Explore maps of the 2022 U.S. Census of Agriculture data. Then create your own maps and stories with the data layers in Living Atlas.
By Esri's StoryMaps team
What is a farm?
The answer likely depends upon who you are.
It’s tractors and backyard chickens; ranch horses and lobsters; alfalfa and avocados; soybeans and satellite images. A farm is also family and home: breakfast before dawn, planting and harvest time, and 4H kids with goats. It's community-supported agriculture (CSA), farm-to-table dining, and small-acre parcels in the country, city, and everywhere in between.
The U.S. Census of Agriculture, in contrast, defines a farm as "any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year."
A man in a cowboy hat stands in front of a poster promoting the 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture
Results from the 2022 Census of Agriculture were released on February 13, 2024.
Every five years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture invites farmers and ranchers across the United States to complete the Census of Agriculture. The results — an official set of uniform agriculture data for every state and county — offer insights into the landscape of farming and ranching nationwide. These insights underscore the sheer scale of agricultural production in America.
The census data also helps producers make informed decisions about their operations, from production practices to marketing. And the groups who support these producers — from companies and cooperatives to legislators and government organizations — leverage census data to shape policies, programs, and local planning.
This survey isn’t just about agriculture.
It’s a map and a guide to a better and more open future.
The 2022 Census of Agriculture data, recently released and published to Esri's Living Atlas of the World, provides a county-level look at agricultural production, labor, equipment, and spending. This story explores the data through a series of maps that tackle three foundational questions about American agriculture:
Where are farms and ranches, of various types and sizes, located across the U.S.?
Who on those farms and ranches produces our food, fuel, and fiber?
How are crops and livestock distributed geographically?
The farms and ranches
Local farmers markets have spurred a weekend tradition in small towns and urban neighborhoods.
On a warm day, sleepy streets come to life. The locals and a few lucky visitors sort through peppers, onions, and lettuce. Fresh produce, dairy, and meat often mean lunch and maybe a little music. The local farmers market makes even the biggest of cities feel like a small town.
Food — and the 1,900,487 farms across a diverse landscape — connect us, and make us a community.
A sunflower in a field on a sunny day, with the Manhattan Bridge in the background
An aerial view of a combine harvester working in a wheat field
Rows of green plants grow under artificial lights in a vertical farming system
A yellow cow-crossing sign stands next to a rural road
Today a farm or ranch reflects local space available, a changing climate, and the community growing and consuming the final product. From left: a local organization manages a farm near the Manhattan Bridge in New York City; a tractor harvests traditional crops on large acreage; plants grow vertically in a storage container in an urban environment; and ranchers manage open range across the western U.S. for livestock including cattle and buffalo.
How are those farms distributed across the U.S.? Which counties and states are most driven by their agricultural communities? Let's address these questions in a few graphics and maps.
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Big farms dominate America's agricultural landscape
This grid represents America's 880.1 million acres of pasture, cropland, woodland, and agricultural facilities. All told, these agricultural lands account for 39% of all land area nationwide.
But that land is distributed unequally across all 1.9 million agricultural operations.
A digital 3D diorama of farming operations, featuring barns, fields, and farming equipment
The largest farms and ranches, those exceeding 5,000 acres, make up 42% of all agricultural land — even though they account for just 2% of all operations.
On the flip side, the smallest operations (under 100 acres each)occupy just 2% of all farmland and ranchland, but constitute 42% of all operations.
The same 3D diorama of farming operations, but almost one half of the area is colored blue, and a small fraction of the area is colored green
Farms and ranches are distributed throughout the country
This map, which shows the total number of agricultural operations by U.S. county, captures the overall geography of agricultural operations nationwide.
The distribution of farms and ranches roughly hews to the physical geography of the country, with operations scarce in mountains, deserts, and other inclement environments.
The densest concentration of farms and ranches extends down the spine of the American heartland — from Minnesota in the north to Texas in the south — but agricultural operations are also clustered in parts of the Far West, across Florida, and astride the Appalachian Mountains.
Click on the map or use the search tool to explore individual counties.
Some counties are all agriculture, all the time
The total count of farms and ranches doesn't capture the full footprint of U.S. agriculture. We must also consider the physical land that yields America's agricultural products. This map shows agricultural land by county, in terms of total acreage (circle size) and as a proportion of total land area (circle color).
Agricultural land is most abundant in the Great Plains and the Southwest. For instance, has more cultivated land than any other county nationwide, with upwards of 5.5 million acres in active use. In that county, farmland and ranchland account together for about 77% of the county's total area.
Meanwhile, counties in Midwest are typically smaller than those farther west but are cultivated more intensively. In fact, most counties with are in the American heartland.
Operations vary in size
This map of median acreage per operation indicates that the largest farms and ranches are concentrated along a north-south band that runs from Wyoming to Texas, traversing the Great Plains. This geographic pattern is largely due to the region's limited rainfall, since drier lands require more acreage to be productive. The region's low population density also allows large, contiguous operations to flourish.
A cluster of large farms also flanks the Mississippi River.
The producers
More than 3.4 million producers manage the 1.9 million American farms that responded to the census in 2022.
In other words, there are about two producers for every farm in the country. But as with farmland, these producers are not distributed equally across all agricultural operations — nor are they homogeneous.
They’re traditional farmers who may live and work full time on the farm. They’re young farmers, 35 years of age and younger. And they’re new farmers with fewer than 10 years of production experience.
A senior woman in a purple down jacket stands in front of a small herd of black cattle
Two men — one a young adult and one middle-aged — lean against a fence in a barn and smile at the camera while a goat stands between them
An organic urban farmer holds fresh fruits and vegetables in a cardboard box
An senior mustachioed man wearing a white button-down shirt and a baseball cap leans against a bale of hay
What producers grow or raise varies widely based on location and their entry point into agriculture. From left: a cattle rancher in Oklahoma was born into a farm family; in Iowa, the owner of a large crop and horse operation mentors young and new farmers; a producer who initially established an organic urban garden in California to grow healthy food for her family; and a life-long rancher in Alabama. whose family works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The U.S. Census of Agriculture data indicates that traditional, young, and new farmers vary from the overall norm only slightly by gender, ethnicity, and race. However, differences emerge when comparing the three groups across commodity types, farm size and location, and work-life variables like primary occupation and time worked off the farm.
For many producers, farming or ranching is a part-time job. In fact, only 36 percent of young producers consider farming their full-time occupation. The difference raises questions about young producers’ ability to gain the experience needed to run an operation and the long-term viability of their farms.
Producers concentrate near farms and ranches
It is no great surprise that the geographic distribution of America's farmers and ranchers roughly mirrors the distribution of operations.
Large agricultural communities in the Midwest, eastern Texas, and California's Central Valley together anchor America's agricultural production.
A workforce marching toward retirement
But the agriculture industry is facing a demographic reckoning, as the average age of American producers pushes 60 years old.
Population aging among agricultural producers is especially pronounced across the Southwest, with farmers in many counties in Texas and New Mexico being older than average. Conversely, farmers in parts of the Great Plains and Midwest states are generally younger.
The next generation
This is no coincidence. To address population aging among agricultural producers, many Midwestern states offer incentives to young farmers contemplating entry into the industry. As a result, young farmers make up a greater proportion of the agricultural workforce in these regions.
This map, which shows the total number of producers under age 35 (circle size) as well as their proportion relative to all producers (circle color) also reveals some curious outliers. For example, the — Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; LaGrange County, Indiana; and Holmes County, Ohio,respectively — are also home to the three largest Amish populations in the country.
Agricultural commodities and their values
In 2022, U.S. farms and ranches sold more than $543.1 billion worth of agricultural products.
Crop and livestock commodities each account for approximately half of the total value of agricultural sales, with crops comprising 52% of total agricultural revenue. While most of these sales went to domestic customers, U.S. agricultural exports amounted to about $196 billion in 2022 — roughly equivalent to the entire GDP of Algeria, according to the World Bank. These numbers underscore the sheer scale of American agricultural production.
A close-up portrait photo of an off-white cow
A close-up image of a head of corn that's ready for harvest
A close-up photo of a crate of eggs, which show slight variations in color and patterning
A close-up photo a soybean plant
From left: U.S. agricultural sales of cattle and milk, corn, poultry and eggs, and soybeans totaled $363 billion in 2022.
Five commodities alone — cattle and calves, corn, poultry and eggs, soybeans, and milk — accounted for nearly two-thirds of all U.S. agricultural sales.
Cattle and calves, with $89.4 billion in U.S. sales, was the top-ranked commodity. And Texas led the country in cattle and calves sales with 17% of the market.
A stylized graphic showing the country's five top commodities, their values, and the commodities’ top-producing states
The top five commodities in 2022 (and their largest producers) were, from left: cattle and calves (Texas); corn (Iowa); poultry and eggs (North Carolina); soybeans (Illinois); and milk (California).
Explore the distribution of animal and crop sales in the maps below.
California dominates agricultural sales
This map depicting combined revenue for plant and animal commodities reveals striking patterns in the geographic distribution of agricultural sales. The top 10 states accounted for a staggering 55% of sales in 2022.
California was the largest producer of agricultural products, with sales of $59 billion, or 11% of the U.S. total. In fact, nine of the top 10 U.S. counties by agricultural revenue are in California. The top county, , recorded larger agriculture sales than 23 individual states.
A tapestry of specialists and generalists
By separating crop salesfrom animal product sales, it becomes evident that some regions (like the Midwest) specialize in crops,while others (like northern Texas) instead focus on livestock and other animal goods.
Yet other regions, like the Central Valley, produce a more balanced mix of plant- and animal-based commodities.
Acre for acre, hotspots of productivity are found nationwide
Although California tops the list of overall agricultural production, this map of revenue per acre of operations highlights other regional clusters of high-value production.
Explore the data
Census of Agriculture data tell a story. This comprehensive snapshot every five years helps data users to see trends and shifts in the industry over time and helps producers do business.
The 2022 U.S. Census of Agriculture includes over six million data points about U.S. agriculture and the producers who manage the land and commodities critical to the U.S. economy and local communities.
Each data point contributes to a story.
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American agriculture remains critical to local, national, and global economies.
A person in a suit holds a stack of USDA Census of Agriculture reports, which are bundled together with a gold ribbon
Overall the number of U.S. farms is decreasing, but the number of very large farms and small operations is increasing.
A close-up portrait of a chicken in a chicken coop at sunrise
Despite the trends, most farms are still family owned and operated and geographically clustered from north to south down the middle of the country, with clusters elsewhere based largely on commodity.
Two men, one a young adult and one a senior, smile for the camera while open prairie extends into the distance behind them
In many instances multiple producers work a farm or ranch, or even join a cooperative. Land is frequently rented or leased.
Crop and livestock commodities maintain a relatively equal share of annual U.S. agricultural shares, with a handful of states leading production and sales.
Still, the agricultural landscape continues to evolve. New and young farmers are more likely to grow specialty crops and work a full-time job other than agriculture.
And new farming practices emerge with innovation and technology, from GPS and GIS to soil sensors.
The U.S. Census of Agriculture data offers a glimpse of the agricultural community past and present, with an eye to the future.
How does agricultural production shape the story of your community?
Access the 2022 Census of Agriculture layersin Esri's Living Atlas of the World to create your own data visualizations and tell your own story of American agriculture.
Results from the 2022 Census of Agriculture were released on February 13, 2024.
The top five commodities in 2022 (and their largest producers) were, from left: cattle and calves (Texas); corn (Iowa); poultry and eggs (North Carolina); soybeans (Illinois); and milk (California).
