| Person/Family | Used For | Acres Owned | Locations | Notes |
1 | Emmerson Family | Timberland | 2,330,000 | California, Oregon, Washington | Red Emmerson's company Sierra Pacific Industries is the largest private lumber production firm in the United States. They own 14 different sawmills across the country. |
2 | John Malone | Conservation | 2,200,000 | Maine, New Hampshire, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming | The Malone Family Land Preservation Foundation is committed to conserving land for the communities that use it to live, work, and play. |
3 | Reed Family | Timberland | 2,100,000 | California, Oregon, Washington | Mark Edward Reed was hired in 1897 to manage the Simpson Logging Company. Reed married Sol Simpson's daughter in 1901. After Simpson died in 1906, Reed assumed control of Simpson Logging. |
4 | Ted Turner | Ranchland and agriculture | 2,000,000 | Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota | Each of the Turner ranches operates as a working business, supported by bison, hunting, fishing, and tourism. |
5 | Stan Kroenke | Ranchland and renewable energy | 1,627,500 | Texas, Montana | Kroenke owns the Los Angeles Rams (NFL), Denver Nuggets (NBA), Colorado Avalanche (NHL), Colorado Rapids (MLS), and Arsenal F.C. (Premier League). Waggoner Ranch (the largest ranch in Texas) includes 30,000 acres of farmland, several creeks, more than 1,000 productive oil wells, hundreds of horses, and thousands of cattle. |
6 | Irving Family | Timberland and conservation | 1,267,792 | Maine | The family is the single largest landowner in Maine. They have also planted more than 1 billion trees in the U.S. and Canada. |
7 | Buck Family | Timberland | 1,236,000 | Maine | The family of Peter Buck (co-founder of Subway restaurants) owns timberland in Maine. |
8 | Brad Kelley | Ranchland | 1,139,984 | Texas, New Mexico | Kelley founded the Commonwealth Brands tobacco company in 1991, and approximately 10,000 elk roam his ranch properties. |
9 | Singleton Family | Ranchland | 1,110,000 | California, New Mexico | The Singleton Ranches are on more than a million acres in New Mexico and California. The ranches are home to one of the largest cattle operations in the world. |
10 | King Family | Ranchland and agriculture | 911,215 | Texas | The heirs of Robert King own King Ranch, which consists of ranches in Texas and California that earn income from ranching, hunting, farming, and oil operations. |
11 | Pingree Heirs | Timberland | 830,000 | Maine, New Hampshire | The Pingree family owns much of the Mount Washington property in New Hampshire as well as the Maine-based timberlands company Seven Islands Land Company. |
12 | Briscoe Family | Ranchland | 686,000 | Texas | Texas Gov. Dolph Briscoe Jr. (1923-2010) was the largest landowner in Texas. The family's ranches continue to house thousands of cattle. |
13 | Wilks Brothers | Ranchland | 675,000 | Texas, Idaho, Montana | Dan and Farris Wilks made their money through fracking. They sold their shares of Frac Tech and started buying ranches. |
14 | Lykes Heirs | Ranchland and agriculture | 615,000 | Florida, Texas | The ranches in Texas are known for their cattle, while the land in Florida is renowned for its citrus groves. |
15 | Ford Family | Timberland | 600,000 | California, Oregon, South Carolina, Louisiana, Virginia | Roseburg Forest Products includes sawmills, engineered wood plants, plywood plants, woodchipping, and more. |
16 | O'Connor Heirs | Ranchland | 587,800 | Texas | The O'Connor Ranch is one of the longest-running cattle ranches in Texas history. |
17 | Thomas Peterffy | Timberland, ranchland, recreation, and real estate development | 581,000 | Florida, Georgia | A section of the properties includes acres dedicated to residential, commercial, and industrial development as well as recreational and agricultural land. |
18 | Stimson Family | Timberland | 552,000 | Idaho, Oregon, Montana | Stimson Lumber Company is one of America's oldest continuously operating wood products companies and has remained in the family for six generations. |
19 | Martin Family | Timberland | 550,000 | Louisiana | Roy O. Martin founded RoyOMartin in 1923, and to this day, the company owns three of the largest wood panel plants in North America. |
20 | Westervelt Heirs | Timberland | 518,000 | Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina | Herbert Westervelt founded Prairie States Paper Company and patented a machine that made flat-bottomed paper shopping bags. |
21 | Don Horton | Ranchland and real estate development | 507,410 | Nationwide | D.R. Horton has been the country's largest homebuilder by volume since 2002. |
22 | Simplot Family | Agriculture | 443,091 | Idaho | J.R. Simplot founder Jack Simplot created the first frozen French fries and later became the exclusive supplier of potatoes to McDonald's. |
23 | Fisher Family | Timberland | 440,000 | California | In addition to their tinder holdings, the Mendocino Redwood Company and Humboldt Redwood Company also work on protecting the habitat on their properties. |
24 | Jeff Bezos | Aerospace | 420,000 | Texas | Amazon founder Jeff Bezos purchased land in west Texas in order to launch rockets as part of his Blue Origin spaceflight program. |
25 | Zane and Tanya Kiehne | Ranchland | 400,000 | New Mexico, Texas | The Kiehnes are some of the largest landowners in southwest Texas and eastern New Mexico. |