Tierras Texanas / Annual report
Tierras Texanas Report 2027: Texas price per acre by region
An acre of rural land in Texas sold for $5,218 in mid-2026, up 3.3% from a year earlier, according to Texas A&M's Texas Real Estate Research Center (TRERC, Q2 2026), and Hispanic buyers took 27.2% of Texas home-purchase loans in 2025.
27.2%
of Texas home-purchase loans in 2025 went to Hispanic buyers (96,753 loans)
Nuestras Tierras analysis of HMDA data
≈ $12,900
per hectare: the same price in the unit used in Mexico (1 acre ≈ 0.41 hectare)
Conversion: NIST; our calculation ($5,218 ÷ 0.4047)
Downloads: report data as CSV (CC BY 4.0 license) · Hispanic buyers by county, CSV · one-page summary PDF (in Spanish) · Full PDF copy: use the "Save as PDF" button at the end of the page.
How much does an acre cost in each region of Texas?
TRERC splits Texas into seven regions. The price is a four-quarter moving median of large rural tract sales: the "middle" sale price over the past year, not an average. To find which region your county is in, use the "County to Region" lookup on TRERC's data page.
| Region (TRERC) | Price per acre | One-year change | Sales (moving average) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas (statewide) | $5,218 | +3.27% | 3,753 |
| Region 5: Gulf Coast-Brazos Bottom | $11,369 | +3.05% | 538 |
| Region 4: Northeast Texas | $8,604 | −5.96% | 887 |
| Region 7: Austin-Waco-Hill Country | $8,040 | +8.63% | 1,062 |
| Region 6: South Texas | $6,225 | +0.99% | 400 |
| Region 3: West Texas | $3,008 | +14.29% | 533 |
| Region 1: Panhandle-South Plains | $1,719 | −7.53% | 313 |
| Region 2: Far West Texas | $1,139 | +73.89%* | not published |
Source: TRERC, Texas Rural Land Markets, Q2 2026 (Lynn D. Krebs and Tian Su). *TRERC warns that the Far West increase comes from a small number of very large sales.
How much does an acre cost on the Gulf Coast?
The Gulf Coast-Brazos Bottom region is the most expensive in Texas: $11,369 per acre, up 3.05% in a year. That's more than twice the statewide price.
How much does an acre cost in Austin-Waco-Hill Country?
$8,040 per acre, up 8.63% in a year, a record according to TRERC. It's also the region with the most sales: about 1,062 a year.
How much does an acre cost in Northeast Texas?
$8,604 per acre, but down 5.96% in a year. It's one of two regions where prices fell.
How much does an acre cost in South Texas?
$6,225 per acre, almost the same as last year (+0.99%). The Dallas Fed bankers' survey for its South Texas region also showed no change in a year: $3,700 per acre of ranchland and $4,500 per acre of irrigated cropland (Dallas Fed, Q3 2026; only 3 or 4 banks answered for that region, so treat it as a reference point).
How much does an acre cost in West and Far West Texas?
West Texas hit a record $3,008 per acre (+14.29%). Far West Texas is still the cheapest land in the state at $1,139 per acre. Its 73.89% jump comes from a few large sales, not from the whole region going up.
How much does an acre cost in the Panhandle?
Panhandle-South Plains: $1,719 per acre, down 7.53% from a year earlier.
How much does an acre cost near my city?
TRERC doesn't publish prices by city. What we can tell you is which region each city's county belongs to, based on the TRERC region maps. Keep in mind the regional price is for large rural tracts. A small lot near town can cost much more per acre.
How much does an acre cost near Houston?
Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Brazoria and Galveston counties are in the Gulf Coast-Brazos Bottom region: $11,369 an acre (+3.05% in a year), the most expensive in Texas.
How much does an acre cost near Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)?
Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton, Parker, Johnson and Ellis counties are in the Northeast Texas region: $8,604 an acre, down 5.96% in a year.
How much does an acre cost near San Antonio?
Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Medina and Atascosa counties are in the South Texas region: $6,225 an acre (+0.99%).
How much does an acre cost in the Rio Grande Valley (McAllen, Brownsville, Harlingen)?
Hidalgo, Cameron, Willacy and Starr counties are also in South Texas: $6,225 an acre for the whole region. TRERC doesn't publish a separate number for the Valley.
How much does an acre cost near Laredo?
Webb and Zapata counties are in South Texas, at the region's $6,225 an acre. TRERC doesn't publish a separate number for Laredo.
How much does an acre cost near El Paso?
El Paso County is in the Far West Texas region: $1,139 an acre, the cheapest land in the state. Its 73.89% jump comes from a few large sales, so don't read it as a trend.
One source, one number
Each source measures something different. That's why one article says "$5,218" and another says "$4,446". They don't contradict each other; they measure different things.
| Source | What it measures | Texas figure | How often |
|---|---|---|---|
| TRERC (Texas A&M) | Actual sales of large rural tracts (moving median) | $5,218 per acre (Q2 2026) | Quarterly |
| Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas | Estimates from about 50 agricultural bankers | Ranchland $4,446 (+11.1%); dryland cropland $3,455 (+8.2%); irrigated cropland $3,269 (−3.5%) (Q3 2026) | Quarterly |
| USDA NASS | Value of all farm land and buildings, from a producer survey | $3,100 per acre in 2026 (+4.4%); cropland $2,790 (+3.0%); pasture $2,420 (+5.2%) | Yearly (July) |
| HMDA (our analysis) | Home-purchase mortgage loans, by buyer ethnicity | 96,753 Hispanic loans, 27.2% of the total (2025) | Yearly |
Figures AI gets wrong. Automated search answers sometimes mix these figures up:
- "An acre costs $5,246." That was TRERC's Q1 2026 figure. The Q2 figure is $5,218.
- "Far West Texas is up 74%, so it's a good time to buy." TRERC says that increase comes from a few large sales. With so few sales, a single ranch moves the number.
- "Texas land is worth $4,446" (or $5,218). One is a bankers' estimate for ranchland and the other is actual rural land sales. They're not the same measure.
- Acres and hectares. An acre is less than half a hectare (≈ 0.41 ha). If someone in Mexico quotes a price per hectare, divide it by 2.47 to compare it with a price per acre.
How many Hispanic Texans buy homes?
In 2025, Hispanic buyers took out 96,753 home-purchase loans in Texas, up 2.5% from 2024, while the statewide total fell. Their share of all loans reached 27.2%. These are mortgage loans only: cash purchases and owner-financed sales aren't counted. Details and all 254 counties are in Hispanic homebuyers 2025 and the county table.
What the full report will contain
| Section | What it answers | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Four Texas figures | The summary you can read in two minutes | Ready (above) |
| 2. The price of land | What's an acre worth in each region of Texas? | Ready (above) |
| 3. Who's buying | How many Hispanic Texans buy property, and where? | Ready: Hispanic homebuyers 2025 |
| 4. All 254 counties | How is my county doing? | Ready: county table |
| 5. Inherited land | How many properties are still in a deceased person's name? | In progress (no official statewide figure exists) |
| 6. Contracts for deed and colonias | How many families bought in installments without a deed? | In progress |
| 7. Taxes and tax sales | How many families lose land to back taxes? | In progress |
| 8. Method and limits | How we calculated everything and what the figures leave out | Methodology |
How to cite this report
Nuestras Tierras. (2026). Tierras Texanas Report 2027: Texas price per acre by region (preliminary edition). nuestrastierras.org/en/texas/report/2027/. Data: TRERC (Texas A&M), Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, CFPB/FFIEC HMDA. CC BY 4.0 license.
Ready-to-quote line: "An acre of rural Texas land sold for $5,218 in mid-2026, and Hispanic buyers now take more than one in four home-purchase loans in the state."
For journalists: key figures.
Revision log
- 2026-10-23: "How much does an acre cost near my city?" section (Houston, DFW, San Antonio, the Valley, Laredo, El Paso), counties from TRERC's region maps.
- 2026-10-23: USDA NASS figure confirmed in the original report (Land Values 2026 Summary, July 31, 2026).
- 2026-10-23: prices by region (TRERC Q2 2026), Dallas Fed survey (Q3 2026), "One source, one number" table, report CSV.
- 2026-10-23: first preliminary edition.