Every rent NASS published here
- No 2025 estimate to compare
- 61% below the North Carolina average ($38)
- Coefficient of variation: 15.8%
| Land type | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pasture | — | — | $15 |
— means NASS did not publish a county estimate that year (too few reports, or withheld to protect respondents). We never fill the gap.
Swain County against the counties that touch it
Pasture, 2026. The 2 bordering counties with a published rent average $24 an acre, so Swain County sits 37% below its neighbors.
| # | County | $/acre | vs Swain | 1-yr change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blount County, TN | $28 | +$13 | +27.3% |
| 2 | Sevier County, TN | $19.50 | +$4.50 | −20.4% |
| 3 | Swain County | $15 | — | — |
In the NASS Western Mountain district, Swain County ranks #6 of 6 on pasture rent.
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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.