State rankings
Public Land by State
Alaska has the highest Public Land in 2018 (222.7M acres), followed by Nevada (56.3M acres) and California (45.5M acres). Rhode Island has the lowest (4,513 acres).
51 of 51 states
Public Land, 2018
Darker means higher. Click a place to highlight it.
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All 51 ranked
Highest first.
Distribution Median and middle halfThe median is the middle value: half of places are above it, half below. The middle half is the range holding the central 50% of places.More in the glossary →
Each dot is one state; the lines mark the median and the middle half.
Median
1.4M acres
Middle half 404.3K acres – 4.1M acres
Average
12.1M acres
51 states
Highest
222.7M acres
Alaska
Lowest
4,513 acres
Rhode Island
Over time · 1990–2018
The top 5 in 2018, against the median.
- Median of all states
- Alaska
- Nevada
- California
- Utah
- Idaho
Data
Click a column to sort, a row to highlight that place on the charts.
51 states · # = rank by Public Land
| # | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Alaska | 222.7M acres | 60.9% | -23,002,447 acres | -9.4% |
| 2 |  Nevada | 56.3M acres | 80.1% | -3,749,878 acres | -6.2% |
| 3 |  California | 45.5M acres | 45.4% | -689,458 acres | -1.5% |
| 4 |  Utah | 33.3M acres | 63.1% | -314,957 acres | -0.9% |
| 5 |  Idaho | 32.8M acres | 61.9% | 223,567 acres | 0.7% |
| 6 |  Oregon | 32.2M acres | 52.3% | 182,253 acres | 0.6% |
| 7 |  Wyoming | 29.1M acres | 46.7% | -995,399 acres | -3.3% |
| 8 |  Arizona | 28.1M acres | 38.6% | -6,321,875 acres | -18.4% |
| 9 |  Montana | 27.1M acres | 29.0% | 356,182 acres | 1.3% |
| 10 |  New Mexico | 24.7M acres | 31.7% | -76,486 acres | -0.3% |
| 11 |  Colorado | 24.1M acres | 36.2% | 520,457 acres | 2.2% |
| 12 |  Washington | 12.2M acres | 28.6% | 208,871 acres | 1.7% |
| 13 |  Florida | 4.5M acres | 12.9% | 146,224 acres | 3.4% |
| 14 |  Michigan | 3.6M acres | 10.0% | -11,659 acres | -0.3% |
| 15 |  Minnesota | 3.5M acres | 6.8% | -41,725 acres | -1.2% |
| 16 |  Texas | 3.2M acres | 1.9% | 579,523 acres | 21.9% |
| 17 |  Arkansas | 3.2M acres | 9.4% | 11,968 acres | 0.4% |
| 18 |  South Dakota | 2.6M acres | 5.4% | 13,411 acres | 0.5% |
| 19 |  North Carolina | 2.4M acres | 7.8% | 145,292 acres | 6.3% |
| 20 |  Virginia | 2.4M acres | 9.3% | 54,092 acres | 2.3% |
| 21 |  Georgia | 1.9M acres | 5.2% | 24,818 acres | 1.3% |
| 22 |  Wisconsin | 1.9M acres | 5.3% | -126,375 acres | -6.4% |
| 23 |  North Dakota | 1.7M acres | 3.9% | 6,100 acres | 0.4% |
| 24 |  Missouri | 1.7M acres | 3.8% | 36,265 acres | 2.2% |
| 25 |  Mississippi | 1.6M acres | 5.1% | 73,908 acres | 5% |
| 26 |  Louisiana | 1.4M acres | 4.7% | -224,860 acres | -14.2% |
| 27 |  Tennessee | 1.3M acres | 4.8% | 300,946 acres | 30.7% |
| 28 |  West Virginia | 1.1M acres | 7.4% | 71,638 acres | 6.7% |
| 29 |  Kentucky | 1.1M acres | 4.3% | 133,677 acres | 13.8% |
| 30 |  Alabama | 880.2K acres | 2.7% | -64,317 acres | -6.8% |
| 31 |  South Carolina | 875.3K acres | 4.5% | -15,866 acres | -1.8% |
| 32 |  Hawaii | 829.8K acres | 20.2% | 114,615 acres | 16.0% |
| 33 |  New Hampshire | 805.5K acres | 14.0% | 71,309 acres | 9.7% |
| 34 |  Oklahoma | 683.3K acres | 1.5% | 177,391 acres | 35.1% |
| 35 |  Pennsylvania | 622.2K acres | 2.2% | 10,911 acres | 1.8% |
| 36 |  Nebraska | 546.9K acres | 1.1% | 18,145 acres | 3.4% |
| 37 |  Vermont | 465.9K acres | 7.8% | 119,370 acres | 34.4% |
| 38 |  Illinois | 423.8K acres | 1.2% | 70,721 acres | 20.0% |
| 39 |  Indiana | 384.7K acres | 1.7% | 110,243 acres | 40.2% |
| 40 |  Ohio | 305.5K acres | 1.2% | 71,106 acres | 30.3% |
| 41 |  Maine | 301.5K acres | 1.5% | 124,995 acres | 70.8% |
| 42 |  Kansas | 253.9K acres | 0.5% | -27,216 acres | -9.7% |
| 43 |  New York | 231K acres | 0.8% | 15,551 acres | 7.2% |
| 44 |  Maryland | 205.4K acres | 3.2% | 31,655 acres | 18.2% |
| 45 |  New Jersey | 172K acres | 3.6% | 25,520 acres | 17.4% |
| 46 |  Iowa | 97.5K acres | 0.3% | 64,262 acres | 193.3% |
| 47 |  Massachusetts | 62.7K acres | 1.2% | -611 acres | -1% |
| 48 |  Delaware | 29.9K acres | 2.4% | 2,187 acres | 7.9% |
| 49 |  District of Columbia | 9,649 acres | 24.7% | 116 acres | 1.2% |
| 50 |  Connecticut | 9,110 acres | 0.3% | 2,326 acres | 34.3% |
| 51 |  Rhode Island | 4,513 acres | 0.7% | 1,403 acres | 45.1% |
What correlates with Public Land (2018)?
Pearson r against 2,074 other state metrics sharing at least 31 states, 3 near-identical series hidden. Correlation is not causation.
Higher together
Places that have a higher Public Land tend to score higher on these
Opposite directions
Places that have a higher Public Land tend to score lower on these
Quick answers
- Which state has the highest Public Land?
- Alaska has the highest Public Land in 2018, at 222.7M acres, followed by Nevada (56.3M acres) and California (45.5M acres).
- Which state has the lowest Public Land?
- Rhode Island has the lowest Public Land in 2018, at 4,513 acres.
- What is the median Public Land across US states?
- The median is 1.4M acres across the 51 US states with data in 2018.
- Where does this public land by state data come from?
- Rankodex compiles it from World Population Review and the primary sources it cites: Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data - Congress Research Service; Public Land Statistics 2024 - Bureau of Land Management; Public Land Ownership in the United States - Headwaters Economics; Public Land Ownership by State - National Resources Council of Maine.