County cash rent

California Farmland Cash Rent: County Rates and Trends

USDA NASS reported 20 California county cash-rent figures for non-irrigated cropland in 2026. The 2026 state average is USD 39/ac, down USD 1/ac from 2025.

Check a California parcel in Scout County table plus state-level fallback rule.

Free in California: outline your field on the map and see three uses for those acres side by side (farming it, cash rent, and a solar or wind lease, with CRP shown as paused while new enrollment is). Parcel maps you tap to select are Ohio and Indiana only for now. Email me when my California county is live.

The five highest reported California counties in 2026 are Sacramento (USD 68/ac), Madera (USD 66/ac), Amador (USD 65/ac), Marin (USD 64/ac), Sonoma (USD 58/ac).

The five lowest reported counties are Fresno (USD 22/ac), Glenn (USD 24/ac), Alameda (USD 27/ac), Mariposa (USD 30/ac), Solano (USD 30/ac), which shows why a statewide average is a weak substitute for county data.

California cash rent by county (2026)
County or fallbackYear$/acreData level
Alameda2026USD 27/acNASS county figure
Amador2026USD 65/acNASS county figure
Contra Costa2026USD 31/acNASS county figure
El Dorado2026USD 33/acNASS county figure
Fresno2026USD 22/acNASS county figure
Glenn2026USD 24/acNASS county figure
Lassen2026USD 32/acNASS county figure
Madera2026USD 66/acNASS county figure
Marin2026USD 64/acNASS county figure
Mariposa2026USD 30/acNASS county figure
Merced2026USD 33/acNASS county figure
Placer2026USD 42/acNASS county figure
Sacramento2026USD 68/acNASS county figure
Shasta2026USD 37/acNASS county figure
Solano2026USD 30/acNASS county figure
Sonoma2026USD 58/acNASS county figure
Stanislaus2026USD 55/acNASS county figure
Tehama2026USD 30/acNASS county figure
Tulare2026USD 42/acNASS county figure
Yolo2026USD 43/acNASS county figure
Counties not separately reported by NASS2026USD 39/acState-level fallback, not county-specific

County averages, not medians. The final fallback row shows the California state figure explicitly labeled as state-level for counties NASS does not separately report.

Source: USDA NASS QuickStats, Survey years 2022 to 2026. Retrieved October 2026. Labeled Measured.

Five-year California trend

The 2026 state average is USD 39/ac, down USD 1/ac from 2025. The trend line below uses NASS state rows so it stays stable even when individual county suppression changes year to year.

California non-irrigated cropland cash rent A five-year line chart of dollars per acre. 45 25 2022 37 2023 38 2024 28 2025 40 2026 39
Dollars per acre per year. State rows are USDA NASS QuickStats records.

From county average to parcel read

A county average tells you what surveyed non-irrigated cropland rented for in that county. It does not see whether your acres are high-PI prairie soil, a wet corner, a small irregular field, or ground with better access and drainage than the county average.

Scout reads the parcel's SSURGO soil profile, starts from the county NASS rent when it exists, and applies AgriTerra's PI-based soil band around that benchmark. If the county is unavailable, Scout uses the state figure and labels the downgrade.

County average vs. a real parcel

The California state average is not your number.

California state average, 2026

$39/ac

USDA NASS, non-irrigated cropland

Your parcel

Run your own parcel to see the gap. Every California parcel reads differently on soil, drainage, and rotation.

Use the land's address. If it has no street address, open Scout to find or draw the parcel. No account needed; Scout asks for an email once, before it shows the analysis.

Every parcel-scale figure is a Scout free read; see how we get our numbers. The state average anchor is the USDA NASS 2026 survey for non-irrigated cropland.

Check the parcel, not just the county.

Start with the California county benchmark, then let Scout read the parcel's soils, acreage, flood, wetlands, CRP fit, and energy context.

Analyze California farmland free

Free here: outline your field and see its three uses side by side, with CRP shown as paused. Parcel maps you tap to select are Ohio and Indiana only for now; get an email when your county is live.