Madera County, California
Madera County, CA: non-irrigated cash rent $66 an acre (2026); land and buildings $13,239 an acre in the 2022 census. County averages from public records, not an appraisal of any farm. FIPS 06039. Figures as of 2026-09-20.
Irrigated cash rent in Madera County runs $410 per acre against $66 per acre non-irrigated, and that gap has widened since 2010, when the multiple stood at 3.90 versus 6.26 in 2026. Groundwater supplies 98 percent of irrigation water, so land value here rests on wells and aquifer access, not surface allocations. Census value of land and buildings reached $13,239 per acre in 2022, up 20.8 percent from 2017. Crop insurance shows the heat and drought share of indemnities climbing from 1 percent in 1989-1999 to 27 percent in 2020-2025, and the loss ratio over 2016-2025 was 1.03, above the 0.83 figure for the full 1989-2025 record. July nights have warmed from a 58.8 F normal to a 60.6 F average over 2017-2026.
CA median $35 · 2nd highest of 20
CA median $431 · 17th lowest of 40
CA median $11,471 · 19th highest of 52
CA median $7.22 · 7th lowest of 42
CA median 43% · 5th lowest of 55
Cash rent
Dollars per acre, USDA NASS county survey. A break in a line is a year with no published survey; nothing is drawn across it.
Land value
Corn yield
Crop insurance record
Claims paid divided by total premium (the farmer share plus the federal subsidy), each closed crop year since 1989. Above the dashed line, the county's insurance book paid out more than it took in. 2026, still open, is left out.
Drought and weather
Weeks per year, U.S. Drought Monitor, with half the county or more in D2 (severe) drought or worse.
Land, water and programs
Acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, USDA FSA, by fiscal year.
Next door
| County | Dry rent | Irr. rent | Land value | Claims per $100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madera County | $66 | $410 | $13,239 | $4.37 |
| Fresno County | $22 | $305 | $16,378 | $5.95 |
| Mariposa County | $30 | — | $4,306 | — |
| Merced County | $33 | $411 | $16,527 | $3.54 |
| Mono County | — | — | $3,138 | — |
| Tuolumne County | $27 2025 | — | $4,337 | — |
| Median next door | $30 | $358 2 co. | $4,337 | $4.75 2 co. |
Counties that share a stretch of boundary. An older rent carries its year and stays out of the median.
Cite this page
AGSIST Farmland Atlas. Madera County, California. Figures as of 2026-09-20, from USDA NASS, USDA RMA, USDA FSA, the U.S. Drought Monitor and NOAA. https://agsist.com/farmland-atlas/california/madera-countyEvery figure is a county average from the sources named below. Ranks count counties with 10,000 acres or more in farms, in the same survey year for rent, within the state. Methods: how each figure is built. Downloads: all counties, CSV.
Sources, dates and arithmetic
"Figures as of" is the date this page's numbers last changed; it moves only when a figure on the page does. Source files and their retrieval dates are listed on the data page.
Rent: USDA NASS Cash Rents Survey, county. Land value: Census of Agriculture, operators' estimate of land and buildings. Yield: NASS county corn yields, trend fitted here over every published year since 2008. Loss ratio: claims (indemnity) divided by total premium, USDA RMA Summary of Business, 1989 on, open crop year left out. Drought: U.S. Drought Monitor, weeks with half the county or more in D2 or worse. July lows: NOAA nClimDiv county monthly minimum temperature. A dash means the record does not carry the figure or the source withheld it; the reason is printed beside it.