Ranches the size of small states. Sports tycoon Stan Kroenke, timber dynasties, and media billionaires control America's largest private land empires, ranked by acreage.
The full ranking
Ranches the size of small states. Sports tycoon Stan Kroenke, timber dynasties, and media billionaires control America's largest private land empires, ranked by acreage.
Stan Kroenke (2.7M acres)
The sports mogul and Los Angeles Rams owner became America's largest private landowner in late 2025 after buying nearly a million acres of New Mexico ranchland, lifting his holdings past 2.7 million acres. His empire spans Texas, Wyoming, Nevada, and New Mexico.
Emmerson Family (2.44M acres)
Through Sierra Pacific Industries, the Emmersons control about 2.44 million acres of timberland across California, Oregon, and Washington, the nation's largest private timber holding. The dynasty grew from a single Northern California sawmill.
John Malone (2.2M acres)
The cable-TV billionaire nicknamed the Cable Cowboy owns roughly 2.2 million acres across Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Florida, much of it under conservation easements. He has openly described his appetite for property as land hunger.
Ted Turner (2M acres)
The CNN founder controls close to 2 million acres across the Great Plains and Mountain West, including the 558,000-acre Vermejo reserve. His ranches host the largest private bison herd in the world.
Reed Family (1.6M acres)
The sixth-generation Reed family owns about 1.6 million acres of working forest through Green Diamond Resource Company, a business dating to the 1890s. A landmark deal returned tens of thousands of acres along the Klamath River to the Yurok Tribe.
Buck Family (1.32M acres)
The heirs of Subway co-founder Peter Buck hold roughly 1.32 million acres of Maine timberland, one of the largest contiguous private forests in the Northeast. Buck quietly redirected his sandwich fortune into land.
Irving Family (1.27M acres)
The Canadian Irving dynasty owns 1.27 million acres in Maine, making it the state's largest private landowner, within a North American footprint exceeding three million acres. Its forestry arm has planted more than a billion trees.
King Ranch Heirs (911,000 acres)
Founded in 1853, the storied King Ranch sprawls across 911,000 acres of South Texas, larger than Rhode Island, and is often called the birthplace of American ranching. A corporate structure has kept it intact for generations.
Pingree Heirs (830,000 acres)
Descendants of a 19th-century Salem shipping merchant manage about 830,000 acres of forest in Maine and New Hampshire through Seven Islands Land Company. Much of it sits under one of the country's largest conservation easements.
Cullen Heirs (800,000 acres)
The heirs of Texas oil pioneer Hugh Roy Cullen own roughly 800,000 surface acres, but their real power lies underground: Quintana Minerals controls more than 13 million acres of mineral rights.
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