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USSoilMap

Prime Farmland Map

Search an address to see the USDA farmland classification mapped there, colored from prime farmland to not prime. Below the map: how much of the country is prime farmland, and how much of each state is.

US addresses only: street address, city and state, or ZIP.

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The map shows USDA’s typical values for each map unit[1]; test your own soil before acting on them. For a plain-language read on one parcel, use the prime farmland checker, or see USDA land capability on the soil quality map.

USDA classifies farmland as prime, prime only if drained, irrigated or protected, unique or of statewide or local importance, or not prime. 12% of US soil acres are prime farmland as mapped, and another 8% are prime if drained, irrigated or protected[2][1]. The highest shares are in Louisiana, Kansas and Oklahoma[1].

What prime farmland is

Prime farmland is USDA’s designation under 7 CFR 657.5 for land with the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for producing crops. It has the soil quality, growing season and moisture supply to produce sustained high yields when managed by acceptable farming methods[3]. USDA’s survey also records soils that are prime only once a condition is met, such as being drained, protected from flooding, or irrigated[1].

Level cropland beside a steep, stony slope and a flooded hollow.
Prime only once a condition is met: drained, irrigated, or protected from flooding.

Unique farmland and farmland of statewide or local importance

The Farmland Protection Policy Act defines two more kinds of farmland. Unique farmland is land other than prime farmland used for specific high-value food and fiber crops, such as citrus, tree nuts, olives, cranberries, fruits and vegetables. Farmland of statewide or local importance is other land that a state or local government agency names as important for food, feed, fiber, forage or oilseed crops[2]. On this map both fall in one bucket, shaded between prime and not prime.

The classes matter beyond the farm. The Act asks federal programs to minimize how much they contribute to the unnecessary and irreversible conversion of farmland to nonagricultural uses[2], so prime, unique and important farmland is weighed when a federal project would take it out of farming. For one parcel, the prime farmland checker reads the class at a point.

Reading the map

Each polygon is colored by its map unit’s USDA farmland class, from prime farmland (dark green) to not prime (gray)[1]. A map unit with no farmland class reported counts as not prime, and unique farmland is shaded with farmland of statewide or local importance.

  • Prime farmland
  • Prime if drained, protected or irrigated
  • Unique, statewide or local importance
  • Not prime farmland

Prime farmland across the US

Acre-weighted across US soil acres, the farmland buckets split like this[1]:

12%13%67%Not prime
  1. prime: 12.5% of US soil acres
  2. prime if drained, protected or irrigated: 8.3% of US soil acres
  3. unique, statewide or local importance: 12.7% of US soil acres
  4. not prime: 66.5% of US soil acres
Share of US soil acres in each farmland bucket. Source: USDA NRCS soil survey (SSURGO).
Farmland bucketShare of acres
Prime12.5%
Prime if drained, protected or irrigated8.3%
Unique, statewide or local importance12.7%
Not prime66.5%

Prime farmland by state

Prime-farmland share of soil acres per state, among states with at least 500 components carrying a farmland class, highest first[1]:

StatePrime farmlandComponents
Louisiana50%8,364
Kansas45%21,641
Oklahoma42%17,620
Illinois38%23,624
Iowa34%28,917
Mississippi32%10,341
Delaware32%1,708
Maryland28%9,501
Alabama25%8,153
Arkansas25%8,688
New Jersey24%7,058
Tennessee23%13,726
Minnesota23%42,537
Georgia22%6,379
North Dakota22%59,309
Nebraska22%21,922
Texas22%39,248
North Carolina22%15,315
Indiana22%19,555
South Carolina22%5,059
Wisconsin21%31,074
Virginia21%12,449
Kentucky19%21,327
Pennsylvania18%23,388
Ohio18%33,609
Connecticut18%3,447
New York16%46,368
Massachusetts13%8,046
South Dakota13%37,575
Michigan11%35,294
Missouri11%26,381
Washington5%25,509
Vermont5%7,841
West Virginia5%4,630
Maine4%9,947
Hawaii4%1,944
Florida3%18,391
New Hampshire3%6,653
Oregon2%36,877
Montana1%71,333
Idaho1%29,054
Wyoming1%34,087
New Mexico0%17,084
Utah0%20,933
Arizona0%8,739
California0%84,473
Alaska0%22,164
Colorado0%25,291
Nevada0%42,159

Download the data: farmland classes (CSV), farmland by state (CSV). Aggregated from USDA SSURGO; data generated 2026-10-08. See the methodology.

Frequently asked questions

What is prime farmland?
It is USDA’s class under 7 CFR 657.5 for land with the soil quality, growing season and moisture supply to produce sustained high crop yields when it is managed by acceptable farming methods[3].
Which states have the most prime farmland?
By share of soil acres, Louisiana, Kansas and Oklahoma lead; the full ranking is in the table above[1].
Is my land prime farmland?
Search the map above for USDA’s farmland class at your address. It is the map unit’s typical class, not a determination for one parcel[1].

Sources

  1. USDA NRCS, Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO), via Soil Data Access
  2. USDA NRCS, Farmland Protection Policy Act (7 U.S.C. 4201): definitions of prime, unique and statewide or local farmland
  3. 7 CFR 657.5, Identification of important farmlands

Marko Visic · MPharm, BSc Physics · Last reviewed November 13, 2026