New Castle County, Delaware
New Castle County, DE: non-irrigated cash rent $102 an acre (2026); land and buildings $11,212 an acre in the 2022 census; median corn yield 159.8 bu/ac. County averages from public records, not an appraisal of any farm. FIPS 10003. Figures as of 2026-09-20.
Non-irrigated cash rent in New Castle County is $102 per acre, up 8.5 percent from 2016 to 2026. Land and buildings carry a census value of $11,212 per acre, up 18 percent from 2017 to 2022. Heat and drought account for 63 percent of crop insurance indemnities paid from 1989-2025, though that share fell from 78 percent in 1989-1999 to 37 percent in 2010-2019, then rose to 72 percent in 2020-2025. The July nightly low has moved from a 1991-2020 normal of 67.2 F to 69 F over 2017-2026, part of a warming trend of 0.93 F per decade since 1976. Drought weeks stayed low, at 68 of 1357 weeks from 2000-2025, with 23 of those weeks falling in 2021-2025.
DE median $106 · lowest of 3
too few 2025 county surveys in the state to compare
DE median $9,642 · highest of 3
DE median 165.1 · lowest of 3
DE median $2.35 · 2nd lowest of 3
DE median 52% · highest of 3
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
Bushels per acre, USDA NASS county yields, all practices. The dashed line is the median of the published years.
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 | Corn yield | Claims per $100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Castle County | $102 | $225 2025 | $11,212 | 159.8 | $2.35 |
| Kent County | $119 | — | $8,679 | 174.6 | $2.24 |
| Cecil County, MD | $131 | — | $10,443 | 163.9 | $2.24 |
| Kent County, MD | $191 | $282 | $7,782 | 164.1 | $2.45 |
| Gloucester County, NJ | $108 | $112 | $14,091 | — | $9.29 |
| Salem County, NJ | $89 | $164 | $10,421 | — | $6.25 |
| Chester County, PA | $199 | $269 | $13,004 | 172.8 | $1.89 |
| Delaware County, PA | — | — | $29,314 | — | — |
| Median next door | $125 | $217 | $10,443 | 168.5 | $2.35 |
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. New Castle County, Delaware. 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/delaware/new-castle-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.