County cash rent

Montana Farmland Cash Rent: County Rates and Trends

USDA NASS reported 40 Montana county cash-rent figures for non-irrigated cropland in 2026. The 2026 state average is USD 33/ac, unchanged from 2025.

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

Free in Montana: 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 Montana county is live.

The five highest reported Montana counties in 2026 are Cascade (USD 46/ac), Pondera (USD 44/ac), Flathead (USD 43/ac), Lake (USD 43/ac), Sheridan (USD 43/ac).

The five lowest reported counties are Beaverhead (USD 19/ac), Stillwater (USD 20/ac), Carter (USD 22/ac), Sanders (USD 22/ac), Wheatland (USD 22/ac), which shows why a statewide average is a weak substitute for county data.

Montana cash rent by county (2026)
County or fallbackYear$/acreData level
Beaverhead2026USD 19/acNASS county figure
Big Horn2026USD 28/acNASS county figure
Blaine2026USD 29/acNASS county figure
Carbon2026USD 33/acNASS county figure
Carter2026USD 22/acNASS county figure
Cascade2026USD 46/acNASS county figure
Chouteau2026USD 37/acNASS county figure
Daniels2026USD 33/acNASS county figure
Dawson2026USD 36/acNASS county figure
Fallon2026USD 27/acNASS county figure
Fergus2026USD 35/acNASS county figure
Flathead2026USD 43/acNASS county figure
Gallatin2026USD 39/acNASS county figure
Garfield2026USD 29/acNASS county figure
Glacier2026USD 29/acNASS county figure
Golden Valley2026USD 29/acNASS county figure
Hill2026USD 31/acNASS county figure
Jefferson2026USD 23/acNASS county figure
Judith Basin2026USD 34/acNASS county figure
Lake2026USD 43/acNASS county figure
Liberty2026USD 30/acNASS county figure
Mccone2026USD 27/acNASS county figure
Musselshell2026USD 23/acNASS county figure
Park2026USD 33/acNASS county figure
Phillips2026USD 31/acNASS county figure
Pondera2026USD 44/acNASS county figure
Prairie2026USD 39/acNASS county figure
Ravalli2026USD 36/acNASS county figure
Richland2026USD 33/acNASS county figure
Roosevelt2026USD 30/acNASS county figure
Rosebud2026USD 25/acNASS county figure
Sanders2026USD 22/acNASS county figure
Sheridan2026USD 43/acNASS county figure
Stillwater2026USD 20/acNASS county figure
Teton2026USD 42/acNASS county figure
Toole2026USD 31/acNASS county figure
Valley2026USD 27/acNASS county figure
Wheatland2026USD 22/acNASS county figure
Wibaux2026USD 33/acNASS county figure
Yellowstone2026USD 28/acNASS county figure
Counties not separately reported by NASS2026USD 33/acState-level fallback, not county-specific

County averages, not medians. The final fallback row shows the Montana 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 Montana trend

The 2026 state average is USD 33/ac, unchanged from 2025. The trend line below uses NASS state rows so it stays stable even when individual county suppression changes year to year.

Montana non-irrigated cropland cash rent A five-year line chart of dollars per acre. 35 25 2022 31 2023 30 2024 31 2025 33 2026 33
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 Montana state average is not your number.

Montana state average, 2026

$33/ac

USDA NASS, non-irrigated cropland

Your parcel

Run your own parcel to see the gap. Every Montana 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 Montana county benchmark, then let Scout read the parcel's soils, acreage, flood, wetlands, CRP fit, and energy context.

Analyze Montana 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.