The United States had an estimated 1,865,000 farms in 2025, down 15,000 from the 1,880,000 estimated for 2024, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). That is a net change in an estimated total—not a verified count of 15,000 farms that closed. The distinction matters because NASS used a different estimation method for 2025.
What the 15,000 decrease means
NASS’s February 2026 Farms and Land in Farms 2025 Summary estimates 1,865,000 U.S. farms in 2025, compared with 1,880,000 in 2024. The 15,000 difference describes the change between annual estimates. The report does not identify 15,000 individual closures or explain how much of the net change reflects closures, mergers, classification changes, or new operations.
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NASS 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 year.” Government payments count in sales. The definition also covers certain ranches, institutional, experimental, and research farms, and land entirely in specified conservation programs. A farm in this statistic is not necessarily a full-time commercial business.
How the 2025 estimate was produced
NASS did not conduct its June Area survey in 2025. Instead, it used statistical modeling based on historic trends and the previous ten years of survey estimates to continue the annual series. The agency described the approach as a stop-gap that was roughly consistent with prior procedures and said the national and state estimates were brought into balance.
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NASS reported a 0.5% model-error coefficient of variation (CV) for the 2025 U.S. farm count. That figure does not include additional measurement error that may result from model selection. The agency says estimates are subject to revision the following year and after review of the five-year Census of Agriculture.
Farm numbers, land and average size over time
The annual NASS series shows fewer farms alongside less land in farms and a larger average farm size. Selected figures from the same report illustrate those changes:
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| Year | Estimated number of farms | Land in farms | Average farm size |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2,023,200 | 898.86 million acres | 444 acres |
| 2022 | 1,900,650 | not stated in the cited selected-year figures (USDA NASS, 2026) | not stated in the cited selected-year figures (USDA NASS, 2026) |
| 2024 | 1,880,000 | 876.46 million acres | 466 acres |
| 2025 | 1,865,000 | 873.95 million acres | 469 acres |
Across 2018–2025, the estimated count fell by 158,200, while land in farms declined by 24.91 million acres and average size rose by 25 acres. The 2025 figures were 2,510,000 fewer acres and 3 more acres per farm than in 2024. These measures describe the aggregate pattern; they do not establish why any particular operation entered, left, or changed size.
USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) has also described a longer decline. Its historical farm-count overview says the 2024 annual estimate of about 1.88 million was about 1% below the 2022 Census figure of 1.90 million and 8% below the 2017 Census figure of 2.04 million. Those are comparisons between annual estimates and Census counts, which are distinct statistical releases.
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How the decline differs across farm sales classes
NASS reported that the number of farms decreased in every sales class in 2025 except the class with $1 million or more in sales. That class also added 850,000 acres of land in farms. Sales classes are categories based on sales, not a measure of profit, household income, or farm size alone.
Most farms in the NASS count reported relatively low sales: 48.0% had less than $10,000 in sales in 2025, and 78.8% had less than $100,000. These shares use NASS’s farm definition and annual sales categories.
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A separate ERS analysis found that small family farms made up 86% of U.S. farms in 2024, operated 40% of agricultural land, and generated 17% of production value. Those figures come from 2024 data and ERS’s family-farm typology; they are not a breakdown of the 2025 NASS count or its sales classes. See ERS’s 2024 farm-structure summary.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the count needs careful interpretation
The change from 1,880,000 to 1,865,000 is evidence of a lower estimated total, not a stand-alone explanation of the causes. NASS’s report does not attribute the year-to-year decrease to a specific cause. It also cautions that the 2025 method differed from the usual survey approach and that its stated CV excludes possible model-selection error.
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The annual estimate is useful for tracking broad changes, but it is not interchangeable with the Census of Agriculture. The 2022 Census counted 1,900,487 farms, down 7% from 2017, according to the ERS Census explainer. Census counts and NASS annual estimates answer related but distinct measurement questions, so comparisons should name both the source and year.
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