Union County, Illinois
Sales through Oct 31, 2026
Newest sales town, not parcel
- Oct 2, 2026 24.6 ac at $3,340/ac ($82,000), T12S R1E
- Sep 14, 2026 42.5 ac at $4,403/ac ($187,000), T11S R1W
- Aug 28, 2026 67.4 ac at $6,955/ac ($469,000), T11S R2W
Recorded prices. Not an appraisal. No adjustments. A recorded price is what the state's transfer record says was paid once the sale closed, auction or private; never an asking price.
Sales: Illinois Department of Revenue, MyDec transfer declarations (PTAX-203), farm parcels. Rent: USDA NASS.
Union County, IL: non-irrigated cash rent $87 an acre (2026); land and buildings $5,116 an acre in the 2022 census; corn 14-yr trend 172.2 bu/ac. Bids, weather, crops, land and programs for one county. County averages from public records, not an appraisal of any farm. FIPS 17181. Figures as of Oct 19, 2026; the rows marked with a date load the newest reading when the page opens.
Stands out against its own record
Non-irrigated cash rent, 2026: the lowest since 2011 (14 surveys on record since 2009); down 27% from $119 in 2016.
USDA NASS Cash Rents Survey, 2026
As of Oct 16, cash rent in Union County runs $87 an acre for 2026, the lowest of 86 in Illinois. That rent is down 27.3% from $119 in 2016. The census value of land and buildings was $5,116 an acre in 2022, up 20.4% from $4,248 in 2017, and it ranks 9th lowest of 91. The corn trend yield projects 172.2 bu for 2026, 4th lowest of 66 in the state.
IL median $254 · lowest of 86
IL median $8,638 · 9th lowest of 91
IL median 225.2 · 4th lowest of 66
IL median $2.04 · 3rd highest of 101
IL median 55% · 5th lowest of 101
Grain and prices within 50 miles
Bids are posted elevator prices within 50 miles of the county middle, or of your own field or saved place in this county when this device has one (each row says which), best and nearest, never a buyer's name. Not a contract; call before you haul. Livestock lines show where the 2022 Census counts 1,000 head or more: milk for milk cows, feeder cattle for beef cows, live cattle for cattle on feed, hogs for hogs, hay for all cattle.
Illinois cash bids by town · Bids from your own ZIP or farm, in Fast Facts
Cash bids by town near the middle of Union County: Cape Girardeau, MO (18 mi), Mound City (27 mi), Cairo (33 mi).
Nearby buyers within 50 miles: 1 oilseed crusher
Straight-line miles from the middle of Union County to each buyer’s town point (the middle of its town, not the gate), rounded. Capacity as published. Where the buyers are, not what they pay. Lists from NOPA, read Oct 28, 2026.
Weather and the season
Rain so far this year in Union County, Illinois
Drought, year by year
Weeks per year, U.S. Drought Monitor, with half the county or more in D2 (severe) drought or worse.
Crops
Corn yield
Bushels per acre, USDA NASS county yields, all practices. The dashed line is the median of the published years.
Land rent, value, sales
Cash rent
Dollars per acre, USDA NASS county survey. A break in a line is a year with no published survey.
Every published Illinois county rate, side by side: Illinois cash rent by county.
Share of gross is a past year, all observed: that year's rent, that year's county corn yield of the same practice and the state price received, USDA NASS. Rent per bushel uses this year's rent over the 14-yr trend. The calculator below starts from that trend and lets you put in your own yield and price.
Land value
The census value is this county's, from 2022. The survey figures are the Illinois average for 2026, from the USDA NASS Land Values report. NASS publishes that survey by state, not by county, so this page does not scale one into the other.
Recorded farm sales
Sale counts and the median price buyers paid per acre in Union County, from Illinois PTAX-203 (MyDec) transfer declarations (Illinois Department of Revenue), load here.
What has farmland sold for in Union County, Illinois?
15 recorded market sales of bare farmland (no buildings by the property class, no forest), 20 or more acres, Nov 2025 to Oct 2026, with a median of $5,113 an acre; the middle half of sales fell between $4,484 and $7,825 an acre. Sales are dated through Oct 31, 2026. These are counted deed records from Illinois PTAX-203 (MyDec) transfer declarations, not a model or an appraisal, and no buyer or seller is named.
Land sales: Recorded sales in Union County, sale by sale.
Programs and risk
Benchmarks, payments and the choice for each crop: ARC or PLC in Union County.
Insuring pasture or hay? PRF rainfall insurance for pasture and hay in Union County: its grids, county values and record are on the county PRF page.
Crop insurance record
Claims paid divided by total premium (the farmer share plus the federal subsidy), each closed crop year since 2008 with at least $1,000,000 of premium; a year under that has no bar and no ratio. Above the dashed line, the county's insurance book paid out more than it took in. 2026, still open, is left out.
Conservation Reserve Program
Acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, USDA FSA, by fiscal year.
What farms here look like
USDA Census of Agriculture 2022, except wells (state well register) and power (EIA Form 860).
Next door
| County | Dry rent | Irr. rent | Land value | Corn yield, median | Claims per $100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union County | $87 | n/a | $5,116 | n/a | $12.50 |
| Alexander County | $189 2025 | $200 2024 | $5,148 | n/a | $12.07 |
| Jackson County | $172 | n/a | $5,094 | 162.2 | $5.88 |
| Johnson County | $129 2025 | n/a | $4,327 | n/a | $13.45 |
| Pulaski County | $152 | $196 2025 | $5,494 | 169.9 | $5.63 |
| Williamson County | $101 | n/a | $4,701 | 153.2 | $11.52 |
| Cape Girardeau County, MO | $117 | $257 2025 | $4,745 | 155.8 | $6.85 |
| Perry County, MO | $116 | n/a | $4,388 | 154.0 | $5.22 |
| Median next door | $117 | n/a | $4,745 | 155.8 | $6.85 |
Counties that share a stretch of boundary. A rent from an older survey year carries its year and stays out of the median; one more than three survey years old shows n/a. The corn median here needs 15 published years, so a county with fewer shows n/a even where its own page gives a median.
Not on this page yet
- This year's growing degree days and first fall freeze for the county. The normals above are here; the current year is not yet.
- County crop condition and harvest pace. USDA publishes them by state, not by county, so the state line stands in.
- Number of farms and farm size, from the 2022 Census of Agriculture county tables.
- Soils, slope, wetlands and flood zones for one field. Those load at the field in Field Scout, not on a county page.
Cite this page
AGSIST Farmland Atlas. Union County, Illinois. Figures as of Oct 19, 2026, from USDA NASS, USDA RMA, USDA FSA, the U.S. Drought Monitor and NOAA. https://agsist.com/farmland-atlas/illinois/union-countyEvery figure is a county average from the sources named below. Rent ranks count every county with a published rent in the same survey year, within the state (the same counties as the state rent page); other ranks count counties with 10,000 acres or more in farms. 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.
This product uses the NASS API but is not endorsed or certified by NASS. Averages, trends, ranks and estimates are calculations by AGSIST.
Rent: USDA NASS Cash Rents Survey, county. Land value: Census of Agriculture, operators' estimate of land and buildings. Yield: NASS county corn yields. The headline trend, the one rent per bushel uses, is fitted here over the published years in the 15 years ending this year; the yearly trend card uses 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. Claims paid per $100 of coverage: claims divided by liability (the insured value), times 100, same source. 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 missing figure is named with its reason (in a table it reads n/a).