Highest non-irrigated cropland rent
- 1Hyde County$182
- 2Tyrrell County$181
- 3Wilson County$154
- 4Greene County$136
- 5Washington County$136
Lowest non-irrigated cropland rent
- 1Polk County$33
- 2Gaston County$35
- 3Chatham County$41
- 4Caswell County$42
- 5Cleveland County$42.50
Biggest increases, 2025→2026
- 1Yancey County+25.4% (+$9)
- 2Catawba County+20.8% (+$8)
- 3Montgomery County+18.2% (+$7)
- 4Caswell County+16.7% (+$6)
- 5Person County+15.4% (+$9)
Biggest drops, 2025→2026
- 1Rockingham County−14.2% (−$8)
- 2Davidson County−13.0% (−$7.50)
- 3Granville County−12.6% (−$9.50)
- 4Cabarrus County−11.4% (−$9)
- 5Anson County−11.1% (−$9)
All 96 counties
North Carolina cash rent table, 2026
$ per acre · tap a column to sort · — = not published
| Alamance County | Northern Piedmont | $52.50 | — | $29 | +14.1% |
| Alexander County | Central Piedmont | $55.50 | — | $49 | +2.8% |
| Alleghany County | Northern Mountain | $99 | — | $49 | −9.2% |
| Anson County | Southern Piedmont | $72 | — | $51 | −11.1% |
| Ashe County | Northern Mountain | $91.50 | — | $32.50 | −6.6% |
| Avery County | Northern Mountain | $80 | — | — | — |
| Beaufort County | Central Coastal | $130 | — | — | −2.3% |
| Bertie County | Northern Coastal | $133 | — | — | +8.1% |
| Bladen County | Southern Coastal | $82.50 | $136 | — | −1.2% |
| Brunswick County | Southern Coastal | $78 | — | — | −5.5% |
| Buncombe County | Western Mountain | $46 | — | $30 | −9.8% |
| Burke County | Western Mountain | $43 | — | — | +10.3% |
| Cabarrus County | Southern Piedmont | $70 | — | $23 | −11.4% |
| Caldwell County | Northern Mountain | — | — | $29 | — |
| Camden County | Northern Coastal | — | — | — | — |
| Carteret County | Central Coastal | $88 | — | — | −1.1% |
| Caswell County | Northern Piedmont | $42 | $92 | $21.50 | +16.7% |
| Catawba County | Central Piedmont | $46.50 | — | $35 | +20.8% |
| Chatham County | Central Piedmont | $41 | — | $40 | −7.9% |
| Cherokee County | Western Mountain | $74 | — | — | +14.7% |
| Chowan County | Northern Coastal | $99 | — | — | −7.5% |
| Cleveland County | Southern Piedmont | $42.50 | — | $34.50 | +6.3% |
| Columbus County | Southern Coastal | $85.50 | — | $47 | −0.6% |
| Craven County | Central Coastal | $92.50 | — | — | −2.6% |
| Cumberland County | Southern Coastal | $105 | — | — | +11.1% |
| Currituck County | Northern Coastal | $97.50 | — | — | −2.0% |
| Davidson County | Central Piedmont | $50 | — | $22.50 | −13.0% |
| Davie County | Central Piedmont | $67 | — | $33 | +1.5% |
| Duplin County | Southern Coastal | $88.50 | $131 | $51 | −1.1% |
| Durham County | Northern Piedmont | $47 | — | — | +8.0% |
| Edgecombe County | Northern Coastal | $122 | — | — | +4.3% |
| Forsyth County | Northern Piedmont | $71.50 | $103 | — | +15.3% |
| Franklin County | Northern Piedmont | $66 | $90 | $32.50 | −5.0% |
| Gaston County | Southern Piedmont | $35 | — | $20 | −5.4% |
| Gates County | Northern Coastal | $112 | — | — | +9.8% |
| Granville County | Northern Piedmont | $66 | — | — | −12.6% |
| Greene County | Central Coastal | $136 | — | $56.50 | +8.8% |
| Guilford County | Northern Piedmont | $44 | — | $28.50 | +12.8% |
| Halifax County | Northern Coastal | $121 | — | $47 | −1.6% |
| Harnett County | Southern Coastal | $121 | — | $48.50 | +9.0% |
| Haywood County | Western Mountain | $68.50 | — | — | +15.1% |
| Henderson County | Western Mountain | $117 | $190 | — | — |
| Hertford County | Northern Coastal | $115 | — | — | −5.7% |
| Hoke County | Southern Coastal | — | — | — | — |
| Hyde County | Central Coastal | $182 | — | — | −3.2% |
| Iredell County | Central Piedmont | $85.50 | — | $44 | +13.2% |
| Jackson County | Western Mountain | — | — | — | — |
| Johnston County | Central Coastal | $114 | — | $32 | −0.9% |
| Jones County | Central Coastal | — | — | $52 | — |
| Lee County | Central Piedmont | $79.50 | — | $32 | −10.2% |
| Lenoir County | Central Coastal | $126 | — | — | +5.0% |
| Lincoln County | Southern Piedmont | $48.50 | — | $41 | +10.2% |
| Macon County | Western Mountain | — | — | — | — |
| Madison County | Western Mountain | $74 | — | $25 | +1.4% |
| Martin County | Northern Coastal | $116 | — | — | −1.7% |
| McDowell County | Western Mountain | $67 | — | — | — |
| Mecklenburg County | Southern Piedmont | — | — | $37.50 | — |
| Mitchell County | Western Mountain | $56 | — | $35 | — |
| Montgomery County | Southern Piedmont | $45.50 | — | — | +18.2% |
| Moore County | Southern Piedmont | $58.50 | — | $28 | +7.3% |
| Nash County | Northern Coastal | $126 | — | $34.50 | +9.6% |
| Northampton County | Northern Coastal | $116 | — | — | +2.7% |
| Onslow County | Southern Coastal | $109 | — | — | −0.9% |
| Orange County | Northern Piedmont | $44.50 | — | $35 | +11.3% |
| Pamlico County | Central Coastal | $98.50 | — | — | −1.0% |
| Pasquotank County | Northern Coastal | $135 | — | — | +8.9% |
| Pender County | Southern Coastal | $93 | — | — | +12.0% |
| Perquimans County | Northern Coastal | $112 | — | — | +9.8% |
| Person County | Northern Piedmont | $67.50 | $115 | $42 | +15.4% |
| Pitt County | Central Coastal | $123 | — | — | +8.8% |
| Polk County | Western Mountain | $33 | — | — | −2.9% |
| Randolph County | Central Piedmont | $68 | — | $36 | −5.6% |
| Richmond County | Southern Piedmont | — | — | — | — |
| Robeson County | Southern Coastal | $75 | — | — | −3.2% |
| Rockingham County | Northern Piedmont | $48.50 | — | $15 | −14.2% |
| Rowan County | Central Piedmont | $74 | — | $30.50 | +5.7% |
| Rutherford County | Western Mountain | $44 | — | $24 | −7.4% |
| Sampson County | Southern Coastal | $120 | $125 | $50 | +9.1% |
| Scotland County | Southern Coastal | $70.50 | — | — | −0.7% |
| Stanly County | Southern Piedmont | $83 | — | $31 | −1.2% |
| Stokes County | Northern Piedmont | $49.50 | — | $25 | −10.8% |
| Surry County | Northern Mountain | $92 | — | $34.50 | +12.2% |
| Swain County | Western Mountain | — | — | $15 | — |
| Transylvania County | Western Mountain | $100 | — | — | +13.6% |
| Tyrrell County | Northern Coastal | $181 | — | — | +5.8% |
| Union County | Southern Piedmont | $105 | — | $54.50 | +12.9% |
| Vance County | Northern Piedmont | — | — | — | — |
| Wake County | Central Piedmont | $83 | — | $48 | +13.7% |
| Warren County | Northern Piedmont | $47.50 | — | $30 | −1.0% |
| Washington County | Northern Coastal | $136 | — | — | −2.2% |
| Watauga County | Northern Mountain | $62 | — | $36 | −6.1% |
| Wayne County | Central Coastal | $134 | — | $58.50 | −0.7% |
| Wilkes County | Northern Mountain | $62 | — | $42 | −9.5% |
| Wilson County | Central Coastal | $154 | — | — | −0.6% |
| Yadkin County | Northern Mountain | $91 | — | $57.50 | +8.3% |
| Yancey County | Western Mountain | $44.50 | — | $17.50 | +25.4% |
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.
From the desk
The fight over the ground
Crushed by Debt · September 11, 2026
In Farm Country, Hunger Becomes Sickness
New research from Texas shows food insecurity is driving chronic illness in rural communities. The people who feed the nation are going hungry.
The Land Grab · August 10, 2026
AI 'slop' and fossil fuel fear campaigns target rural solar
Foreign-based accounts pump false claims about solar into rural Facebook groups, blocking clean energy on farmland while fossil fuel jobs disappear.
The Land Grab · June 14, 2026
America's Biggest Pork Producer Is Chinese-Owned — and It Sits on a Lot of US Land
Smithfield, the largest US pork company, has been owned by China's WH Group since 2013. The deal still shapes the farmland and foreign-ownership debate today.
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.