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USDA NASS · 2026 county estimates

Illinois cash rent, county by county

What tenants paid per acre across 97 Illinois counties. For non-irrigated cropland, it runs from $86.50 in Union County to $347 in Macon County, with a county median of $254.

State avg · Non-irrigated cropland
$261/acre
2026 · −$3 (−1.1%) vs 2025
State avg · Irrigated cropland
$275/acre
2026 · +$3 (+1.1%) vs 2025
State avg · Pasture
$53/acre
2026 · +$4 (+8.2%) vs 2025

Highest non-irrigated cropland rent

  1. 1Macon County$347
  2. 2Moultrie County$337
  3. 3Sangamon County$334
  4. 4Christian County$332
  5. 5Logan County$326

Lowest non-irrigated cropland rent

  1. 1Union County$86.50
  2. 2Williamson County$101
  3. 3Lake County$125
  4. 4Franklin County$126
  5. 5Jefferson County$136

Biggest increases, 2025→2026

  1. 1Edwards County+20.0% (+$26)
  2. 2Perry County+14.7% (+$22)
  3. 3Vermilion County+12.2% (+$29)
  4. 4Shelby County+11.8% (+$27)
  5. 5Schuyler County+11.2% (+$25)

Biggest drops, 2025→2026

  1. 1Pulaski County−16.9% (−$31)
  2. 2Wabash County−15.1% (−$36)
  3. 3Saline County−12.8% (−$22)
  4. 4Lake County−11.3% (−$16)
  5. 5Edgar County−11.3% (−$35)
All 97 counties

Illinois cash rent table, 2026

$ per acre · tap a column to sort · — = not published

Adams CountyWest$238—$74+3.5%
Alexander CountySouthwest————
Bond CountyWest Southwest$249—$46+7.3%
Boone CountyNortheast$267——−2.6%
Brown CountyWest$233—$39.50+3.1%
Bureau CountyNorthwest$301$310—−5.9%
Calhoun CountyWest Southwest$201——−9.5%
Carroll CountyNorthwest$290—$78.50−4.3%
Cass CountyWest Southwest$306—$46.50+5.2%
Champaign CountyEast$316——+6.4%
Christian CountyWest Southwest$332—$65+7.4%
Clark CountyEast Southeast$248——+3.3%
Clay CountyEast Southeast————
Coles CountyEast Southeast$286——−1.7%
Cook CountyNortheast$136——+10.6%
Crawford CountyEast Southeast$200$227—−10.3%
Cumberland CountyEast Southeast$211——+6.6%
De Witt CountyCentral$301—$65−8.8%
DeKalb CountyNortheast————
Douglas CountyEast Southeast$313—$88.50+4.7%
Edgar CountyEast Southeast$275—$38−11.3%
Edwards CountySoutheast$156——+20.0%
Effingham CountyEast Southeast$199——−2.9%
Fayette CountyEast Southeast$192——+6.1%
Ford CountyEast$294——+4.6%
Franklin CountySoutheast$126—$69.50−3.8%
Fulton CountyWest$263—$61.50+1.5%
Gallatin CountySoutheast$155——−4.9%
Greene CountyWest Southwest$280—$34+2.2%
Grundy CountyNortheast$291——−7.9%
Hamilton CountySoutheast————
Hancock CountyWest$284—$61.50−6.6%
Henderson CountyWest$292—$52.50−0.3%
Henry CountyNorthwest——$51.50—
Jackson CountySouthwest$172——+5.5%
Jasper CountyEast Southeast$195——−3.0%
Jefferson CountySoutheast$136——+5.4%
Jersey CountyWest Southwest$221——−2.6%
Jo Daviess CountyNorthwest$255—$56+1.2%
Johnson CountySouthwest——$37—
Kane CountyNortheast$274$238—−2.5%
Kankakee CountyEast$250$290—+2.9%
Kendall CountyNortheast$297——−7.5%
Knox CountyWest$296—$38.50+6.1%
Lake CountyNortheast$125——−11.3%
LaSalle CountyNortheast$277——+3.4%
Lawrence CountyEast Southeast$219——−1.4%
Lee CountyNorthwest$283$323$50+3.7%
Logan CountyCentral$326——−7.4%
Macon CountyCentral$347——−3.9%
Macoupin CountyWest Southwest$245—$48.50−7.2%
Madison CountyWest Southwest$249——+7.8%
Marion CountyEast Southeast$172—$57+3.6%
Marshall CountyCentral$293——+0.3%
Mason CountyCentral$257$275—−7.2%
Massac CountySoutheast————
McDonough CountyWest$293—$39.50−2.0%
McHenry CountyNortheast$234——+6.4%
McLean CountyCentral$326—$70.50+7.6%
Menard CountyCentral$288——−9.1%
Mercer CountyNorthwest$273—$50−7.5%
Monroe CountySouthwest$151$148—−6.8%
Montgomery CountyWest Southwest$291—$48−6.7%
Morgan CountyWest Southwest$281—$33+5.6%
Moultrie CountyEast Southeast$337—$40−3.7%
Ogle CountyNorthwest$282—$62.50+1.1%
Peoria CountyCentral$253—$39−4.5%
Perry CountySouthwest$172—$45+14.7%
Piatt CountyEast————
Pike CountyWest Southwest$219——−5.2%
Pope CountySoutheast——$25.50—
Pulaski CountySouthwest$152——−16.9%
Putnam CountyNorthwest$246—$50+2.1%
Randolph CountySouthwest$166—$29.50−1.8%
Richland CountyEast Southeast$196——+4.8%
Rock Island CountyNorthwest$228—$53−8.4%
Saline CountySoutheast$150——−12.8%
Sangamon CountyWest Southwest$334—$53.50−10.2%
Schuyler CountyWest$249——+11.2%
Scott CountyWest Southwest$273——+6.2%
Shelby CountyEast Southeast$255—$48+11.8%
St. Clair CountySouthwest$243——−4.7%
Stark CountyCentral$292——+1.4%
Stephenson CountyNorthwest——$76—
Tazewell CountyCentral$266$268$54.50−6.0%
Union CountySouthwest$86.50———
Vermilion CountyEast$267——+12.2%
Wabash CountySoutheast$202——−15.1%
Warren CountyWest$281—$44+1.4%
Washington CountySouthwest$190——−2.6%
Wayne CountySoutheast$176——−2.8%
White CountySoutheast$175——−5.9%
Whiteside CountyNorthwest$270$303$69.50−5.9%
Will CountyNortheast$231——+2.7%
Williamson CountySouthwest$101—$25+3.6%
Winnebago CountyNorthwest$264—$53.50−8.3%
Woodford CountyCentral——$45.50—

Counties NASS published only in 2025 show a dash for 2026; their pages carry the 2025 figure.

Price the dirt last

The average isn't your ceiling

Run your own yield, price and costs to see the most rent a crop budget can carry before land pushes the farm under its target return.

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Sources & method

Where these numbers come from

  • Every rent on these pages is a published estimate from the USDA NASS Cash Rents Survey: the average cash rent paid per acre for non-irrigated cropland, irrigated cropland and pasture. We pull the 2024–2026 county and state series straight from Quick Stats.
  • NASS skips counties with too few survey reports, or withholds them to protect respondents, and lumps them into an "other counties" total. Those counties get no page here, and missing years show as a dash. We do not estimate, average or interpolate around the gaps.
  • The coefficient of variation (CV) is NASS's measure of sampling precision. Lower is tighter; the higher the CV, the wider the real range around the county figure.
  • "Bordering counties" are the ones that share a boundary under the Census Bureau county adjacency file, including across state lines.
  • An average rent is a benchmark, not a fair price for a specific field. Soil, drainage, fertility, improvements and lease terms all move the number.

Data last refreshed October 8, 2026.