Farmland Atlas · county record

Hays County, Texas

Hays County, TX: non-irrigated cash rent $27 an acre (2026); land and buildings $11,177 an acre in the 2022 census; median corn yield 82.4 bu/ac. County averages from public records, not an appraisal of any farm. FIPS 48209. Figures as of 2026-09-20.

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Cash rent, non-irrigated

$27/ac

2026 county average
TX median $27 · tied for 88th lowest of 189

Land and buildings

$11,177/ac

2022: what operators guessed land and buildings were worth
TX median $2,782 · 4th highest of 246

Rent as % of land value

—

not shown: cropland is 8% of land in farms (2022 census), so the census value is mostly pasture, woods and buildings, not cropland

Corn yield, 2011–2022 median

82.4 bu/ac

9 published years

Claims paid per $100 of coverage

$19.97

2016–2025, closed crop years
TX median $29.48 · tied for 53rd lowest of 174

Farmland rented

35%

2022 census, rented from others
TX median 39% · 93rd lowest of 251

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.

Non-irrigated, 2026$27/ac

Change 2016 to 2026−11.7%nominal, $30 to $27

Pasture, 2026$4/ac

Land value

Land and buildings, 2022$11,177/acoperators' own estimate, not a sale price

Census 2012$6,200/ac

Census 2017$9,773/ac

Change 2017 to 2022+14.4%+2.7% a year, nominal

Dry rent ÷ census value— cropland is 8% of land in farms (2022 census), so the census value is mostly pasture, woods and buildings, not cropland

Corn yield

Bushels per acre, USDA NASS county yields, all practices. The dashed line is the median of the published years.

Median, 2011–202282.4 bu/ac9 published years

Lowest published year2011: 12.6 bu/ac15% of median

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.

Claims paid per $100 of coverage, 2016–2025$19.97

Loss ratio, 2016–20251.08claims ÷ total premium

Loss ratio, 1989–20251.07$8.9 million paid

Largest causes of loss, 1989–2025heat and drought 83% · excess moisture 10% · area plans 5%share of dollars paid

Drought and weather

Weeks per year, U.S. Drought Monitor, with half the county or more in D2 (severe) drought or worse.

D2 or worse for half the county, 2000–2025428 of 1,357 weeks32% of weeks

Year with the most D2+ weeks202352 weeks

Last five years, 2021–2025141 weeks

July average of daily lows, 2017–202673.6 °F1991–2020 normal 72.6 °F

Trend in July lows since 1976+0.44 °F a decadewarming

Rain, April to September18.8 in1991–2020 normal; last ten years 100% of it

Days with hail 1 inch or larger2.1 a yearreports, 2010–2025; a zero is no report, not proof of no hail

Land, water and programs

Harvested cropland irrigated, 20227%

Drained by tile, 2022none reported

Farmed no-till, 20228% of cropland868 ac

Cover crops, 20223% of cropland355 ac

Acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, USDA FSA, by fiscal year.

CRP enrolled, 20250 ac

CRP expiring FY2026–20280 ac

Cattle and calves, 20227,610−52.0% since 2017

Farmland rented from others, 202235%census tenure, owned plus rented acres in farms

Next door

County	Dry rent	Land value	Corn yield	Claims per $100
Hays County	$27	$11,177	—	$19.97
Blanco County	$14	$3,342	—	—
Caldwell County	$33	$4,814	—	$14.70
Comal County	$13	$5,507	—	—
Guadalupe County	$30	$5,941	75.4	$11.25
Travis County	$24	$7,127	72.0	$8.49
Median next door	$24	$5,507	73.7 2 co.	$11.25

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. Hays County, Texas. 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/texas/hays-county

Every 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.

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