The United States’ natural resources include land and soil, freshwater, forests and rangelands, minerals, energy resources, and living resources. They support food production, energy, materials, water supplies, recreation, and habitat. Their scale depends on what is being measured: USDA land-use accounts, non-Federal land surveys, and USGS water and mineral datasets each cover different subjects and geographies, so no single figure describes the entire resource base.
What are the major natural resources of the United States?
Natural resources are materials, land, water, and living systems that people use or value. The categories overlap: soil and land support crops and habitats; forests affect water; and energy or mineral development can alter the surrounding land and water.
Land, soil, cropland and rangeland
Land provides space for communities, farms, infrastructure, forests, and habitat. Soil supports agriculture and plant life, while pasture and rangeland support grazing and other land uses. USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) estimates U.S. land area at 2.26 billion acres and says nearly 1.2 billion acres are in agricultural uses, in its 2026 material. Those figures describe land area and land use, not the amount of land that is equally productive or suitable for every purpose.
ERS groups nationwide land use into seven categories: total land, cropland, grassland pasture and range, forest-use land, special-use land, urban land, and miscellaneous land. Its Major Land Uses product is a broad accounting of public and private land. The latest listed major report is for 2017, while statistical tables and updates follow different schedules.
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Freshwater
Freshwater supports households, agriculture, industry, and power generation. USGS has produced nationwide water-use estimates regularly since 1950. Its current categories include public supply, irrigation, thermoelectric power, domestic self-supply, industry, aquaculture, livestock, and mining.
Forests, rangelands and living resources
Forests and rangelands provide habitat and recreation and are connected to water supplies and rural economies. They also support plant and animal life. Wildlife and fisheries are distinct resource topics, however; a national land-use or water-use total does not by itself measure species, populations, or ecosystem condition.
Minerals and energy resources
Minerals provide materials used in construction, manufacturing, and other activities. Energy resources include fossil fuels as well as uranium and geothermal heat. These resources are assessed and produced in different ways: an estimate of known or potentially undiscovered resources is not a measure of current output or a guarantee that material can be economically recovered.
How are U.S. natural resources used?
Resource use connects directly to economic activity: land and soil support food and grazing; water serves households, agriculture, and power generation; forests and rangelands support recreation and other uses; and minerals and energy supply materials and energy. A resource-use figure answers a different question from one about total availability, ecological condition, or future supply.
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Land and soil data
USDA ERS’s Major Land Uses series accounts for public and private land nationwide. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) National Resources Inventory (NRI), by contrast, is a statistical survey of land use and natural-resource conditions and trends on U.S. non-Federal lands. It includes land, soil, water, and related resources. The NRI was initially mandated by the Rural Development Act of 1972. Because its ownership coverage differs from ERS’s, the two products should not be treated as interchangeable measures.
NRCS identifies erosion, soil quality, water quality and quantity, plant health, and wildlife habitat as land-management concerns. These considerations help explain why a land-use category alone cannot show whether a resource is in good condition or being managed sustainably.
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Water-use estimates
A USGS page dated September 9, 2026, reports that irrigation, thermoelectric power, and public supply together account for 224,000 million gallons per day—around 90% of daily freshwater use in the lower 48 states. This is an estimate of use, not of all water available. USGS categories and methods have changed over time, so comparisons across historical reports need their reporting year and methods considered.
Forests are also connected to water supply. Forest Service research reports that about half of U.S. freshwater resources originate on forested lands, and that national forests and grasslands contribute about one-eighth. For a different, geography-specific measure, the same source says National Forest System lands account for about 9% of land area in Western states and contribute about 46% of surface-water supply there. These shares have different denominators and should not be combined.
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Mineral and energy information
The USGS 2026 Mineral Commodity Summaries provide industry information and five-year statistics for more than 90 individual nonfuel minerals and materials. USGS mineral information also covers supply, demand, trade, and supply-chain risks. Its USMIN dataset identifies locations of important current and historical U.S. mines, deposits, and districts.
USGS resource assessments estimate the locations, amounts, and characteristics of known and potentially undiscovered energy and mineral resources. Its assessment work includes oil, gas, coal, uranium, geothermal heat, and critical minerals. An assessment is not a production total or, by itself, proof of economically recoverable reserves.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What do the main U.S. resource datasets measure?
| Source or dataset | What it covers | Key scope or qualification |
|---|---|---|
| USDA ERS Major Land Uses | Seven broad categories of U.S. land use | Comprehensive accounting of public and private land; latest listed major report is for 2017, with tables and updates on different schedules. |
| USDA NRCS National Resources Inventory | Land use and natural-resource conditions and trends | U.S. non-Federal lands; includes land, soil, water, and related resources. |
| USGS water-use data | Use estimates across eight current categories | Nationwide series produced regularly since 1950; category definitions and methods have evolved. |
| USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries | Industry information and statistics for more than 90 nonfuel minerals and materials | 2026 edition; includes five-year statistics. |
| USGS resource assessments and USMIN | Assessed energy and mineral resources; locations of important mines, deposits, and districts | Assessment potential is not current production or a guarantee of economic recovery; USMIN includes current and historical locations. |
How to interpret resource figures and trade-offs
- Check the geography. Lower-48 water-use estimates, Western-state forest-water figures, and non-Federal NRI land data have different coverage.
- Check what the number measures. Water use is not total availability; assessed resources are not necessarily reserves or production; land area does not establish soil quality or habitat condition.
- Check the year and method. Land-use updates, water-use reporting, and mineral statistics do not share one schedule. Historical water comparisons in particular may reflect changed categories or methods.
- Consider connected resources. Development, extraction, use, and disposal or reuse can affect land, water, soil, and habitat. Resource management therefore weighs economic uses alongside conditions such as erosion, water quality and quantity, plant health, and wildlife habitat.
For a national overview, use the dataset built for the question rather than treating any one inventory as a complete balance sheet of U.S. natural resources. The official measures describe different parts of the resource base, and their scopes determine what conclusions they can support.
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