These Are America’s 25 Largest Private Landowners

The U.S. is known for its massive public national parks, but a handful of families and entrepreneurs also own tracts of land that would dwarf some states.

This infographic, via Visual Capitalist’s Niccolo Conte, ranks America’s 25 largest private landowners in 2025 and shows just how concentrated ownership has become.

The data for this visualization comes from The Land Report, which annually tracks the nation’s biggest deed holders. Its 2025 investigations reveals a timber-heavy top tier, diversified ranching empires in the middle, and a sprinkling of tech titans and investors rounding out the list.

Timber Kings Still Rule the Landowner List

Red Emmerson and his family control 2.44 million acres across California, Oregon, and Washington, making them America’s largest private landowners in 2025.

For reference, this is more than 3x Rhode Island’s land area.

Three of the top five landowners—Emmerson, Malone, and the Reed family—built (or expanded) their holdings in commercial forestry.

Timber acres offer steady cash flow, long-term capital appreciation, and valuable carbon-offset potential, which helps explain why Wall Street has shown renewed interest in forests.

These vast, contiguous tracts also give owners leverage in biodiversity markets and provide a hedge against inflation, making timberland an attractive multigenerational asset.

Ranching Dynasties Hold Their Ground

Names such as Ted Turner (founder of Turner Broadcasting), Stan Kroenke (owner of the LA Rams and Denver Nuggets), and King Ranch have also become synonymous with American ranching.

While cattle remains the backbone, many of these families have diversified into hunting leases, wind-energy easements, and conservation tourism.

Ted Turner, for example, manages the world’s largest private bison herd across 45,000 of his 2 million acres, while the Kroenke and Briscoe estates stretch from the Great Plains to the Rockies.

Tech Moguls Join the U.S. Landowning Elite

The 2025 ranking also features several self-made billionaires from outside natural-resource industries.

Jeff Bezos owns more than 460,000 acres in West Texas, where Blue Origin tests rockets and ranching remains active.

Thomas Peterffy, the digital-trading pioneer, has quietly assembled 647,000 acres, making him the largest landowner in Florida.

Also not while on this list, Bill Gates (#43) is the largest farmland owner in the U.S., with 270,000 acres.

The presence of these tech titans illustrates a broader trend. Tech fortunes are increasingly finding refuge—and strategic opportunity—in hard assets like land, influenced by climate concerns, privacy, and long-term stewardship motives.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out The Top 15 Countries by Land Area on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.