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USDA NASS · 2026 county estimates

Massachusetts cash rent, county by county

What tenants paid per acre across 12 Massachusetts counties. For non-irrigated cropland, it runs from $37.50 in Barnstable County to $141 in Franklin County, with a county median of $77.50.

State avg · Non-irrigated cropland
$97.50/acre
2026 · +$9 (+10.2%) vs 2025
State avg · Irrigated cropland
$297/acre
2026 · −$1 (−0.3%) vs 2025
State avg · Pasture
$26.50/acre
2026 · −$5.50 (−17.2%) vs 2025

Highest non-irrigated cropland rent

  1. 1Franklin County$141
  2. 2Hampden County$130
  3. 3Hampshire County$129
  4. 4Bristol County$101
  5. 5Plymouth County$81.50

Lowest non-irrigated cropland rent

  1. 1Barnstable County$37.50
  2. 2Dukes County$51
  3. 3Berkshire County$58
  4. 4Worcester County$60.50
  5. 5Middlesex County$64.50

Biggest increases, 2025→2026

  1. 1Plymouth County+18.1% (+$12.50)
  2. 2Worcester County+16.3% (+$8.50)
  3. 3Hampden County+16.1% (+$18)
  4. 4Franklin County+13.7% (+$17)

Biggest drops, 2025→2026

  1. 1Berkshire County−15.3% (−$10.50)
  2. 2Hampshire County−10.4% (−$15)
  3. 3Middlesex County−9.2% (−$6.50)
  4. 4Bristol County−9.0% (−$10)
All 12 counties

Massachusetts cash rent table, 2026

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

Barnstable CountyAll Counties$37.50$433——
Berkshire CountyAll Counties$58$114—−15.3%
Bristol CountyAll Counties$101——−9.0%
Dukes CountyAll Counties$51———
Essex CountyAll Counties$77.50$345——
Franklin CountyAll Counties$141$331—+13.7%
Hampden CountyAll Counties$130——+16.1%
Hampshire CountyAll Counties$129$268—−10.4%
Middlesex CountyAll Counties$64.50$122—−9.2%
Norfolk CountyAll Counties—$451——
Plymouth CountyAll Counties$81.50——+18.1%
Worcester CountyAll Counties$60.50——+16.3%

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.

Cash rent ceiling calculator →
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.