California Land Prices per Acre, by County

Land Values in California: What to Know

Recent market data puts the median price of land in California at about $67,300 per acre. The median sale was $80,000, across 12,689 land sales in 12 months, and land took an average of 136 days to sell.

Prices per acre are highest near the coast and the big job centers. In the Bay Area, Alameda County is at about $947,400 per acre and Santa Clara County at about $543,500. Santa Barbara County on the central coast is at about $701,800. Inland and in the far north, land costs a fraction of that. Modoc County in the northeast corner is about $3,500 per acre, Inyo County east of the Sierra about $5,300, and Trinity County in the northern mountains about $9,200.

Why small lots cost more per acre

California lots under 1 acre sold for about $304,300 per acre, with a median sale of $68,000. At 1 to 2 acres the figure drops to about $65,700, at 5 to 10 acres to about $12,200, and above 100 acres to about $2,100. Small lots are often in or near towns, with roads and utilities in place, so buyers pay more for each acre. Large tracts are often far from services, so each added acre adds less to the price.

How to estimate what your land is worth

Start with sales of similar land near you. Match the size first, because a 2 acre lot and a 40 acre tract sell in different ways. Then adjust for road access, power and water at the road, and how much of the land sits in a flood zone. Land with no legal road access, or with a lot of wetland, often sells well below the county median. In California, fire risk and the cost to bring in power or drill a well also matter to buyers.

Our free land value estimator gives a starting figure from the same market data. Each county page shows local prices too, for example Sacramento County, Mendocino County and Siskiyou County.