What is a fair price per acre for land?

Hi!  First time poster here. We just bought and moved to a nice size farm in MI. We hope to raise our own animals next year, however, the Amish neighbors are currently "leasing" 30 acres of pasture.  I have 6 kids and an empty freezer and would like to barter but I'm not sure what's reasonable to ask for.  They've been using it for next to nothing (some sweet rolls and milk every now and then to the single older man who used to own it). It took us a month and a half to get into the place but it's been ours for that long.  No offers from them aside from wanting to use more land...

Advice please.
Thanks!

For the state of Michigan, the average land rent price according to these surveys was $127 per acre in 2019.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/farmland_rent_past_present_and_future

So based on those figures for your state you could charge them. $130*30 = $3,900.
Lets say you want to be nice and only charge them $3,000.
Cows tend to go for a price of $1 per pound. https://www.napoleontack.com/marketrpt.htm
So you should be getting 3 cows per year, but that might be too much beef. And you would have to kill and package the cow yourself. But I do recommend that you price out your what they have to offer based on those metrics. Maybe you need some laborer to help build fences. Or you want some bee hives. Or just a consultation.

They do understand that you are a new owner and will probably ask for more money to lease the pasture. So its okay to ask for more. You can ask the previous owner how much was traded for that 30acres. Maybe they can help you put in a fish pond, that will give you all the fish you need for decades. Or maybe they have some locally adapted cultivars of vegetables and fruiting shrubs/vines/trees that you would like to get from them.

Hi Marta,

Welcome to Permies! Congratulations on your new farm. So exciting.

I honestly don't have a specific answer for you, but I would suggest that since these folks are your neighbors, that you reach out to them as a neighbor. Keeping on good terms with neighbors is vitally important, in my opinion, especially since one never knows what's coming down the road.

It sounds like you might be using the acreage yourself next year or soon after. Is that correct? If so, they need to know that, so they have time to make other arrangements for their needs. In that case, maybe as a gesture of good will, keep the current lease similar to what they're used to, or at least something simple.

If you think you might lease it for longer, perhaps there is someone else in the area who leases to Amish folk? They might be a good resource to ask. You're ultimately dealing with a community, not just individuals, so consider everything you do as an investment in establishing lifelong relationships there.

Short and sweet - In my research in the last couple years in Florida which is a hot spot for the country moving to, is ranging about $10,000 per acre - and that is lots to homes on land (averaged for land value - excluding home conditions).

There are two types of ground in southern Michigan: Rocky glacial till which is usually forested, and clay soils which are "driftless regions" inbetween the woodlots. The glacial till makes for great recreation land, and the flat outwash plains make good farm ground. Prices can range from $5,000 per acre and up, with more expensive tracts having streams or lakes, or river bottom soil. It is more and more likely that inflation will intensify, so, unless you are selling a house to buy land, I would use the cash now to get the land. I did so in 2010 and did not regeret it.

Time for this to be updated.  In fact it seems like a post like this needs to updated almost annually.  

Here in semi-rural Virginia, even a completely raw piece of land is selling for not less than $10K an acre, and sometimes much more.

(It got me wistfully looking at land being sold out in the middle of nowhere Wyoming the other day, but all our family is here, and living on a big piece of land would be pretty empty without family to share it with.)

As stated elsewhere, I paid 1k USD an acre for raw land without a well in 2021. A well adds to the price at least 20k in the area.

Boy talk about an open question the OP, one that truly has no answer or every answer.

Why do I say that you ask? Because the price per acre varies hugely dependent on many facts. Some of those facts are as follows.

Access to water.
Size of parcel, larger tracts cost less per acre.
Location, location and LOCATION
Soil
Right of way or actual access off a road.
Climate
Seasons
Flat, mountain, valley, prairie, costal
Solar exposure for crops and or power
wind for power  

There is no answer to such an open question. It needs to be want and area or climate specific. IE: I want to live where it's always warm or cold or that truly has 4 seasons. I want to live in the piedmont region or the grass lands or the mountains.  I want to live where I can grow --- or where there are no ----.

There is NO one size fits all answer to this question.  

Paul Pittman wrote:Hello!  Long time lurker, 1st time

I've found prices going anywhere from $3,500/acre for a property w/ a 3br, 2 bath manufactured home, pond, mix of pasture/woods, to a piece of property that works out to $6,800/acre with no house, but a decent looking pole barn (almost twice as expensive/acre).  I'm still a few years away from pulling the trigger on the purchase, but for purposes of trying to budget/compare property prices, is $4,500-$5,000/acre a reasonable range?  
Many thanks!

What I’d reccomend most is getting really cheap 1K per acre land by having a big 100 acre or 300 acre piece of land with nothing on it dubdivided into however many acres you want. Often these are in remote locations, ensure that you will have some wild forestry surrounding you for a while., and the real estate agents have such a hard time selling these large swaths of land that they usually go really cheap per acre, and if you tell them you are ready to cover the fees for the subdivision and use an escrow to hold the cash to show you are ready to buy until the process is done, they are sure to give it to you.
This way you can easily get 10 acres for 10K, good quality land, in the middle of nowhere.

The reasons most people don’t do this is because… welll… knowledge, but mainly paperwork for those that do. It’s definitely worth it and quite a lot of people have done it.

Note: Watch the rural zoning laws in the area you move to because that will dictate the minimum acres per residential building you have. In other words, the minimum acres you need to buy. Ask AI to figure out on a property by property basis and then double check with local authorities.

In general though I’d say 1-2 K is acceptable if it is remote. 2-3 if middle, and 3-4 if it’s a little closer. I’d reccomend not to go over 4K per acre unless you want to be close or have special great land that costs extra or are loaded

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2002-Willick-Rd-Gaylord-MI-49735/106571565_zpid/
Here’s one example of such a property. Consider UP Michigan though, it’s much much better. Buy more land for less than 1K per acre and you are set.

Nathan Klark wrote:

Paul Pittman wrote:Hello!  Long time lurker, 1st time

I've found prices going anywhere from $3,500/acre for a property w/ a 3br, 2 bath manufactured home, pond, mix of pasture/woods, to a piece of property that works out to $6,800/acre with no house, but a decent looking pole barn (almost twice as expensive/acre).  I'm still a few years away from pulling the trigger on the purchase, but for purposes of trying to budget/compare property prices, is $4,500-$5,000/acre a reasonable range?  
Many thanks!

What I’d reccomend most is getting really cheap 1K per acre land by having a big 100 acre or 300 acre piece of land with nothing on it dubdivided into however many acres you want. Often these are in remote locations, ensure that you will have some wild forestry surrounding you for a while., and the real estate agents have such a hard time selling these large swaths of land that they usually go really cheap per acre, and if you tell them you are ready to cover the fees for the subdivision and use an escrow to hold the cash to show you are ready to buy until the process is done, they are sure to give it to you.
This way you can easily get 10 acres for 10K, good quality land, in the middle of nowhere.

The reasons most people don’t do this is because… welll… knowledge, but mainly paperwork for those that do. It’s definitely worth it and quite a lot of people have done it.

Note: Watch the rural zoning laws in the area you move to because that will dictate the minimum acres per residential building you have. In other words, the minimum acres you need to buy. Ask AI to figure out on a property by property basis and then double check with local authorities.

In general though I’d say 1-2 K is acceptable if it is remote. 2-3 if middle, and 3-4 if it’s a little closer. I’d reccomend not to go over 4K per acre unless you want to be close or have special great land that costs extra or are loaded

I am thankful that we bought our property when we did as we could not afford this place today.

Here is a link to land prices per state:

https://www.landsearch.com/price

Nathan Klark wrote:https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2002-Willick-Rd-Gaylord-MI-49735/106571565_zpid/
Here’s one example of such a property. Consider UP Michigan though, it’s much much better. Buy more land for less than 1K per acre and you are set.

That example you gave is to buy a 1/4 share of that property, shared with 3 other owners.  The days of $1k an acre land are pretty much gone here.  $10k an acre is more the going price and that is for 80 acre and bigger parcels.  If you go way up in northern WI where there is nothing and you have the money to buy 100 acres or so you can sometimes find land for $2k an acre.  You can find few examples of land under $1k in the UP but I've only seen it on land around 2-300 acres and many times it has access or other issues.  It's still possible to find deals like that, but they are getting very scarce now and most people don't have $200k to spend on just land with no housing or even out buildings.

I am looking at land right now that is really, really remote in northern AZ out in the desert and you can still find land there for less than $1k an acre, but it has exactly nothing on it but a little scrub brush.

Hi Anne,

Such lists are great as a starting point.  In any state land prices can vary widely depending upon the exact location and circumstances.

Going back a few years, land prices in my county varied from $300 to $1200an acre. Then a coal company came in and began buying land ar $8000 an acre.  I have no idea what the price is now.

In 1986, when I bought land in NW Montana, it was running $1000 an acre; a few years earlier, in 1980, when I arrived, it was no less than $1500 an acre!
It cost me $28,000 to buy this old homestead on 13 acres, on a county dirt road with buildings, power, water, fences, and timber. (I immediately removed the power and installed solar)
In 2025, my tax bill says this is now worth $280,000, and I could easily get somewhere over $300,000 if I were to sell it... (not happening)
Land is ridiculously expensive unless you're looking at huge parcels or barren desert scrub.
I feel sorry for young folks just starting out.
With simple houses on a tiny lot selling for $300,000 to $500,000, how can they afford even to get started?

It took me five minutes on Zillow to find a currently available property near me that's roughly $1K per acre: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/25464-560th-St-Palisade-MN-56469/447914965_zpid/
It's a little more expensive than that but comes with some junk you might want, and the price is always negotiable.

It seems like undeveloped 40-acre parcels with nothing particularly desirable about them are going for $60-80K around me, but there aren't that many on the market.

But the only reasonable answer to the question in the subject line is: any price is fair if both the seller and the buyer are happy with it.

thomas rubino wrote:In 1986, when I bought land in NW Montana, it was running $1000 an acre; a few years earlier, in 1980, when I arrived, it was no less than $1500 an acre!
It cost me $28,000 to buy this old homestead on 13 acres, on a county dirt road with buildings, power, water, fences, and timber. (I immediately removed the power and installed solar)
In 2025, my tax bill says this is now worth $280,000, and I could easily get somewhere over $300,000 if I were to sell it... (not happening)
Land is ridiculously expensive unless you're looking at huge parcels or barren desert scrub.
I feel sorry for young folks just starting out.
With simple houses on a tiny lot selling for $300,000 to $500,000, how can they afford even to get started?

We bought our land just over 5 years ago, 80 acres at $3200 an acre.  Average was $3k, but the previous owner put in a quarter mile long driveway and it cost $30k.  We wouldn't sell for $8k an acre now.  The only way I know regular people can afford to start now is to buy a chunk of land in a remote area and live in a tent or camper and start building as they can afford to, or inherit.

Christopher Weeks wrote:It took me five minutes on Zillow to find a currently available property near me that's roughly $1K per acre: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/25464-560th-St-Palisade-MN-56469/447914965_zpid/
It's a little more expensive than that but comes with some junk you might want, and the price is always negotiable.

It seems like undeveloped 40-acre parcels with nothing particularly desirable about them are going for $60-80K around me, but there aren't that many on the market.

But the only reasonable answer to the question in the subject line is: any price is fair if both the seller and the buyer are happy with it.

You can still find low marshland similar to that here in WI too.  Problem with it is that it's really hard to build on or do anything with other than hunt.  My parent's land has 10 acres or so of that in the far back of their property.  The water table is measured in inches rather than feet :)  It's good hunting, but you couldn't realistically do anything else with it.

I can't think of a topic that falls more into the 'In Depends' category. When we bought our 1st three parcels in south central WA (two 40 and one 20 acre contiguous) they averaged $2k per acre, 17 years ago. We have since added another contiguous 20 and a 40 that touches corners. The devil is in the details though: zoned 'Open' land or 'Recreational', totally off grid as in zero utilities available, no cell service by any provider, access via ancient logging road via easement through private parcels, zero county services except for emergency services. The land is mostly fully treed with PPine, Douglas Fir and Oregon Oak. Substantial grades in a north facing canyon. There has never been any structures in the past, maybe a teepee or two. In other words this land would be considered 'special purpose' as it has little attraction for the average city person who wants all the conveniences of modern existence. But it is perfect for us.

Right now and within a few miles there are a couple of 10 acre parcels on mostly prairie but at least those have a cell signal that are on the market listed for $8k/acre. I wouldn't give $1k for either. And these are unusual parcels as there are restrictions to subdividing anything to less than 20 acres. But they'll probably sell for the asking price or more. But that's here. Take these above attributes and compare them placed in each of the other 49 states and the prices are all over the spectrum. So the only way I can answer the topic question is it depends where and how badly you want the place. And really - how badly others want the same place. That's when it becomes completely unpredictable.