Million acres

Northeast 14.0 13.6 11.1 10.7 -0.4 -2.9 -3.3

Lake States 34.3 40.3 34.7 35.0 6.0 -5.3 0.7

Corn Belt 72.0 87.5 80.7 83.4 15.5 -4.1 11.4

Northern Plains 86.2 93.5 84.5 89.0 7.3 -4.5 2.8

Appalachian 15.0 19.4 16.6 16.9 4.4 -2.5 1.9

Southeast 11.8 14.8 10.4 11.6 3.0 -3.2 -0.2

Delta States 13.5 19.6 16.5 16.3 6.1 -3.3 2.8

Southern Plains 34.1 38.0 31.6 32.4 3.9 -5.6 -1.7

Mountain 33.9 38.1 33.0 33.7 4.2 -4.4 -0.2

Pacific 19.9 22.2 18.2 19.4 2.3 -2.8 -0.5

48 States1 334.8 387.0 337.4 348.6 52.2 -38.4 13.8

1Distribution may not add to totals due to rounding.

Sources: Estimates for the 48 contiguous States based on data from ERS, 1992; NASS, 1999a, 1999b.
without concern about losing base acreage of wheat

and corn, which could have been costly under previous

farm programs.

Pasture and Range

Nearly 35 percent of U.S. land area, 788 million acres

in 1997, is range, grassland pasture, or cropland pasture (table 10, app. table 3). This area also includes

forest land on which grazing occurs as a multiple

use—but excludes land grazed before or after crops

were harvested. Examples include fall and winter pasturage of small grains land and after-harvest pasturage

of hay land. The three types of grazing land differed

greatly in terms of acreage, distribution, productivity,

and other characteristics. (See Daugherty, 1989, for a

summary of U.S. grazing lands during 1950-82.)

Cropland Pasture

The smallest but generally most productive component

of grazing acreage, cropland pasture, occupied 3 percent of total U.S. land area and accounted for 9 percent of total pasture and range acreage in 1997. While

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 15

Table 9—Principal crops harvested, 48 contiguous States

Change

Crop 1963 1981 1992 1997 1963-81 1981-97

Million acres

Food crops:

Wheat 45.5 80.6 62.8 62.8 35.1 -17.8

Soybeans 28.6 66.2 58.2 69.1 37.6 2.9

Rice 1.8 3.8 3.1 3.1 2.0 -0.7

Rye 1.6 0.7 0.4 0.3 -0.9 -0.4

Peanuts 1.4 1.5 1.7 1.4 0.1 -0.1

Sunflowers NR 3.8 2.0 2.8 3.8 -1.0

Dry edible beans 1.4 2.2 1.5 1.8 0.8 -0.4

Dry edible peas 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.3 -0.2 0.2

Potatoes 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.4 -0.1 0.2

Sweet potatoes 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 -0.1 0.0

Sugar beets 1.2 1.2 1.4 1.4 0.0 0.2

Sugarcane 0.5 0.7 0.9 0.9 0.2 0.2

Total 83.8 162.1 133.6 145.4 78.3 -16.7

Feed crops:

Corn, all 68.3 83.2 78.1 78.7 14.9 -4.5

Sorghum, all 17.0 15.5 12.0 9.6 -1.5 -5.9

Oats 21.3 9.4 4.5 2.8 -11.9 -6.6

Barley 11.2 9.0 7.3 6.2 -2.2 -2.8

Hay 66.4 59.6 58.9 61.1 -6.8 1.5

Total 184.2 176.7 154.8 158.4 -7.5 -18.3

Other crops:

Cotton 14.2 13.8 11.1 13.4 -0.4 -0.4

Flaxseed 3.2 0.6 0.2 0.1 -2.6 -0.5

Tobacco 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.8 -0.2 -0.2

Total 18.6 15.4 12.1 14.3 -3.2 -1.1

Total-principal crops1 286.6 354.2 300.5 318.1 67.6 -36.1

NR = Not reported.

1Distributions may not add due to rounding.

Sources: ERS, USDA, based on principal crops harvested, from Daugherty, 1995; USDA/NASS, 1999b.
cropland pasture is considered part of the cropland

base, it may be marginal for crop use and remain in

pasture for extended periods. Two-thirds of the 68

million acres in this category were concentrated in the

Southern Plains, Corn Belt, Northern Plains, and

Appalachian regions. Cropland pasture comprises a

relatively high percentage of total grassland pasture

and range in the Appalachian, Corn Belt, Northeast,

and Lake States regions. However, the share of land

area in grassland pasture and range is much higher in

the Plains and Mountain regions than in the eastern

regions. Cropland pasture is significant in the western

regions, but pales next to the vast acreages of range

and grazed forest land.

Cropland pasture may shift to cropland used for crops

when commodity prices are high. However, these

shifts are much more frequent between idled cropland

and cropland used for crops because idled cropland is

generally more suited to crop production than is cropland pasture. Also, these shifts may be more pronounced in those regions with better quality cropland

pasture, as in the more productive agricultural areas

such as the Corn Belt. 

Grassland Pasture and Range

Grazing is the predominant use on 580 million acres of

grassland pasture and range, over half of which is in

the Mountain region (“grassland pasture” is the name

more commonly used in the Eastern United States).

The Northern Plains and Pacific regions together

account for 20 percent. Another 20 percent of this

land use is in the Southern Plains. These four regions

have about 539 million acres (93 percent) of U.S.

grassland pasture and range. The rest is distributed

16 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Table 10—Pasture and range, by type and region, 1997

Nonforested pasture and range Total pasture and range

Grassland Portion

pasture Forest of

Cropland and land land

Region pasture1 range2 Total3 grazed4 Acreage3 area 

Million acres Percent

Northeast 1.8 2.8 4.7 1.4 6.0 5

Lake States 2.5 5.0 7.5 2.8 10.3 8

Corn Belt 9.9 11.6 21.5 6.6 28.0 17

Northern Plains 9.8 68.3 78.1 1.9 80.0 41

Appalachian 8.9 5.4 14.4 4.8 19.2 16

Southeast 4.5 9.1 13.6 6.1 19.7 16

Delta States 4.1 5.5 9.6 14.4 24.0 26

Southern Plains 17.7 115.4 133.1 9.3 142.3 67

Mountain 5.6 302.7 308.2 66.4 374.6 68

Pacific 2.7 52.1 54.8 26.4 81.2 40

48 States3 67.5 578.0 645.4 140.0 785.4 41

Alaska — 1.2 1.2 0.1 1.3 *

Hawaii — 1.0 1.0 0.3 1.3 32

United States3 67.5 580.2 647.7 140.4 788.0 35

— = Less than 500,000 acres.

* = Less than 0.5 percent.

1Cropland used only for pasture estimates based on NASS, 1999a.

2Grassland and other nonforested pasture and range in farms (NASS, 1999a) plus estimates of open or

or nonforested grazing land not in farms.

3Distribution may not add to totals due to rounding.

4Woodland grazed in farms (NASS, 1999a) plus an approximation of forested grazing land not in farms.

Sources: Estimates are based on BLM, 1998; FS, 1998, 1999; NASS, 1999a; NRCS, 2000; and unpublished data sources.
among the remaining regions, none of which are over

2 percent. Of the types of grazing land, grassland pasture and range dominates in all except the Appalachian

and Delta regions, where cropland pasture and forested

grazing land predominate, respectively.

Grassland pasture and range, alone, accounts for 55

percent of all land area in both the Southern Plains and

Mountain regions. Grazing of this varied cover type

accounts for 35 percent of the area in the Northern

Plains, where a relatively larger proportion of the land

area is used for crops, and 26 percent in the Pacific

region, where forest-use land predominates. In other

regions, except Hawaii, the proportion of area in grassland pasture and range varied from 7 percent in the

Southeast to less than 1 percent in Alaska. Nearly a

third of the land in Hawaii is grazed, but because of

the State’s small size, grassland pasture there contributes little to the national acreage sum.

Forest Land Grazed

Forested land grazed consists mainly of forest with

sufficient forage to accommodate livestock grazing.

The 140 million acres of grazed forest land include

acreage in open forest, land reverting to forest, and

similar areas that have grass or other forage growth

and are grazed to some extent. Grazed forest land

ranged from less than 1 million acres in Alaska and

Hawaii to 66 million acres in the Mountain region.

Acreage of this pasture type is relatively high throughout the West, Southwest, and South, but is the dominant type only in the Delta States. Regional variation

in the amount of grazed forest land reflects the productivity of forested grazing, the demand for grazing, the

amount of forest land, and such factors as species

composition and stand density.

Forage values vary widely in the different regions,

depending on climate, soils, tree canopies, and other

factors. Values are relatively high on open stands of

pine in the South where climate permits grazing

throughout the year. However, upland hardwoods,

with a more complete canopy, allow little production

of forage, although substantial acreage is grazed

because of their availability on farms. Ponderosa pine

and other open forest types in the West enable seasonal

grazing, but forest land with thick growing trees, such

as fir, offers little grazing value.

Trends in Pasture and Range Acreage

The total acreage of all grazing land declined between

1992 and 1997 (table 11). This continues the trend

since 1949. While cropland pasture and grassland pasture and range have increased in some years, forest

land grazed has consistently declined. Cropland pasture increased by about 1 million acres from 1992 to

1997, but grassland pasture and range decreased by 11

million acres and grazed forest land by 4 million acres.

Pasture and range acreage sometimes converts to cropland when demand for crop products is high.

However, grazing lands are less economically suited

for crop production than for other uses. Substantial

acreages of land used for grazing have shifted to recreational, wildlife, and environmental uses. Under

favorable growing conditions, particularly in southern

regions, pasture land may revert to forest. Some acres

are converted to urban uses to serve the needs of a

growing population. These forces have combined to

cause a long-term net decline in pasture and range

acreage, from over 1 billion acres in 1949 to 788 million acres in 1997 (table 11).

The combined acreage of cropland pasture and grassland pasture and range declined from 1949 through

1997 for a net decrease of 55 million acres in the 48

contiguous States (table 12). Not all regions experienced long-term declines in nonforested pasture and

range. Between 1949 and 1997, pasture and range

increased by 30 million acres in the Southern Plains,

and 3 million acres in the Southeast. These increases

offset large declines in the Mountain region (44 million acres) and the Pacific region (11 million acres).

Increases in the regions east of the Rocky Mountains

were associated with declines in acreage used for

crops and with clearing and reclassification of forest

land. A part of this increased acreage had been classed

as forested grazing land, mitigating the net increase in

nonforested grazing land. The large decreases in the

Western States mainly involved Federal range that was

withdrawn for wilderness and similar areas, or that

was reclassified as unsuitable for grazing.

Forest land grazed decreased 179 million acres from

1949 to 1997 (table 11). Among reasons for this

decline were fewer farms and less land in farms,

increases in stand density, and improvements in both

livestock feeding and forest management practices.

All of these factors have been especially important in

the South, where woodland grazing acreages have

been high.

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 17
Forest Land

Forest land totaled 747 million acres in 1997 (table

13), an increase of 10 million acres over 1992. In the

48 contiguous States, the increase was 12 million

acres. Alaska lost 2 million acres, likely due to reclassification, bringing the total U.S. increase down to 10

million acres. Two-thirds of the 1997 forest land was

timberland and the remainder was a combination of

reserved timberland and other forest land (see appendix, “Definitions and Explanation of the Data”). Of

the total, 67 percent was non-Federal (Powell and others, 1993; USDA/FS, 2000; Smith and Sheffield,

2000). 

18 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Table 11—Total pasture and range, by type, United States, 1949-97

Cropland Grassland pasture Forest land

Year pasture and range Subtotal1 grazed Total1

Million acres

1949 69 632 701 319 1,020

1954 66 634 700 301 1,001

1959 66 633 699 245 944

1964 57 640 697 225 922

1969 88 604 692 198 890

1974 83 598 681 179 860

1978 76 587 663 172 835

1982 65 597 662 158 820

1987 65 591 656 155 811

1992 67 591 658 145 803

1997 68 580 648 140 788

1Distributions may not add due to rounding.

Sources: Estimates based on reports and records of the Bureau of the Census and Federal and State land management and conservation

agencies. Estimates for years prior to 1997 from sources listed in tables 3 and 5 plus Daugherty, 1989; Frey, 1983.

Table 12—Trends in nonforested pasture and range acreage, 48 contiguous States, 1949-971

Region 1949 1954 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1987 1992 1997

Million acres

Northeast 11 11 11 10 7 6 6 5 5 5 5

Lake States 12 12 13 13 12 10 8 9 8 8 7

Corn Belt 31 31 35 32 31 29 26 24 23 22 21

Northern Plains 82 82 84 85 84 85 83 79 77 80 78

Appalachian 20 20 22 20 21 19 17 15 15 15 14

Southeast 11 15 18 16 16 17 15 15 14 14 14

Delta States 12 14 15 14 15 14 11 12 11 11 10

Southern Plains 103 114 120 127 128 128 128 136 137 134 133

Mountain 352 335 318 319 319 313 311 309 308 309 308

Pacific 66 64 59 58 56 57 56 55 55 57 55

48 States2 700 698 695 694 689 678 661 659 653 656 645

1Includes cropland pasture and grassland pasture and range. 2Distributions may not add due to rounding.

Sources: Estimates for the 48 contiguous States based on reports and records of the Bureau of the Census and Federal and State land management and conservation agencies. Estimates for years prior to 1997 are from sources listed in tables 3, 5, and 10.
Timberland has trended upward since 1987, when it

was at a 35-year low (table 14). Of the non-Federal

forest owners, nonindustrial private ownership

increased by over 3 million acres from 1992 to 1997.

Farmers are included in this category, but woodlands

on farms declined by over 2 million acres from 1992

to 1997 (USDA/NASS, 1999a). Thus, nonindustrial

privately owned timberland not on farms increased by

nearly 5 million acres from 1992 to 1997. 

Federal timberland increased 13 million acres in 1992-

97, reversing a 30-year downward trend. Earlier

declines from 1952 to 1992 were primarily the result

of transferring timberland into reserved areas. Recent

increases are mainly the result of reclassification of

some National Forest lands due to standardization with

protocols in use on other land ownerships.

Most of the forest area serves multiple purposes. For

example, livestock grazing occurs on nearly one-fifth

of the acreage and large areas are available for recreational use. Forest land provides watershed protection,

wildlife habitat, parks, and various other special purposes. Excluding the area grazed and the areas used

for parks, wildlife areas, and other special land uses

leaves 501 million forest acres.

Land area in forests is about equally divided between

the humid eastern half of the country and the western

half, including Alaska (table 13). Forest predominates

in the Northeast, Appalachian, Southeast, and Delta

States, comprising 56-66 percent of all land. Forest

land is also relatively extensive in the Lake States and

Pacific regions, accounting for 43-44 percent of all

land. Acreages in the Mountain region and Alaska are

quite large but make up a smaller proportion of total

land area in those regions.

About 46 percent of the reserved timberland and other

forest land—parks, wilderness, and wildlife refuges,

for example—is in the Southern Plains, Mountain, and

Pacific regions, where it accounts for over 44 percent

of all the forest land in those regions. Much of the

remainder (47 percent) is in Alaska, where it accounts

for 90 percent of all forest land in that State. In contrast, acreages of reserved timberland and other forest

land in the Eastern States are relatively small, accountMajor Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 19

Table 13—Total forest land, by major class and region, 1997

Timberland Reserved Total forest land

timberland

Non- and other NonRegion Federal Federal Total1 forest land2 Federal Federal Total1

1,000 acres

Northeast 1,460 65,563 67,023 6,357 2,157 71,223 73,380

Lake States 6,278 42,910 49,188 2,905 7,699 44,394 52,093

Corn Belt 2,564 28,758 31,322 1,425 2,914 29,833 32,747

Northern Plains 1,076 3,242 4,318 482 1,324 3,476 4,800

Appalachian 5,956 65,539 71,495 2,243 7,567 66,171 73,738

Southeast 4,640 68,090 72,730 2,551 6,242 69,039 75,281

Delta States 5,046 45,626 50,672 495 5,391 45,776 51,167

Southern Plains 1,096 16,904 18,000 8,021 1,279 24,742 26,021

Mountain 45,999 20,700 66,699 71,746 97,373 41,072 138,445

Pacific 30,746 28,374 59,120 31,039 48,017 42,142 90,159

48 States1 104,861 385,706 490,567 127,264 179,963 437,868 617,831

Alaska 4,306 8,089 12,395 114,984 66,748 60,631 127,379

Hawaii 0 700 700 1,048 12 1,736 1,748

United States1 109,167 394,495 503,662 243,296 246,723 500,235 746,958

1Distributions may not add due to rounding.

2Includes 105 million acres of forest land in parks, wildlife areas, and other special land uses.

Sources: FS, 1982, 1998, 1999, 2000; Powell and others, 1993; and unpublished material furnished by the U.S. Forest Service.
ing for no more than 10 percent in any region east of

the Mississippi River (Powell and others, 1993).

Estimates of total forest land increased from 737 million acres in 1992 to 747 million in 1997. Except for

the Southern Plains, forest land in all regions

increased. Forest land in Alaska declined and in

Hawaii was unchanged. However, when areas in parks

or other special uses are subtracted, the remaining

“forest-use” land declined by 6 million acres during

1992-97 (less than 1 percent). 

Special and Miscellaneous 

Other Uses

Land for all special uses—including rural highways,

roads, railroads, airport rights-of-way, parks, and

related recreational areas—comprised 286 million

acres in 1997 (table 15). Rural transportation areas

accounted for 25 million acres, about 9 percent of the

total. National and State parks and related wilderness

and primitive areas totaled nearly 138 million acres.

An additional 99 million acres were administered by

Federal and State fish and wildlife agencies, and over

16 million acres served defense and atomic energy

purposes. Land in farmsteads, farm roads, and farm

lanes accounted for nearly 7 million acres in 1997. 

Of the 237 million acres used for parks, recreation,

and wildlife purposes in 1997, 27 percent were in the

Mountain and Pacific regions combined, and nearly 60

percent were in Alaska. Much of this land has been

withdrawn from the public domain, including such

rugged areas as the Denali, Grand Canyon,

Yellowstone, and Yosemite National Parks. An additional 13 percent spans forested or fish and wildlife

refuges east of the Rocky Mountains, including areas

in New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota,

North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, and Texas—all

with a million or more acres. Alaska alone accounted

for over three-fourths of the Federal and State fish and

wildlife areas in the United States. 

Acreage in parks, wildlife areas, and, to a lesser

extent, national defense areas are concentrated in the

Western States and Alaska, where large public domain

holdings have been set aside, and in less agriculturally

productive areas of the East. Many areas, particularly

the national parks and wilderness systems, were selected because of specific or unique site characteristics. 

Trends in Special Uses

Land used for rural transportation; recreation, wildlife,

and other nonagricultural; and nonurban special uses

almost tripled, increasing from 103 million acres in

20 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Table 14—Timberland in the United States by type of ownership, 1952-97

Type of ownership 1952 1962 1977 1987 1992 1997

1,000 acres

Federal:

National Forest 94,707 96,845 88,701 85,211 84,661 96,437

Bureau of Land 

Management 18,116 17,230 13,237 5,800 5,754 6,142

Other Federal 5,234 4,828 4,949 6,041 6,239 6,588

Total Federal1 118,056 118,903 106,887 97,052 96,655 109,167

Non-Federal:

State, county, 

and municipal 27,380 27,254 31,282 33,974 34,840 36,799

Forest industry 58,979 61,434 68,937 70,347 70,455 66,857

Nonindustrial private 304,440 307,528 285,249 283,564 287,606 290,839

Total non-Federal1 390,799 396,216 385,468 387,885 392,901 394,495

Total timberland1 508,854 515,118 492,355 484,936 489,555 503,662

1Distribution may not add to totals due to rounding.

Source: See sources listed for table 3; appendix table 5; Powell and others, 1993; and FS, 2000.
1959 to nearly 280 million acres in 1997. This was

the result of nearly a four-fold increase in rural parks

and fish and wildlife areas. The overall increase in

special uses occurred despite decreases in defense and

farmstead acres and a very small increase in the transportation area. Of the 190-million-acre increase in

parks and wildlife areas from 1959 to 1997, 126 million acres (66 percent) occurred in Alaska.

National defense acres—including energy, research,

and industrial areas—differ from other special uses

mainly in that location is paramount and higher values

and intensive uses characterize much of the land. This

land category consisted of 16.4 million acres in 1997,

a decrease of more than 4 million acres from 1992.

The decrease is largely attributable to consolidation

and closing of military installations.

Rural transportation areas increased by only 0.2 million acres from 1992 to 1997. The increase was actually larger than indicated, but some land in this category was reclassified from rural to urban as urban areas

expanded. Rural transportation reflects the influence

of both population densities and historical land settlement patterns. 

The 163-million-acre increase in special uses during

1959-97 did not include much land of cropland quality,

although some rangeland was involved. Relatively little of the land used primarily for recreation and

wildlife purposes was previously used for intensive

agriculture. 

Urban and Rural Residential Area2

The urban area was 56 million acres in 1990 and is

estimated to have increased to 66 million acres by

1997 (app. table 7). Urban areas increased by 30 million acres from 1960 to 1990, or 1 million acres per

year. From 1990 to 1997, the rate is estimated to be

1.4 million acres per year. Urban area increases are

unique because, contrary to the other major land use

changes, which are dynamic and shift between uses

over time, urbanization tends to be a one-way, irreversible shift. Once urbanized, very little land ever

reverts to another major land use. 

Previous major land use reports show trends in urban

land based on Bureau of the Census urban area statistics. This report continues the Census-based series,

but adds a new land use category called “rural residenMajor Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 21

Table 15—Trends in special uses of land, 1959-97

Special-use areas1 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1987 1992 1997

Million acres

Nonagricultural:

Intensive uses 25.0 26.0 26.0 26.3 26.7 26.8 25.7 25.2 25.4

Highways/roads 20.2 21.2 21.0 21.2 21.5 21.5 21.2 21.0 21.0

Railroads 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.1 3.0 3.0 2.3 2.0 1.9

Airports 1.4 1.5 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.3 2.2 2.2 2.5

Extensive uses 87.7 107.4 107.0 112.5 122.8 234.9 245.8 249.3 253.6

National/State parks 29.7 31.9 35.0 36.8 38.5 89.7 96.0 94.3 98.1

Wilderness areas 14.5 14.6 14.3 14.8 18.1 26.0 32.5 35.7 40.0

Wildlife areas 17.2 29.0 32.1 35.9 41.3 95.2 96.4 98.8 99.0

Defense/industrial 26.3 31.9 25.6 25.0 24.9 24.0 20.9 20.5 16.4

Agricultural:

Farmsteads/farm roads 10.1 9.2 8.4 8.1 8.4 8.0 7.1 6.2 6.6

Total2 122.8 142.6 141.4 146.9 157.9 269.7 278.6 280.8 285.5

1Definitions and procedures are given in footnotes to app. table 4, showing special-use areas by State. 2Distributions may not add to totals due to rounding.

Sources: Estimates are based on reports and records of the Bureau of the Census and Federal and State land management and conservation

agencies. See sources for table 1. For estimates of years prior to 1997, see sources for tables 1, 3, and 10.

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tial.” Rural residential area is an estimate of the acres

of land and associated lots in rural areas used for housing. Data on this category are available from several

periodic American Housing Surveys published by the

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

(HUD) and the U.S. Department of Commerce,

Bureau of the Census (see footnote to table 16 for limitations associated with these data). 

The ERS estimate for the nonfarm, rural residential

area is 73 million acres in 1997, up from the 1980 estimate of 56 million acres (table 16). The average annual rate of increase in rural residential land has been

slightly more than 1 million acres per year since 1980.

Combining the total urban annual rate of 1.07 million

acres and the rural residential rate of 1.02, the average

rate of increase in these categories is 2.1 million acres

per year. Evidence suggests that the yearly rate of

increase of residential land use may have been higher

for short periods of time. For example, a recent report

states that land used for all single-family housing,

urban and rural, increased by 2.3 million acres per

year from 1994 to 1997 (HUD, 2000).

Large lot sizes occur more frequently in rural areas

than in urban areas (fig. 13). Rural residential area

encompassed 44 million acres of lots 10 acres and

more, versus 12 million acres of such large urban lots.

However, in the smaller lot sizes, urban land occurred

in greater frequency. Urban land occupied 2.8 million

acres of lots less than 1/8 acre, while rural land

encompassed only 300,000 acres of such small lots.

Land in rural areas is generally less expensive, which

may account for larger lot sizes in rural areas.

In 1997, urban land in the United States was less than

3 percent of total land area, but housed 75 percent of

the U.S. population. Urban area and rural residential

area comprises 6.1 percent of total land area when

Alaska is included (7.3 percent without Alaska).

However, even with large percentage increases in

urban and rural residential areas, percentage decreases

in the remaining rural area are small because rural area

is so vast. And conversely, because the amount of

urban land has grown larger in absolute terms over

time, the rate of urban expansion has decreased on a

percentage basis—from 39 percent during the 1950s to

18 percent during the 1980s and an estimated 17 percent during 1990-97.

Urbanization and the increase in rural residences do

not threaten the U.S. cropland base or the level of agricultural production at present or in the near term.

Urbanization rates of increase are relatively small and

other land (such as forest, pasture, and range) can be

shifted into crop production. Also, crop yields per

acre continue to increase due to advances in technology. For these reasons, the U.S. cropland base should

22 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Table 16—Change in urban and rural area, United States, 1980-971

1980 19972 Annual change

Area Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total Urban Rural

Million acres

Residential area3 29 56 85 36 73 109 0.42 1.03

Nonresidential 18 2,160 2,178 30 2,124 2,154 0.66 -2.10

Totals 47 2,216 2,263 66 2,197 2,263 1.07 -1.07

1Area associated with farm housing units was subtracted to account for land in productive farms. However, there remain a large number of residential lots, 10 acres and over, that logically stretch the concept of land used for housing lots. 2Adjusted to 1997 estimated urban and rural areas. Distributions may not add to totals due to rounding. 3“Residential area” should be used with caution. Residential area is derived from American Housing Survey (AHS) data and is subject to three

types of statistical error: (1) sampling error, (2) error due to incomplete data, and (3) error due to wrong or inconsistent answers (HUD/BOC,

1999a). The first two types of error, together, have a plus and minus 4 percent band at the 90-percent confidence level around the 82 million

housing units associated with the 1997 urban residential area. A plus and minus 7-percent band is required for the 28 million housing units

associated with the 1997 rural residential area. Fewer sample units produce less accurate results. While AHS information is not available on

the effect of “wrong answers” on lot size data, lots over 5 acres are a “special item” requiring a statistical formula that calculates larger sampling

errors. AHS data are not available by State.

Sources: USDA, ERS, based on housing unit and lot size data from BOC, 1992; HUD/BOC, 1999a; HUD/BOC, 1999b; HUD/BOC, 1996; NASS,

1999a; Vesterby, Heimlich, and Krupa, 1994; table 3 (plus Alaska and Hawaii).
be sufficient to meet food and fiber demands (both

domestic and foreign) for the foreseeable future

(Vesterby, Heimlich, and Krupa, 1994).

Miscellaneous Other Land Uses

The remaining acres of the Nation’s land are miscellaneous other land. They consist largely of marshes,

open swamps, desert, tundra, and minor acreage in

uses that were not inventoried. Acreage of this unclassified land is relatively large in arid portions of the

West and several Atlantic and gulf coastal areas.

Alaska, with ecologically sensitive tundra areas, has

132 million acres, over 56 percent of the total. 

Major Uses of Land,

by Class of Ownership 

Most of the land in the United States, over 60 percent,

is privately owned (table 17). The Federal

Government is the next largest landowner with more

than 28 percent, mostly in the West. State and local

governments own nearly 9 percent and Indian trust

land accounts for over 2 percent. These proportions

change only gradually over time, except in Alaska

where large areas of Federal land have been transferred to State and native (private) ownership. 

Federal land, at 647 million acres in 1997, includes the

original public domain and land acquired by purchase

and other means. About 37 percent of all Federal land

is in Alaska, 41 percent in the Mountain region, and 14

percent in the Pacific region. The remaining 9 percent

is distributed among the other eight farm production

regions and Hawaii, with the largest portion—nearly 2

percent—in the Lake States. 

About 152 million acres of Federal grassland and a

portion of Federal forestland are used for grazing.

Livestock can also graze some of the special and miscellaneous land.3 Federal land also includes forest

land used for various special purposes and miscellaneous other land, such as marshes, open swamps, bare

rock areas, desert, and special uses not inventoried.

State and local governments have accumulated landholdings of various sizes by means of grants from the

Federal Government, tax reversions, purchases, gifts,

and escheats. These publicly administered areas are

distributed throughout the Nation more evenly than is

Federal land, but are still highly concentrated in the

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 23

< 1/8 1/8 to 1/4 1/4 to 1/2 1/2 to 1 1 to 5 5 to 10 10 >

Lot size, acres

0

10

20

30

40

50

Million acres

Urban Rural

 1997 AHS data are based on 1980 urban area. Farm housing lots subtracted.

Sources: See table 15.

Figure 13

Urban and rural residential area by lot size, United States, 1997 1

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Western States. State and local governments hold land

for forests, parks, wildlife refuges, highways and

roads, institutional uses, and other specific purposes.

Most Western States also own relatively large acreages

to earn income. About 40 million acres in this category are used for grazing.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs manages 55 million acres

in trust for Indian tribes and individuals. Like Federal

and State land, most Indian land is concentrated in the

Western States, and about 36 million acres is grazing

land. A small acreage is used for crop production.

Private land, except that under Indian ownership, totaled

nearly 1.4 billion acres in 1997. Included is 99 percent

of the Nation’s cropland, 61 percent of the grassland

pasture and range, 56 percent of the forest land, and 30

percent of the special-use and miscellaneous land.

These proportions reflect the selective transfer of the

better agricultural lands from Federal ownership under

historic Federal land disposal practices.

24 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Table 17—Ownership and use of land, by major categories, 1997

Grassland Special uses

pasture and Total

and Forest miscellaneous land

Ownership Cropland range land1 land2 area4

Million acres

Federal — 152 247 248 647

State and other public 3 40 70 83 195

Indian3 2 36 11 6 55

Private 450 352 420 145 1,366

Total4 455 580 747 481 2,263

— = Less than 500,000 acres.

1Includes reserved forest land in parks and other special uses.

2Excludes an estimated 105 million acres in special uses that have forest cover and, therefore, are included with forest land in this table. 3 Managed in trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 4Distributions may not add to totals due to rounding.

Sources: Federal, State, and local government and Indian land acreage are approximations based on public records and reports. Private land

is the remainder of the land in each use category. See sources for table 1.
References

Association of American Railroads (AAR). 1997.

Railroad Statistics by State, 1997. Washington, DC.

http://www.aar.org/rrstates1997.nsf

Barnard, Charles H., and Roger Hexem. 1988. 

Major Statistical Series of the U.S. Department of

Agriculture: Land Values and Land Use. AH-671,

Vol. 6. U.S. Dept. Agr., Econ. Res. Serv.

Birch, Thomas W. 1996. Private forest-land owners

of the United States, 1994. Resource Bulletin NE-134.

U.S. Dept. Agr., For. Serv., NE For. Exp. Stat., Radnor,

PA, p. 183.

Crosswhite, William M., and Carmen L. Sandretto.

1991. “Trends in Resource Protection Policies in

Agriculture,” Agricultural Resources: Cropland, Water,

and Conservation Situation and Outlook Report. AR23. U.S. Dept. Agr., Econ. Res. Serv. Sept.

Daugherty, Arthur B. 1997. “Cropland Use in 1997,”

AREI Updates, 1997. No. 5. Aug. U.S. Dept. Agr.,

Econ. Res. Serv. 

Daugherty, Arthur B. 1995. Major Uses of Land in the

United States: 1992. AER-723. U.S. Dept. Agr., Econ.

Res. Serv. Sept.

Daugherty, Arthur B. 1991. Major Uses of Land in the

United States: 1987. AER-643. U.S. Dept. Agr., Econ.

Res. Serv. Jan.

Daugherty, Arthur B. 1989. U.S. Grazing Lands: 1950-

82. SB-771. U.S. Dept. Agr., Econ. Res. Serv. Jan.

Fischel, William A. “The Urbanization of Agricultural

Land: A Review of the National Agricultural Lands

Study,” Land Economics. Vol. 58, Issue 2, 1982, pp.

236-59.

Frey, H. Thomas. 1983. “Expansion of Urban Area in

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United States: 1978. AER-487. U.S. Dept. Agr., Econ.

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Frey, H. Thomas. 1979. Major Uses of Land in the

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Frey, H. Thomas. 1973. Major Uses of Land in the

United States: Summary for 1969. AER-247. U.S.

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Frey, H. Thomas, and Roger Hexem. 1985. Major

Uses of Land in the United States: 1982. AER-535.

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Dickason. 1968. Major Uses of Land and Water in the

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Darr, Zhiliang Zhu, and Douglas W. MacCleery. 1993.

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Smith, Brad W., and Raymond M. Sheffield. 2000. 

A Brief Overview of the Forest Resources of the 

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arei2000

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Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 25
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26 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997
Land Resources Division.

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United States. TB-1082. U.S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Agr.

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Dept. Agr., Econ. Res. Serv. July.

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 27
Appendix: Definitions and

Explanation of the Data

Major land uses presented in this report are the latest

from a series of land use inventories, based on available land use data from a wide variety of sources, conducted by the Economic Research Service and predecessor agencies. This series extends back more than

50 years and, since 1945, has been generally comparable in categories and area coverage (Daugherty, 1991,

1995; Frey, 1982, 1979, 1973; Frey and Hexem, 1985;

Frey, Krause, and Dickason, 1968; Reuss, Wooten, and

Marschner, 1948; Wooten, 1953; Wooten and

Anderson, 1957; Wooten, Gertel, and Pendleton,

1962). These periodic inventories are useful because

numerous public agencies develop land use data, but

no single agency except the Economic Research

Service accounts for the use of all land in the country,

both public and private. The inventories provide a

framework within which changes in the supply and

demand for land for agricultural and other purposes

can be measured and analyzed.

The estimates, with few exceptions, were constructed

from available data, rather than used exactly as developed by source agencies. This process is necessary

because land use data, regardless of origin or utility for

specific purposes, have limitations for comprehensive

inventory purposes. Data are typically obtained from

surveys differing greatly in scope, methods, definitions, and other characteristics. Individual sources

account for only one or a few uses and for only a limited part of the total land area. The available data contain conflicts and overlaps that must be reconciled or

removed.

Definitions and explanations of the various land use

categories are:

Cropland—Total cropland includes five components:

cropland harvested, crop failure, cultivated summer

fallow, cropland used only for pasture, and idle cropland. The estimate of total cropland in 1997 includes

total cropland as reported by the 1997 Census of

Agriculture (NASS, 1999a), plus an upward adjustment to conform to data on principal crops harvested

as reported by the National Agricultural Statistics

Service for 1997 (NASS, 1999b).

Cropland used for crops. Three of the cropland

acreage components—cropland harvested, crop failure, and cultivated summer fallow—are collectively

termed cropland used for crops, or the land input to

crop production. Regional acreage in these components is developed annually and, in the past, was

reported in separate but coordinated series. For

example, Economic Indicators of the Farm Sector:

Production and Efficiency Statistics, 1990 shows

cropland data by farm production region, annually

for several decades (USDA/ERS, 1992). The annual

estimates of cropland harvested are based on both

census data and the series on principal crops harvested as maintained by NASS. Annual estimates of

crop failure are based on differences in planted and

harvested acreage of principal crops from the NASS

series. Annual estimates of cultivated summer fallow

historically have been based on fragmentary data

from a variety of sources. Since the late 1970s,

they have been based on data from the Census of

Agriculture and unpublished NASS data.

Cropland harvested includes row crops and closely

sown crops; hay and silage crops; tree fruits, small

fruits, berries, and tree nuts; vegetables and melons;

and miscellaneous other minor crops. In recent

years, farmers have double-cropped about 4 percent

of this acreage.

Crop failure consists mainly of the acreage on

which crops failed because of weather, insects, and

diseases, but includes some land not harvested due

to lack of labor, low market prices, or other factors.

The acreage planted to cover and soil improvement

crops not intended for harvest is excluded from

crop failure and is considered idle. In recent years,

crops have failed on about 2-3 percent of the

acreage planted for harvest.

Cultivated summer fallow refers to cropland in

subhumid regions of the West cultivated for one or

more seasons to control weeds and accumulate

moisture before small grains are planted. This

practice is optional in some areas, but it is a

requirement for crop production in the drier cropland areas of the West. Other types of fallow, such

as cropland planted to soil improvement crops but

not harvested and cropland left idle all year, are not

included in cultivated summer fallow but are

included as idle cropland.

Cropland pasture generally is considered to be in

long-term crop rotation. However, some cropland

pasture is marginal for crop uses and may remain in

pasture indefinitely. This category also includes land

that was used for pasture before crops reached maturity and some land used for pasture that could have

28 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997
been cropped without additional improvement.

Cropland pasture and permanent grassland pasture

have not always been clearly distinguished in agricultural surveys.

Idle cropland includes land in cover and soil

improvement crops and cropland on which no crops

were planted. Some cropland is idle each year for

various physical and economic reasons. Acreage

diverted from crops to soil-conserving uses (if not

eligible for and used as cropland pasture) under

Federal farm programs is included in this component.

Cropland enrolled in the Federal Conservation

Reserve Program (CRP) is included in idle cropland.

Grassland pasture and range—Grassland pasture and

range comprise all open land used primarily for pasture and grazing, including shrub and brush land types

of pasture; grazing land with sagebrush and scattered

mesquite; and all tame and native grasses, legumes,

and other forage used for pasture or grazing. Because

of the diversity in vegetative composition, grassland

pasture and range are not always clearly distinguishable from other types of pasture and range. At one

extreme, permanent grassland may merge with cropland pasture, or grassland may often be found in transitional areas with forested grazing land. 

No single agency other than ERS attempts to account

for all land used for pasture and range. The estimates

in this report are composites of data from the Census

of Agriculture, Bureau of Land Management, Forest

Service, Soil Conservation Service, and several other

Federal agencies. The 580 million acres classed as

grassland pasture and range in 1997 included 397 million acres in farms (USDA/NASS, 1999a). Also

included are estimates of private grazing land not in

farms and public, nonforested grazing land. 

Forest land—As defined by the Forest Service, forest

land is “land at least 10 percent stocked by trees of any

size, including land that formerly had such tree cover

and that will be naturally or artificially regenerated.

Forest land includes transition zones, such as areas

between heavily forested and nonforested lands that

are at least 10 percent stocked with forest trees and

forest areas adjacent to urban and built up lands. Also

included are pinyon-juniper and chaparral areas in the

West and afforested areas” (Powell and others, 1993,

p. 117). There are a number of components to total

forest land, a few of which are described below.

Timberland—Forest land that is producing or is

capable of producing crops (in excess of 20 cubic

feet per acre per year) of industrial wood and not

withdrawn from timber utilization by statute or

administrative regulation. Currently inaccessible

and inoperable areas are included (Powell and others, p. 121).

Productive reserved forest land—Forest land that

would otherwise be classified as timberland except

that it is withdrawn from timber utilization by

statute or administrative regulation (Powell and others, p. 120). Wilderness areas and parks are included in this category. This definition changed slightly

in 1997: Reserved forest land—Forest land withdrawn from timber utilization through statute,

administrative regulation, or designation (Smith and

Sheffield, 1997). “For 1997, Reserved Forest

includes lands previously classified as unproductive

reserved and tabulated under the Other Forest category” (FS, 2000, p. 2).

Other forest land—Forest land other than timberland and reserved timberland. It includes available

and reserved unproductive forest land, which is

incapable of producing 20 cubic feet per acre per

year of industrial wood under natural conditions

because of adverse site conditions such as sterile

soils, dry climate, poor drainage, high elevation,

steep slopes, or rockiness. Urban forest land is also

included (Powell and others, p. 119). This definition changed slightly in 1997 “For 1997, Other

Forest no longer includes land classified as unproductive reserved. This area, amounting to about 12

million acres in 1997, in now included in the

Reserved Forest category” (FS, 2000, p. 2).

Forest-use land—A modified Major Land Use total

of 642 million acres (1997) that excludes estimated

forest land in parks, wildlife areas, and similar special-purpose uses from the inventory of forest land.

To eliminate all overlap with other uses that exist

because of multiple use is not feasible, but this

reduced area is a more realistic approximation of the

land that may be expected to serve normal forest uses

as opposed to having forest cover. Forest-use land

includes forested grazing land in this report.

At any point in time, some forest-use land will

always be unavailable for timber harvest. The land

may be economically inaccessible. In addition, private landowners may have objectives other than timber harvest. For example, Birch (1996) found that 29

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 29
percent of the privately owned forest land is managed

primarily for timber production.

Forest-use land grazed—Forested pasture and

range consists mainly of forest, brush-grown pasture, arid woodlands, and other areas within forested areas that have grass or other forage growth.

The total acreage of forested grazing land includes

woodland pasture in farms plus estimates of forested grazing land not in farms. For many States, the

estimates include significant areas grazed only

lightly or sporadically. The Census of Agriculture,

the National Resources Inventory, and the Forest

Inventory and Analysis are the principal sources of

data (USDA/NASS, 1999a; USDA/NRCS, 2000;

USDA/FS, 2000). Historical data from these and

other sources were useful in developing the 140-

million-acre approximation.

Forest-use land not grazed—Forest-use land not

used for grazing. 

Forest land in special uses—Forest land in special

uses such as in parks, wildlife areas, and similar special-purpose uses, estimated at 105 million acres for

1997.

The Forest Service conducts a continuous, rather than

periodic, survey of forest resources. At any time, the

forest area data for individual States may vary in age

by several years. This characteristic hampers estimates

of other areas, especially pasture and range. However,

forest area data provide a good overall measure of forest area and are useful in explaining changes and

trends in land use. Forest land is given less emphasis

than cropland and pasture in this report because the

Forest Service periodically analyzes the Nation’s forest

resources in considerable detail.

Special-use areas—Special uses in this report include

areas in highway, road, and railroad rights-of-way and

airports; Federal and State parks, wilderness areas, and

wildlife refuges; and national defense and industrial

areas. Estimates of the area in special uses were made

because some of these uses affect the supply of agricultural land and all help account for changes in land

use. The sources and procedures used in developing

these estimates are outlined in footnotes to appendix

table 4. 

Miscellaneous other land—Includes miscellaneous

other uses such as industrial and commercial sites in

rural areas, cemeteries, golf courses, mining areas, and

quarry sites; and marshes, swamps, sand dunes, bare

rocks, deserts, tundra, rural residential, and other

unclassified land. In this report, urban land is included

in miscellaneous. (In the ERS Electronic Data

Product, Major Land Uses, (EDP #89003), urban area

is included as part of the special uses category. See

http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/data-sets/land/89003.)

Urban area—Nationally, there are two sources of data

on urban area. First, the Bureau of the Census, U.S.

Department of Commerce, compiles urban area every

10 years, coincident with the Census of Population.

Second, the Natural Resources Conservation Service,

U.S. Department of Agriculture, publishes developed

land area, including urban components, at 5-year intervals as part of the National Resources Inventory (NRI).

Bureau of the Census—Cities, towns, and Censusdesignated places of 2,500 or more persons, including urbanized areas with populations of 50,000 or

more—central cities and their “urban fringe” (BOC,

1992). Included in this definition are residential

areas and concentrations of nonresidential urban area

such as commercial, industrial, and institutional land;

office areas; urban streets and roads; major airports;

urban parks and recreational areas; and other land

within urban defined areas. The definition allows for

exceptions and special cases, and has changed slightly from decade to decade. Portions of extended

cities that are essentially rural in character are

excluded.

National Resources Inventory—Developed land in

the National Resources Inventory consists of urban

and built up areas and land devoted to rural transportation (USDA/SCS, 1991, 1994; USDA/NRCS,

2000).

Urban and built up areas consist of residential,

industrial, commercial, and institutional land; construction and public administrative sites; railroad

yards, cemeteries, airports, golf courses, sanitary

landfills, sewage plants, water control structures,

small parks, and transportation facilities within

urban areas.

Large urban and built up areas include developed tracts of 10 acres and more.

Small built up areas include developed tracts of

0.25 to 10 acres, which do not meet the definition

of urban area but are completely surrounded by

urban and built up land.

30 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997
Rural transportation land includes highways,

roads, railroads, and rights-of-way outside of

urban and builtup areas.

Comparison—While the U.S. Geological Service,

NASA, HUD, and several local, State, and Federal

agencies collect data or conduct special-purpose studies on urban areas, the Census and the NRI provide the

only nationally consistent historical series. Due to differences in data collection techniques and definitions,

the NRI estimates of “large urban and built-up areas”

is usually higher than the Census “urban area” estimates for nearly all States. The Census urban area

series runs from 1950, while the NRI started providing

a consistent series in 1982. NRI started sooner than

1982, but the 1977 estimate was flawed and was found

to have significantly overestimated urban area (Fischel,

1982; Frey, 1983; Vesterby, Heimlich and Krupa,

1994). 

Historically, the ERS Major Land Use series has used

Census urban area numbers. Prior to 1982, Census

urban area was the only reliable national source of

urban area data available. Since 1945, Census urban

area has been used in Major Land Uses to maintain a

consistent series. For comparison purposes, Census

urban area is checked against the NRI to help project

and interpolate census trends between decennial census years. 

Residential area—Residential area is the sum of acres

in lots used for housing units. This is a new series for

Major Land Uses, beginning with this 1997 report.

Data for this series are from the American Housing

Surveys (AHS) conducted by the Bureau of the

Census, U.S. Department of Commerce (HUD/BOC,

1996, 1999a, 1999b). While the data have limitations

(see footnotes to table 16) and are not available by

State, they do allow compilation of two important new

Major Land Use estimates. First, an estimate of the

residential component of urban land shows how much

land is used for housing in urban areas versus land

used for all other urban purposes, such as commercial

and industrial sites, institutional uses, and urban parks.

Second, and more important, an estimate is now made

of land used for residences in rural areas. This is an

attempt to document what seems to be a growing

demand for more and larger housing lots outside of

urban areas. The AHS started the current series in

1980 and collects sample-based data every 2 years. 

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 31
Appendix table 1—Major uses of land, by region and State, 1997 

Grassland Forest- Total 

Region and State Crop- pasture and use Special Other land 

land1 range2 land3 uses4 land5 area6

1,000 acres

Northeast 13,402 2,827 66,242 9,837 19,093 111,401

Maine 466 37 16,952 520 1,778 19,753

New Hampshire 112 40 4,551 317 720 5,740

Vermont 484 212 4,462 337 425 5,920

Massachusetts 211 35 2,675 553 1,542 5,016

Rhode Island 30 3 356 61 220 669

Connecticut 166 30 1,682 299 923 3,101

New York 4,112 1,314 15,405 3,810 5,581 30,223

New Jersey 634 29 1,507 728 1,850 4,748

Pennsylvania 5,181 910 15,852 2,379 4,364 28,685

Delaware 451 8 376 102 313 1,251

Maryland 1,555 208 2,424 731 1,338 6,256

District of Columbia 0 0 0 0 39 39

Lake States 40,704 4,995 49,188 9,048 18,138 122,073

Michigan 8,304 1,606 18,667 2,468 5,313 36,358

Wisconsin 9,561 1,844 15,701 2,182 5,472 34,761

Minnesota 22,839 1,544 14,820 4,398 7,353 50,954

Corn Belt 98,565 11,579 31,322 7,446 15,689 164,601

Ohio 12,026 1,376 7,567 1,153 4,087 26,209

Indiana 13,689 1,158 4,342 1,102 2,666 22,957

Illinois 24,925 1,559 4,058 1,901 3,137 35,580

Iowa 27,911 1,477 1,944 1,550 2,878 35,760

Missouri 20,013 6,010 13,411 1,740 2,921 44,095

Northern Plains 107,846 68,311 4,318 6,107 7,716 194,298

North Dakota 28,818 11,329 441 1,489 2,079 44,156

South Dakota 21,765 22,594 1,588 1,575 1,051 48,573

Nebraska 23,555 21,828 797 1,423 1,599 49,202

Kansas 33,708 12,560 1,492 1,620 2,987 52,367

Appalachian 27,992 5,442 71,495 7,630 11,187 123,747

Virginia 4,340 1,533 15,345 1,468 2,657 25,343

West Virginia 1,411 481 11,899 699 925 15,415

North Carolina 5,890 814 18,638 2,264 3,574 31,180

Kentucky 8,860 1,491 12,348 996 1,733 25,429

Tennessee 7,491 1,123 13,265 2,203 2,298 26,380

Southeast 17,982 9,117 71,938 8,985 15,356 123,377

South Carolina 2,532 465 12,418 1,032 2,824 19,271

Georgia 7,329 1,336 23,004 1,854 3,544 37,068

Florida 3,650 5,455 14,605 4,676 6,172 34,558

Alabama 4,471 1,860 21,911 1,423 2,815 32,480

See footnotes at end of table. —continued

32 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997
Appendix table 1—Major uses of land, by region and State, 1997—continued

Grassland Forest- Total 

Region and State Crop- pasture and use Special Other land 

land1 range2 land3 uses4 land5 area6

1,000 acres

Delta States 22,031 5,533 50,672 3,693 9,306 91,235

Mississippi 6,464 1,946 18,589 848 2,179 30,025

Arkansas 10,082 2,006 18,392 1,450 1,398 33,328

Louisiana 5,485 1,582 13,691 1,395 5,729 27,882

Southern Plains 56,377 115,373 18,000 6,840 14,990 211,579

Oklahoma 16,336 17,314 6,233 1,477 2,593 43,954

Texas 40,040 98,059 11,767 5,363 12,396 167,625

Mountain 45,426 302,658 112,575 50,946 36,312 547,917

Montana 18,573 46,039 19,165 6,414 2,965 93,156

Idaho 5,766 21,165 17,123 5,266 3,641 52,961

Wyoming 3,080 44,873 5,085 6,332 2,777 62,147

Colorado 11,415 27,867 18,781 5,699 2,623 66,386

New Mexico 2,427 52,188 14,084 6,360 2,615 77,673

Arizona 1,254 40,509 16,306 10,092 4,571 72,731

Utah 2,045 23,737 13,832 5,058 7,916 52,588

Nevada 867 46,278 8,199 5,726 9,204 70,275

Pacific 24,367 52,144 76,661 31,228 19,476 203,876

Washington 8,400 7,406 17,418 6,639 2,749 42,612

Oregon 5,338 22,395 26,664 3,593 3,450 61,441

California 10,628 22,343 32,579 20,996 13,277 99,823

48 States 454,691 577,978 552,411 141,761 167,263 1,894,104

Alaska 68 1,226 87,936 143,013 132,796 365,039

Hawaii 293 961 1,189 769 898 4,111

United States 455,052 580,165 641,536 285,544 300,957 2,263,254

1Total acreage in the crop rotation.

2Grassland and other nonforested pasture and range in farms excluding cropland used only for pasture, plus estimates of open or nonforested

grazing land not in farms. 3Excludes an estimated 105 million acres in parks and other special uses of land. 4Transportation, recreation, and other special uses of land specified in app. table 4. 5Miscellaneous areas such as marshes, open swamps, bare rock areas, deserts, and urban and other special uses not inventoried.

6Approximate land area as established by the Bureau of the Census in conjunction with the 1990 Census of Population (BOC, 1992).

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 33
Appendix table 2—Major uses of cropland, by region and State, 19971 

Region and State

Crops2 Idle Pasture Total

1,000 acres

Northeast 10,715 840 1,847 13,402

Maine 324 77 65 466

New Hampshire 84 6 22 112

Vermont 342 10 132 484

Massachusetts 160 12 39 211

Rhode Island 22 2 6 30

Connecticut 131 8 27 166

New York 3,162 317 633 4,112

New Jersey 526 40 68 634

Pennsylvania 4,187 299 695 5,181

Delaware 434 7 11 451

Maryland 1,344 62 149 1,555

District of Columbia 0 0 0

Lake States 34,991 3,212 2,500 40,704

Michigan 7,098 705 500 8,304

Wisconsin 7,803 799 959 9,561

Minnesota 20,090 1,707 1,041 22,839

Corn Belt 83,445 5,226 9,894 98,565

Ohio 10,576 556 895 12,026

Indiana 12,516 516 658 13,689

Illinois 23,140 932 853 24,925

Iowa 24,259 1,578 2,074 27,911

Missouri 12,956 1,645 5,413 20,013

Northern Plains 89,042 9,030 9,773 107,846

North Dakota 24,460 2,858 1,500 28,818

South Dakota 17,313 1,909 2,542 21,765

Nebraska 20,314 1,299 1,942 23,555

Kansas 26,955 2,964 3,789 33,708

Appalachian 16,919 2,130 8,943 27,992

Virginia 2,572 242 1,526 4,340

West Virginia 664 50 697 1,411

North Carolina 4,487 476 927 5,890

Kentucky 4,889 766 3,205 8,860

Tennessee 4,307 596 2,587 7,491

Southeast 11,624 1,889 4,468 17,982

South Carolina 1,660 335 538 2,532

Georgia 5,200 733 1,395 7,329

Florida 2,465 288 896 3,650

Alabama 2,298 533 1,639 4,471

See footnotes at end of table. —continued

34 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997
Appendix table 2—Major uses of cropland, by region and State, 19971 —continued 

Region and State

Crops2 Idle Pasture Total

1,000 acres

Delta States 16,290 1,653 4,087 22,031

Mississippi 4,602 677 1,184 6,464

Arkansas 7,635 413 2,034 10,082

Louisiana 4,053 563 869 5,485

Southern Plains 32,406 6,276 17,695 56,377

Oklahoma 9,793 1,184 5,360 16,336

Texas 22,613 5,092 12,335 40,040

Mountain 33,749 6,115 5,562 45,426

Montana 14,527 2,374 1,672 18,573

Idaho 4,197 753 816 5,766

Wyoming 2,064 257 759 3,080

Colorado 8,899 1,780 736 11,415

New Mexico 1,313 474 639 2,427

Arizona 951 187 116 1,254

Utah 1,252 234 558 2,045

Nevada 546 56 265 867

Pacific 19,384 2,290 2,693 24,367

Washington 6,854 1,018 528 8,400

Oregon 3,853 566 919 5,338

California 8,676 706 1,246 10,628

48 States 348,566 38,663 67,462 454,691

Alaska 34 26 8 68

Hawaii 101 150 42 293

United States 348,701 38,839 67,512 455,052

1Estimates are based on NASS, 1999a, 1999b.

2Includes cropland harvested, crop failure, and cultivated summer fallow.

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 35
Appendix table 3—Pasture and range, by region and State, 1997 

Grassland pasture and range

Total

Grassland and Forest pasture 

Region and State Cropland other pasture land and 

pasture1 and range2 Total grazed3 range

1,000 acres

Northeast 1,847 2,827 4,674 1,348 6,021

Maine 65 37 102 40 142

New Hampshire 22 40 62 33 95

Vermont 132 212 344 198 542

Massachusetts 39 35 74 36 110

Rhode Island 6 3 9 4 13

Connecticut 27 30 58 30 88

New York 633 1,314 1,947 452 2,399

New Jersey 68 29 97 13 110

Pennsylvania 695 910 1,605 436 2,041

Delaware 11 8 19 7 26

Maryland 149 208 357 97 454

District of Columbia 0 0 0

Lake States 2,500 4,995 7,495 2,782 10,277

Michigan 500 1,606 2,107 378 2,485

Wisconsin 959 1,844 2,804 1,284 4,087

Minnesota 1,041 1,544 2,585 1,120 3,705

Corn Belt 9,894 11,579 21,472 6,553 28,026

Ohio 895 1,376 2,271 607 2,877

Indiana 658 1,158 1,816 520 2,336

Illinois 853 1,559 2,412 843 3,256

Iowa 2,074 1,477 3,551 978 4,529

Missouri 5,413 6,010 11,423 3,605 15,028

Northern Plains 9,773 68,311 78,084 1,972 80,056

North Dakota 1,500 11,329 12,829 232 13,061

South Dakota 2,542 22,594 25,136 875 26,011

Nebraska 1,942 21,828 23,770 445 24,215

Kansas 3,789 12,560 16,349 420 16,769

Appalachian 8,943 5,442 14,385 4,827 19,212

Virginia 1,526 1,533 3,059 777 3,836

West Virginia 697 481 1,178 697 1,876

North Carolina 927 814 1,741 627 2,368

Kentucky 3,205 1,491 4,697 1,466 6,163

Tennessee 2,587 1,123 3,710 1,259 4,970

Southeast 4,468 9,117 13,585 6,149 19,734

South Carolina 538 465 1,003 377 1,380

Georgia 1,395 1,336 2,732 964 3,696

Florida 896 5,455 6,352 3,500 9,852

Alabama 1,639 1,860 3,499 1,307 4,806

See footnotes at end of table. —continued

36 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997
Appendix table 3—Pasture and range, by region and State, 1997—continued

Grassland pasture and range

Total

Grassland and Forest pasture

Region and State Cropland other pasture land and

pasture1 and range 2 Total grazed3 range

1,000 acres

Delta States 4,087 5,533 9,620 14,354 23,974

Mississippi 1,184 1,946 3,130 5,004 8,133

Arkansas 2,034 2,006 4,040 4,331 8,371

Louisiana 869 1,582 2,450 5,020 7,470

Southern Plains 17,695 115,373 133,067 9,251 142,318

Oklahoma 5,360 17,314 22,674 3,630 26,304

Texas 12,335 98,059 110,393 5,621 116,014

Mountain 5,562 302,658 308,220 66,385 374,605

Montana 1,672 46,039 47,711 7,284 54,995

Idaho 816 21,165 21,982 4,432 26,413

Wyoming 759 44,873 45,633 3,543 49,176

Colorado 736 27,867 28,603 11,987 40,590

New Mexico 639 52,188 52,827 9,237 62,064

Arizona 116 40,509 40,625 12,914 53,539

Utah 558 23,737 24,296 9,972 34,268

Nevada 265 46,278 46,544 7,016 53,560

Pacific 2,693 52,144 54,837 26,751 81,588

Washington 528 7,406 7,934 3,292 11,226

Oregon 919 22,395 23,314 11,699 35,013

California 1,246 22,343 23,589 11,761 35,349

48 States 67,462 577,977 645,440 140,372 785,812

Alaska 8 1,226 1,234 88 1,322

Hawaii 42 961 1,003 316 1,320

United States 67,512 580,165 647,677 140,777 788,453

1Estimates are based on NASS, 1999a.

2Grassland and other nonforested pasture and range in farms (NASS, 1999a) plus estimates of open or nonforested grazing 

land not in farms.

3Woodland grazed in farms (NASS, 1999a) plus an approximation of forested grazing land not in farms.

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 37
Appendix table 4—Land in special-use areas, by region and State, 1997 

Rural Defense and Farmsteads,

transportation Rural Wildlife industrial farm roads,

Region and State areas1 parks2 areas3 areas4 and lanes5 Total 

1,000 acres

Northeast 1,875 5,243 2,010 421 289 9,837

Maine 169 248 74 15 14 520

New Hampshire 90 195 24 1 7 317

Vermont 79 147 86 11 14 337

Massachusetts 121 335 67 16 13 553

Rhode Island 15 9 32 3 2 61

Connecticut 82 184 23 2 8 299

New York 467 2,957 144 157 84 3,810

New Jersey 93 386 165 66 19 728

Pennsylvania 637 402 1,210 31 98 2,379

Delaware 26 17 50 4 6 102

Maryland 97 362 135 114 23 731

District of Columbia 0 0 0 0 0

Lake States 2,961 2,737 2,591 89 669 9,048

Michigan 873 1,076 343 17 159 2,468

Wisconsin 918 303 662 69 230 2,182

Minnesota 1,170 1,358 1,586 4 280 4,398

Corn Belt 3,638 1,217 912 353 1,326 7,446

Ohio 524 238 132 38 220 1,153

Indiana 475 206 57 173 190 1,102

Illinois 1,072 427 97 57 249 1,901

Iowa 875 65 261 20 329 1,550

Missouri 693 281 365 65 337 1,740

Northern Plains 3,467 658 956 192 834 6,107

North Dakota 803 93 406 4 183 1,489

South Dakota 736 377 298 3 160 1,575

Nebraska 839 147 160 53 224 1,423

Kansas 1,089 41 92 132 266 1,620

Appalachian 2,053 2,245 1,840 918 574 7,630

Virginia 316 503 276 275 98 1,468

West Virginia 192 367 79 2 59 699

North Carolina 621 652 544 323 123 2,264

Kentucky 458 154 62 166 156 996

Tennessee 465 569 879 152 138 2,203

Southeast 2,271 3,701 1,412 1,197 404 8,985

South Carolina 458 127 92 292 64 1,032

Georgia 513 248 465 536 92 1,854

Florida 720 3,223 425 201 105 4,676

Alabama 580 103 430 167 143 1,423

See footnotes at end of table. —continued

38 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997
Appendix table 4—Land in special-use areas, by region and State, 1997—continued 

Rural Defense and Farmsteads,

transportation Rural Wildlife industrial farm roads,

Region and State areas1 parks2 areas3 areas4 and lanes5 Total 

1,000 acres

Delta States 1,283 488 1,293 228 401 3,693

Mississippi 405 147 156 18 122 848

Arkansas 479 272 432 88 178 1,450

Louisiana 400 69 704 122 101 1,395

Southern Plains 2,389 1,999 842 645 964 6,840

Oklahoma 629 96 297 192 263 1,477

Texas 1,760 1,903 546 453 701 5,363

Mountain 3,288 31,169 7,913 8,001 575 50,946

Montana 556 4,702 1,026 10 120 6,414

Idaho 278 4,110 160 630 88 5,266

Wyoming 406 5,635 227 20 44 6,332

Colorado 658 4,158 306 444 135 5,699

New Mexico 378 2,015 523 3,389 55 6,360

Arizona 347 5,632 2,836 1,222 55 10,092

Utah 313 3,214 474 1,001 57 5,058

Nevada 354 1,704 2,361 1,286 21 5,726

Pacific 1,950 24,692 1,491 2,592 503 31,228

Washington 467 4,807 473 788 103 6,639

Oregon 454 2,369 600 44 126 3,593

California 1,029 17,516 417 1,761 274 20,996

48 States 25,176 74,148 21,262 14,637 6,539 141,761

Alaska 206 63,685 77,441 1,679 2 143,013

Hawaii 39 275 308 128 19 769

United States 25,420 138,108 99,011 16,443 6,560 285,544

1Includes rural highways, railroads, and airports. Estimates for highways were derived by applying average right-of-way widths to the mileage in

highway systems reported by the Federal Highway Administration. Estimates of railroad acreage rights-of-way are based on State-by-State

changes in mileage reported by the Association of American Railroads. Estimates of acreage in airports is based on information on airports by

the Federal Aviation Administration.

2Areas in national and State park systems and national forest wilderness and primitive areas plus about 2.5 million acres in New York classified

as State forest preserves. Excludes parks in urban places and large water bodies. Based on data from reports and records of the National

Park Service, Forest Service, and State agencies.

3Areas administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and State agencies. Does not include Federal areas under the primary jurisdiction of

another agency or areas leased. Federal data are from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports.

4As reported by the U.S. General Services Administration, 1997. Includes land administered by the U.S. Department of Defense (13 million

acres), land administered by the U.S. Department of Energy (2 million acres), and other related land (1.5 million acres)

5 Estimates calculated on the basis of State-by-State number of farms and acreage of unclassified land in farms.

Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 39
40 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Appendix table 5—Forest land by major class, by region and State, 1997 

Region and State Timberland Reserved timber- Total forest land

land and other 

Federal Non-Federal Total1 forest land2 Federal Non-Federal Total1

1,000 acres

Northeast 1,460 65,563 67,023 6,357 2,157 71,223 73,380

Maine 52 16,900 16,952 759 125 17,586 17,711

New Hampshire 439 4,112 4,551 404 730 4,225 4,955

Vermont 252 4,210 4,462 146 348 4,260 4,608

Massachusetts 48 2,918 2,966 299 69 3,196 3,265

Rhode Island 5 351 356 54 5 405 410

Connecticut 10 1,805 1,815 49 13 1,851 1,864

New York 86 15,319 15,405 3,175 108 18,472 18,580

New Jersey 49 1,815 1,864 127 96 1,895 1,991

Pennsylvania 497 15,355 15,852 1,053 587 16,318 16,905

Delaware 0 376 376 14 2 388 390

Maryland 22 2,402 2,424 277 74 2,627 2,701

District of Columbia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Lake States 6,278 42,910 49,188 2,905 7,699 44,394 52,093

Michigan 2,643 16,024 18,667 668 2,987 16,348 19,335

Wisconsin 1,520 14,181 15,701 261 1,643 14,319 15,962

Minnesota 2,115 12,705 14,820 1,976 3,069 13,727 16,796

Corn Belt 2,564 28,758 31,322 1,425 2,914 29,833 32,747

Ohio 220 7,347 7,567 288 241 7,614 7,855

Indiana 373 3,969 4,342 158 425 4,075 4,500

Illinois 320 3,738 4,058 237 344 3,951 4,295

Iowa 44 1,900 1,944 106 74 1,976 2,050

Missouri 1,607 11,804 13,411 636 1,830 12,217 14,047

Northern Plains 1,076 3,242 4,318 482 1,324 3,476 4,800

North Dakota 28 413 441 233 198 476 674

South Dakota 946 540 1,486 146 1,008 624 1,632

Nebraska 49 850 899 49 53 895 948

Kansas 53 1,439 1,492 54 65 1,481 1,546

Appalachian 5,956 65,539 71,495 2,243 7,567 66,171 73,738

Virginia 1,586 13,759 15,345 701 2,211 13,835 16,046

West Virginia 1,032 10,867 11,899 209 1,165 10,943 12,108

North Carolina 1,448 17,190 18,638 659 2,000 17,297 19,297

Kentucky 863 11,485 12,348 337 1,103 11,582 12,685

Tennessee 1,027 12,238 13,265 337 1,088 12,514 13,602

Southeast 4,640 68,090 72,730 2,551 6,242 69,039 75,281

South Carolina 867 11,551 12,418 234 981 11,671 12,652

Georgia 1,380 22,416 23,796 616 1,915 22,497 24,412

Florida 1,570 13,035 14,605 1,649 2,477 13,777 16,254

Alabama 823 21,088 21,911 52 869 21,094 21,963

See footnotes at end of table. —continued
Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 41

Appendix table 5—Forest land by major class, by region and State, 1997—continued 

Region and State Timberland Reserved timber- Total forest land

land and other 

Federal Non-Federal Total1 forest land2 Federal Non-Federal Total1

1,000 acres

Delta States 5,046 45,626 50,672 495 5,391 45,776 51,167

Mississippi 1,526 17,063 18,589 8 1,534 17,063 18,597

Arkansas 2,813 15,579 18,392 397 3,059 15,730 18,789

Louisiana 707 12,984 13,691 90 798 12,983 13,781

Southern Plains 1,096 16,904 18,000 8,021 1,279 24,742 26,021

Oklahoma 435 5,798 6,233 1,432 491 7,174 7,665

Texas 661 11,106 11,767 6,589 788 17,568 18,356

Mountain 45,999 20,700 66,699 71,746 97,373 41,072 138,445

Montana 12,485 6,680 19,165 4,067 16,215 7,017 23,232

Idaho 12,895 4,227 17,122 4,815 17,356 4,581 21,937

Wyoming 3,438 1,647 5,085 5,859 8,689 2,255 10,944

Colorado 7,968 3,587 11,555 9,716 14,735 6,536 21,271

New Mexico 2,777 2,055 4,832 10,672 8,571 6,933 15,504

Arizona 2,763 1,309 4,072 15,853 10,534 9,391 19,925

Utah 3,603 1,097 4,700 11,004 11,941 3,763 15,704

Nevada 70 98 168 9,760 9,332 596 9,928

Pacific 30,746 28,374 59,120 31,039 48,017 42,142 90,159

Washington 6,209 11,209 17,418 4,473 9,540 12,351 21,891

Oregon 14,218 9,531 23,749 5,972 17,822 11,899 29,721

California 10,319 7,634 17,953 20,594 20,655 17,892 38,547

48 States 104,861 385,706 490,567 127,264 179,963 437,868 617,831

Alaska 4,306 8,089 12,395 114,984 66,748 60,631 127,379

Hawaii 0 700 700 1,048 12 1,736 1,748

United States1 109,167 394,495 503,662 243,296 246,723 500,235 746,958

1Distributions may not add to totals due to rounding.

2Includes 105 million acres of forest land in parks, wildlife areas, and other special uses.

Source: Published (FS, 1999) and unpublished materials provided by the Forest Service, USDA.
42 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Appendix table 6—Cropland used for crops, 48 contiguous States, 1910-2000 

Cropland Crop Cultivated

Year harvested1 failure summer fallow Total Index2

Million acres 1977 = 100

1910 317 9 4 330 87

1911 322 10 5 337 89

1912 320 12 5 337 89

1913 324 11 5 340 90

1914 326 11 5 342 90

1915 332 11 5 348 92

1916 332 11 5 348 92

1917 341 11 5 357 94

1918 353 12 5 370 98

1919 355 14 5 374 99

1920 351 12 5 368 97

1921 350 12 6 368 97

1922 346 13 6 365 97

1923 345 14 6 365 97

1924 346 13 6 365 97

1925 351 12 7 370 98

1926 350 14 8 372 98

1927 349 15 9 373 99

1928 352 14 10 376 99

1929 356 13 10 379 100

1930 360 11 11 382 101

1931 356 17 11 384 101

1932 361 11 12 384 102

1933 331 33 14 378 100

1934 296 64 15 375 99

1935 336 25 16 377 100

1936 314 43 18 375 99

1937 338 21 20 379 100

1938 340 13 19 372 98

1939 321 21 21 363 96

1940 331 16 21 368 97

1941 335 12 20 367 97

1942 339 11 20 370 98

1943 348 12 17 377 100

1944 353 10 16 379 100

1945 345 9 18 372 98

1946 343 8 18 369 98

1947 346 8 19 373 99

1948 348 9 21 378 100

1949 352 9 26 387 102

1950 336 12 29 377 100

1951 336 17 28 381 102

1952 341 11 28 380 100

1953 341 13 26 380 100

1954 339 13 28 380 100

1955 333 16 29 378 100

1956 317 22 30 369 98

1957 316 12 30 358 95

1958 316 9 30 355 94

1959 318 10 31 359 95

See footnotes at end of table. continued
Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 43

Appendix table 6—Cropland used for crops, 48 contiguous States, 1910-2000—continued 

Cropland Crop Cultivated

Year harvested1 failure summer fallow Total Index2

Million acres 1977 = 100

1960 317 6 32 355 94

1961 296 11 33 340 90

1962 287 10 34 331 88

1963 291 10 36 337 89

1964 292 6 37 335 89

1965 292 6 38 336 89

1966 289 5 38 332 88

1967 301 7 32 340 90

1968 296 6 33 335 89

1969 286 6 41 333 88

1970 289 5 38 332 88

1971 300 6 34 340 90

1972 289 7 38 334 88

1973 316 5 31 352 93

1974 322 8 31 361 96

1975 330 6 31 367 97

1976 330 8 31 369 98

1977 338 9 31 378 100

1978 330 7 32 369 97

1979 340 6 32 378 100

1980 341 11 30 382 101

1981 351 6 30 387 102

1982 347 5 31 383 101

1983 294 5 34 333 88

1984 337 6 30 373 99

1985 334 7 31 372 98

1986 316 9 32 357 94

1987 293 6 32 331 88

1988 287 10 30 327 87

1989 306 8 27 341 90

1990 310 6 25 341 90

1991 306 7 24 337 89

1992 305 8 24 337 89

1993 297 11 22 330 87

1994 310 7 22 339 90

1995 302 8 22 332 88

1996 314 10 22 346 92

1997 321 7 21 349 92

1998 315 10 20 345 91

1999 316 8 20 344 91

20003 312 10 21 343 91

1Land from which one or more crops were harvested.

2Computed from unrounded data.

3Preliminary.

Sources: Estimates for 1910-97 are from (Daugherty, 1995, 1997); 1998-99 are unpublished revisions.
44 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Appendix table 7—Urban area, by region and State, 1960-97 

Region and State 19601 19701 19801 19902 19923 19973

1,000 acres

Northeast 6,573 7,445 9,438 10,085 10,597 11,407

Maine 556 471 581 463 476 581

New Hampshire 310 323 359 328 329 376

Vermont 51 41 78 91 103 120

Massachusetts 909 1,027 1,286 1,376 1,422 1,515

Rhode Island 123 172 182 191 202 214

Connecticut 574 578 745 802 850 910

New York 1,353 1,570 2,058 2,167 2,282 2,431

New Jersey 1,129 1,212 1,392 1,554 1,636 1,712

Pennsylvania 1,186 1,450 1,770 1,930 2,018 2,146

Delaware 53 79 111 134 146 154

Maryland 290 483 836 1,010 1,094 1,208

District of Columbia4 39 39 40 39 39 39

Lake States 2,340 2,957 3,741 3,892 4,010 4,428

Michigan 1,017 1,286 1,540 1,705 1,760 1,896

Wisconsin 616 766 902 1,010 1,053 1,113

Minnesota 707 905 1,299 1,177 1,197 1,419

Corn Belt 3,861 5,416 6,521 7,302 7,626 8,290

Ohio 1,415 1,816 2,093 2,309 2,415 2,559

Indiana 520 829 1,012 1,140 1,179 1,325

Illinois 992 1,400 1,730 1,941 2,022 2,215

Iowa 416 573 666 704 712 801

Missouri 518 798 1,020 1,208 1,298 1,390

Northern Plains 463 697 938 1,087 1,127 1,266

North Dakota 39 62 95 108 111 129

South Dakota 62 81 106 130 138 150

Nebraska 121 178 232 252 264 294

Kansas 241 376 505 597 614 693

Appalachian 1,851 2,850 4,395 5,276 5,552 6,192

Virginia 486 768 1,183 1,401 1,471 1,654

West Virginia 138 150 200 242 254 288

North Carolina 488 688 1,164 1,448 1,562 1,760

Kentucky 247 404 570 675 693 793

Tennessee 492 840 1,278 1,510 1,572 1,695

Southeast 2,463 3,953 6,311 7,708 8,042 9,136

South Carolina 267 408 757 912 982 1,102

Georgia 612 920 1,454 1,800 1,923 2,132

Florida 881 1,573 2,617 3,282 3,358 3,902

Alabama 703 1,052 1,483 1,714 1,779 2,000

See footnotes at end of table. —continued
Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 45

Appendix table 7—Urban area, by region and State, 1960-97—continued

Region and State 19601 19701 19801 19902 19923 19973

1,000 acres

Delta States 918 1,273 1,981 2,528 2,717 3,065

Mississippi 228 366 580 723 748 852

Arkansas 222 384 605 783 860 931

Louisiana 468 523 796 1,022 1,109 1,282

Southern Plains 2,593 3,684 5,153 6,077 6,403 7,170

Oklahoma 480 814 1,136 1,167 1,293 1,473

Texas 2,113 2,870 4,017 4,910 5,110 5,697

Mountain 1,133 1,800 2,871 4,245 4,509 5,435

Montana 54 76 118 158 171 196

Idaho 74 105 154 206 223 233

Wyoming 36 49 91 149 166 206

Colorado 203 343 597 843 909 1,070

New Mexico 184 255 361 510 541 636

Arizona 320 463 892 1,313 1,371 1,746

Utah 190 254 420 464 497 549

Nevada 72 255 238 602 631 801

Pacific 3,013 4,268 5,503 6,899 7,377 7,903

Washington 422 607 845 1,136 1,240 1,371

Oregon 239 333 458 531 565 610

California 2,352 3,328 4,200 5,232 5,572 5,922

48 States 25,208 34,343 46,852 55,099 57,960 64,292

Alaska 14 68 285 410 433 567

Hawaii 278 146 177 412 517 678

United States 25,500 34,557 47,314 55,921 58,910 65,537

1Area in the urbanized areas and places of 2,500 or more population outside urbanized areas developed by the Geography Division, Bureau of

the Census (Frey, 1983).

2BOC, 1992.

3Based on trends in urban population growth and land per capita in urban areas.

4Minor change here reported by the Bureau of the Census represents measurement and rounding error rather than any real change.
46 Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997

Appendix table 8—Irrigated land in farms, by region and State, 1949-97 

Region and State 1949 1954 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1987 1992 1997

1,000 acres

Northeast 87 189 206 280 226 242 247 270 326 312 402

Maine 3 1 2 4 6 6 7 6 6 10 22

New Hampshire 1 1 1 3 2 2 2 1 3 2 3

Vermont — 1 22 — 1 1 1 2 23

Massachusetts 18 23 20 24 19 19 17 17 20 20 25

Rhode Island 2 1 — 1 2 2 3 2 4 33

Connecticut 8 12 5 14 9 7 7 7 7 6 7

New York 19 59 58 79 55 55 56 52 51 47 69

New Jersey 28 59 74 96 72 89 77 83 91 80 93

Pennsylvania 7 18 17 23 19 18 15 18 30 23 36

Delaware — 6 16 18 20 20 34 44 61 62 73

Maryland 1 8 11 16 22 23 28 39 51 57 69

Lake States 28 50 87 129 219 303 733 860 954 1,067 1,116

Michigan 14 23 40 49 77 97 226 286 315 366 393

Wisconsin 10 18 32 62 106 128 235 259 285 331 342

Minnesota 4 9 15 18 36 78 272 315 354 370 380

Corn Belt 16 69 87 129 284 298 651 820 1,037 1,423 1,641

Ohio 6 15 12 17 22 22 25 28 32 29 34

Indiana 5 12 17 17 34 33 75 132 170 241 250

Illinois 2 7 10 14 51 54 130 166 208 328 350

Iowa 1 2 18 22 21 39 101 91 92 116 125

Missouri 2 33 30 59 156 150 320 403 535 709 882

Northern Plains 1,128 1,631 3,004 3,354 4,590 6,200 8,845 9,253 8,675 9,550 10,171

North Dakota 35 38 48 51 63 71 141 163 168 187 180

South Dakota 78 90 116 130 148 152 335 376 362 371 344

Nebraska 876 1,171 2,078 2,169 2,857 3,967 5,683 6,039 5,682 6,312 6,939

Kansas 139 332 762 1,004 1,522 2,010 2,686 2,675 2,463 2,680 2,707

Appalachian 6 84 117 175 131 102 160 166 296 243 349

Virginia 3 22 31 51 37 28 42 43 79 62 85

West Virginia — 1 1 2 3 2 1 1 3 33

North Carolina 2 25 66 97 59 51 90 81 138 113 156

Kentucky — 13 8 14 20 11 14 23 38 28 58

Tennessee 1 23 11 11 12 10 13 18 38 37 46

Southeast 374 491 490 1,312 1,470 1,695 2,534 2,307 2,428 2,666 2,774

South Carolina 6 22 25 19 15 10 32 81 81 76 86

Georgia 3 24 34 64 79 112 463 575 640 725 749

Florida 365 428 414 1,217 1,365 1,559 1,980 1,585 1,623 1,783 1,862

Alabama — 17 17 12 11 14 59 66 84 82 77

See footnotes at end of table. —continued
Major Uses of Land in the U.S., 1997 47

Appendix table 8—Irrigated land in farms, by region and State, 1949-97—continued 

Region and State 1949 1954 1959 1964 1969 1974 1978 1982 1987 1992 1997

1,000 acres

Delta States 1,004 1,698 1,297 1,678 1,862 1,813 2,673 3,147 3,690 4,483 5,736

Mississippi 5 132 100 123 150 162 309 431 637 883 1,076

Arkansas 422 858 712 974 1,010 949 1,683 2,022 2,406 2,702 3,717

Louisiana 577 708 485 581 702 702 681 694 647 898 943

Southern Plains 3,166 4,815 5,854 6,687 7,412 7,109 7,549 6,068 4,749 5,424 5,991

Oklahoma 34 108 198 302 524 515 602 492 478 512 506

Texas 3,132 4,707 5,656 6,385 6,888 6,594 6,947 5,576 4,271 4,912 5,485

Mountain 11,642 11,209 12,095 12,811 12,799 12,720 14,775 14,056 13,320 13,266 14,433

Montana 1,717 1,891 1,875 1,893 1,841 1,759 2,070 2,023 1,997 1,978 1,994

Idaho 2,137 2,325 2,577 2,802 2,761 2,859 3,475 3,450 3,219 3,260 3,494

Wyoming 1,432 1,263 1,470 1,571 1,523 1,460 1,662 1,565 1,518 1,465 1,719

Colorado 2,872 2,263 2,685 2,690 2,895 2,874 3,431 3,201 3,014 3,170 3,430

New Mexico 655 650 731 813 823 867 891 807 718 738 805

Arizona 964 1,177 1,152 1,125 1,178 1,153 1,196 1,098 914 956 1,014

Utah 1,138 1,073 1,062 1,092 1,025 970 1,169 1,082 1,161 1,143 1,212

Nevada 727 567 543 825 753 778 881 830 779 556 765

Pacific 8,334 9,316 9,787 10,357 9,983 10,619 12,026 11,907 10,763 10,834 12,367

Washington 589 778 1,007 1,150 1,224 1,309 1,639 1,638 1,519 1,641 1,705

Oregon 1,307 1,490 1,384 1,608 1,519 1,561 1,881 1,808 1,648 1,622 1,949

California 6,438 7,048 7,396 7,599 7,240 7,749 8,506 8,461 7,596 7,571 8,713

48 States1 25,785 29,552 33,022 36,912 38,975 41,100 50,190 48,855 46,235 49,268 54,978

Alaska — — —— 1 1 1 1 2 23

Hawaii 117 — 141 144 146 142 159 146 149 134 7

United States1 25,902 29,552 33,163 37,056 39,122 41,243 50,350 49,003 46,386 49,404 55,058

— = Fewer than 500 acres. 1 Data by States and regions may not add to totals due to rounding.

Note: Because of changes in definition and procedures, data are not strictly comparable among census years. Data represent acres actually

irrigated in the census year rather than acres that had irrigation potential.

Sources: Daugherty, 1995; NASS, 1999a.
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