Home | Texas Land Trends

Working Land Loss

Texas lost approximately 2.2M acres of working lands from 1997 to 2017 with a decline of nearly 1.2M acres converted in the last 5-year period.
Population Growth

Since 1997, the Texas population increased nearly 470,000 new residents annually, or 1,287 people per day, accounting for a total population of 29M by 2017.
Land Fragmentation

Average ownership size declined from 581 acres in 1997 to 509 acres in 2017.

Explore Land Trends Data

View and compare 20-year trends in land use, market value and other metrics in private lands across Texas.

A Changing Texas

Texas working lands are undergoing a fundamental change, one that has implications for rural economies, national and food security, and conservation of water and other natural resources. Native landscapes are increasingly threatened by suburbanization, rural development and land fragmentation driven by rapid population growth.

Texas Land Facts

From 1997 to 2017

Texas population increase 48%

Total population increase in top 25 fastest growing counties 86%

Total land conversion from top 25 fastest growing counties 56%

Increase in farming and ranching operations 8%

What does this mean?

Population

The state’s increasing population, particularly within or in surrounding urban centers, continues to have a significant influence on the continued loss of working lands, changing ownership sizes, and land values.

Land Conversion

Like more traditional home real estate values, rural land values vary by location, land use, property size, and other characteristics. Changes in land value were closely tied to distance from major metropolitan growth areas. The average land value, for example, within the top 25 fastest growing counties was $5,266 per acre in 2012, compared to the state-wide average of $1,573 per acre.

Farming and Ranching Operations

The shift in ownership size or loss of larger ownerships through fragmentation may have potential implications for profitability and continued stability of working lands.

Resources

Status Update and Trends of Texas Working Lands report

This report is published every five years, following the availability of the USDA NASS Census of Agriculture data, and serves to describe the status and recent changes in topics such as land use, ownership size and property values of private working lands of Texas.

Trends in Land Ownership Along Texas Borderlands

This report describes changes in population density and the resulting land ownership patterns and land use changes over time within the Texas Borderland counties. This assessment also identifies regions where rapid changes have occurred and where similar changes can be expected in the future.

Conservation Easements in Texas

This special series report describes the state’s current participation and growing need for land conservation easements. In this report, we assess the value of all conservation easement acres in Texas within three broad categories of ecosystem services to describe the significant impact these lands have on the state's economy.

Texas landowner changes and trends

This special series report describes the state’s growing population and changing rural landowners, highlighting landowner factors such as age, land residency, and land-use preferences.

Land Trends Data Explorer User Guide

This guide serves as an introductory tutorial to the web-based data explorer of the Texas Land Trends site

Texas Land Trends Update Presentation

View a PDF of the Texas Land Trends presentation.