New York Land Prices per Acre, by County

Land Values in New York: What to Know

In recent market data, land in New York sold for a median of about $80,000, or about $18,000 per acre, across 5,603 sales in 12 months. Land spent an average of 118 days on the market. The statewide figure is low because most sales are rural parcels upstate.

Downstate is a different market. Suffolk County on Long Island sold at about $797,000 per acre, Rockland County at about $717,000, and Westchester County at about $407,000. New York City and Nassau County run above $1,000,000 per acre and are left out of the table. Upstate, Erie County around Buffalo sold at about $59,000. The cheapest land is in the hills of the Southern Tier: about $3,500 per acre in Chemung County, about $3,600 in Chenango County and about $4,000 in Allegany County.

Why small lots cost more per acre

In New York, the median lot under 1 acre sold for about $69,000, which works out to about $231,000 per acre. Parcels of 5 to 10 acres sold for about $65,000, or about $10,000 per acre, and tracts of 100 acres or more sold for about $300,000, only about $2,100 per acre. The big tract costs more in total but far less for each acre. A lot near a town is priced as a house site. A large upstate tract is priced as woods, hunting land, or farmland, so each extra acre adds little.

How to estimate what your land is worth

Start with recent sales of land like yours: the same county, a similar size, and a similar use. Then adjust for what buyers check first. Legal road access, power and water at the road, how much of the parcel sits in a flood zone, and how steep or wet the ground is can each move the price a lot. Upstate, check for road frontage, power at the road, and whether the land can pass a septic test.

Our free land value estimator gives a quick range from recent market data. For local numbers, see the county pages for Erie County, Sullivan County and Allegany County.