In The Land Report’s 2024 ranking, Red Emmerson and his family are America’s largest private landowners, with an estimated 2,411,000 acres across California, Oregon, and Washington through Sierra Pacific Industries. John Malone ranked second with 2,200,000 acres, followed by Ted Turner with 2,000,000. These are estimates for the publication’s 2024 list, not current totals.
Who ranked as the largest U.S. landowners in 2024?
The Land Report’s feature, published January 1, 2024, names Red Emmerson and his family first. Its estimates for the top three are:
| 2024 rank | Landowner as listed | Estimated acreage | Reported location or context |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red Emmerson and family | 2,411,000 acres | California, Oregon, and Washington; held through Sierra Pacific Industries |
| 2 | John Malone | 2,200,000 acres | The feature says the Emmersons moved ahead of Malone after their 2021 acquisition |
| 3 | Ted Turner | 2,000,000 acres | Holdings in the Southeast, Great Plains, and West |
All three acreage figures are estimates reported in The Land Report’s 2024 feature. The ranking names a person and family together in the first-place entry and describes the Emmerson holdings as being through Sierra Pacific Industries.
Why the Emmerson family ranked first
The feature says the family became the largest landowners in 2021, after acquiring 175,000 acres in Oregon from Seneca Timber Company. That purchase moved them ahead of Malone in the ranking. The 2024 feature attributes 2,411,000 acres to the family across California, Oregon, and Washington.
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How The Land Report builds its ranking
The publication says its research team analyzes transactions and reviews records to identify leading landowners. Editor Eric O’Keefe describes source material as ranging “from county tax records to financial reports and corporate press releases.” The feature adds that figures are verified with landowners, their designated representatives, or trusted advisers when possible.
This is a ranking of leading private landowners, not a count of all land in the United States, including public land. Its figures are reported estimates assembled from records and disclosures, rather than a single government tally.
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Why the year matters
Land ownership changes when properties are bought or sold, and an annual ranking is a dated snapshot. The Land Report’s ranking page now displays a 2026 list; its current order and acreage should not be substituted for the January 2024 figures. See the current Land Report 100 page for the newer list.
A separate retrospective published by Successful Farming on May 21, 2025 discusses transactions and changes associated with the 2024 list. It reports that the ranked owners added more than 1,000 square miles of farmland, cattle ground, and timber tracts during 2024. Those later-reported figures describe developments after the January 2024 feature, not the original ranking snapshot.
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Examples from the 2025 retrospective
- Stan Kroenke was reported at No. 4 with 1,762,000 acres, an increase of 62,000 acres from 2023.
- Brad Kelley was reported at No. 12 with 675,000 acres after a large Texas land sale. The retrospective says the Texas General Land Office paid $164.6 million for his 353,785-acre Brewster Ranch, with the sale closing October 24, 2024.
- Stefan Soloviev was reported at No. 15 with 617,000 acres, after an increase of 81,897 acres.
- Taylor Sheridan was reported at No. 49 with 267,000 acres, and the Fanjul family at No. 61 with 229,000 acres.
These are selected details from the retrospective, not a complete table of the 2024 ranking. Read them as later reporting on changes during 2024, rather than as figures published in the January list. The retrospective is Successful Farming’s account of 2024 land additions.
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