The United States is the fourth-largest country in terms of landmass, next in size after Russia, Canada and China. Though more than a quarter of land belongs to the U.S. government, a significant portion of land is owned by a few wealthy families and groups. As per the Land Report, the top 50 landowners in the country own about 1.4% of the country’s total landmass. If you are interested in knowing about these wealthy people, then detailed below are the 10 largest landowners in the U.S. in 2020.
10 largest landowners in the U.S. in 2020
Our list of the 10 largest landowners in the U.S. in 2020 is based on the data from Land Report. Following are the 10 largest landowners in the U.S. in 2020:
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King Ranch Inc. (911,215 acres)
King Ranch is the largest ranch in Texas, and is located between Corpus Christi and Brownsville. It was founded in 1853 by Captain Richard King and Gideon K Lewis. Their heirs still control the ranch, whose operations include ranching, farming and hunting as well as gas and oil operations. Also, the ranch is the largest juice orange producer in the U.S.
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Singleton Family (1,110,000 acres)
Henry Singleton is the co-founder of the conglomerate Teledyne Technologies. In 1986, he bought the venerable San Cristobal Ranch near Sante Fe in New Mexico, as well as numerous other ranches, before passing away in 1999. Singleton’s five children now own 1.11 million acres of land in New Mexico and California. The size of their landholding roughly equals three times the size of Houston.
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Brad Kelley (1,139,984 acres)
Kelley made most of his fortune by selling his Commonwealth Brands company in 2001 for $1 billion. In 2012, Kelley’s investment group acquired the 762-acre Calumet Farm in Kentucky. His land is primarily based in Texas, Florida and New Mexico. Kelley’s landholdings are roughly twice the size of Jacksonville, FL. As per Forbes, Kelly’s net worth is about $2.5 billion.
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Peter Buck (1,236,000 acres)
Buck is a co-founder of Subway, as well as a nuclear physicist. He is the owner of Tall Timber Trust, which is among the largest owners of timberland in Maine. The size of Buck’s landholding is roughly the size of three-quarters of Grand Canyon National Park. As per Forbes, Buck is worth $1.6 billion. Over the past few years, he has donated more than $200 million to the PCLB Foundation.
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Irving Family (1,267,792 acres)
This Canadian family is the sixth largest landowner in the U.S. Along with more than 1.2 million acres of land in the U.S., the Irving Family owns about 1.9 million acres of land in Canada. In the U.S., they own a massive tract of wooded land in Northern Maine, and their land holding roughly equals the size of Anchorage, AK. Their family businesses include lumber, newspapers and petrochemicals.
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Stan Kroenke (1,380,000 acres)
Kroenke is a real estate mogul and owner of the Los Angeles Rams. The billionaire owns a 124,000 acre ranch in Montana, as well as land in Wyoming. In 2016, he acquired the historic W T Waggoner Ranch in Texas. Kroenke’s landholdings roughly equal the size of Prince Edward Island. He is married to Ann Walton Kroenke, an heiress to the Wal-Mart fortune.
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Ted Turner (2,000,000 acres)
CNN founder Ted Turner is slowly sliding down this list. Prior to 2018, he was the second biggest landowner in the U.S. Turner’s land holdings are spread across the U.S., and majorly devoted to eco-friendly bison ranching which also supplies his Ted’s Montana Grill chain of bison meat restaurants. He may not be the biggest landowner, but owns the largest privately-owned bison herd worldwide.
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Reed Family (2,017,295 acres)
The Reed Family owns and operates Green Diamond Resource Co., which primarily owns land in Washington, Oregon and California. The total land holdings of the Reed Family roughly equal half the size of Connecticut. This family has been managing Green Diamond Resource for the past five generations. Their operation revolves around sustainable forestry and conservation. In a year, they harvest around less than 2% of their timberland.
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Emmerson Family (2,154,532 acres)
The Emmerson family is the owner of Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI), America’s second-largest lumber producer. This company logs usable lumber after forest fires and sells it to the lumber retailers. The Emmerson family owns all its land through this company. They own land primarily in California and Washington, and the size of their land is roughly a third of the size of New Hampshire.
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John Malone (2,200,000 acres)
Liberty Media’s John Malone is the largest private landowner in the U.S. Malone owns massive swaths of land in Maine. Also, he has ranches in Wyoming, New Mexico and Colorado. His land holdings are roughly half the size of Lake Ontario. The media tycoon largely made his wealth through his company Tele-Communications, Inc, or TCI. Malone, who was the CEO of TCI, sold it to AT&T for $50 billion in 1999.