Cash Rent by State › Iowa

Iowa Cash Rent by County, 2026

Every USDA-published county cash rental rate in Iowa, from the NASS Cash Rents Survey. 99 Iowa counties with a published 2026 non-irrigated cropland rent · median $266/acre · -1.5% vs 2025 (matched counties) · data refreshed 2026-10-06

$266
MIDDLE COUNTY EASED
The median Iowa county paid $266 an acre for non-irrigated cropland in 2026, -1.5% vs 2025 across the same 99 counties. Highest county: Sioux at $336. Every county is in the table below.
That is the middle county on this page, not USDA NASS’s statewide average, which is not on this page yet.
These are the 2026 county rents, the newest NASS has put out (released Aug 21, 2026). NASS says county rents come out in late August every year, and they have every year since 2019; the 2027 date is not on its calendar yet.

Part of the Farmland Atlas: land values, rent and risk for every county.

Choosing ARC or PLC for 2026 or 2027? See Iowa ARC or PLC by county.

$266
median rent /ac · 2026
non-irrigated cropland, 99 counties
-1.5%
vs 2025
median of 99 matched counties
+17.2%
vs 2017
median of 99 matched counties
$336
top county
Sioux
$279
irrigated median · 2026
irrigated cropland, 9 counties, shown apart
$65.25
pasture median · 2026
permanent pasture, 88 counties, shown apart

Insuring pasture or hay ground? See PRF rainfall insurance in Iowa: county values, what each pair of months costs, and every year since 1951.

Rent for your ground, not the county average

The county number doesn’t know your ground. This scales the county’s 2026 rent by your own corn yield.

Pick a county and type your yield.

Derived by AGSIST, not a NASS number: the county’s 2026 NASS dryland rent divided by its 2026 corn trend yield (our 14-yr trend, same practice as the rent), times your yield. It assumes rent moves in step with yield, which real leases only roughly do. Use your APH or a typical year, not your best one. 83 of 99 Iowa counties have both numbers; for the rest the Corn trend column below says why there is none.

Two more ways to figure a fair rent

Share of gross. Your bushels times a price, and the share of that the rent takes. The share starts at the county’s own: its 2026 rent as a share of its trend-yield gross at this price.

Default: Iowa’s 2025 average price received for corn (USDA NASS, preliminary).

Return on land value. What the land is worth times the return an owner wants on it.

Cost-based. What is left of your gross after your own costs and pay for your work. That needs your budget, so this page doesn’t guess one.

For rent as a share of gross year by year since 2008, open the Farmland Atlas and its rent share calculator.

Every published county, 2026

Tap a column heading to sort. Greyed values are the county’s most recent published year where 2026 wasn’t published. Columns cover non-irrigated cropland, irrigated cropland, permanent pasture; state stats above use non-irrigated cropland, the rent this site means by “rent”. Each county name opens its Farmland Atlas record (land value, yield, insurance and drought). Corn trend is the county’s 14-yr trend yield (projected 2026) from NASS county estimates, fitted on the same practice as the rent: the figure the Atlas county page divides rent by for rent per bushel, and the one its rent share calculator starts from.

Swipe the table sideways for every column.

CountyNon-irrigated 2026Irrigated 2026Pasture 2026YoYCorn trend 2026
Adair$237n/a$81+8.2%202 bu
Adams$232n/a$80+5.5%ends 2020
Allamakee$252n/a$46.50+2.0%218 bu
Appanoose$173n/a$65.50+7.5%197 bu
Audubon$302n/a$89+2.4%230 bu
Benton$303n/a$75+4.5%234 bu
Black Hawk$257n/a$74 (2025)-8.9%219 bu
Boone$263n/a$48-6.7%223 bu
Bremer$291n/a$69.50-6.1%223 bu
Buchanan$293n/a$79+2.1%225 bu
Buena Vista$260n/a$55.50-3.7%219 bu
Butler$301n/a$56-6.5%222 bu
Calhoun$267n/a$53.50-6.6%227 bu
Carroll$305n/a$63+8.9%239 bu
Cass$259n/a$87.50+7.5%213 bu
Cedar$297n/a$72+2.4%226 bu
Cerro Gordo$260$284 (2025)$52.50-9.7%217 bu
Cherokee$301n/a$59.50+1.7%221 bu
Chickasaw$284n/a$69 (2025)+0.7%227 bu
Clarke$167n/a$67.50+9.2%204 bu
Clay$248n/a$63-8.1%200 bu
Clayton$266n/a$65-8.6%224 bu
Clinton$304n/a$67+9.0%229 bu
Crawford$281n/a$73.50-7.6%232 bu
Dallas$241n/a$55.50-7.3%215 bu
Davis$182n/a$67.50-14.2%195 bu
Decatur$167n/a$62-5.6%196 bu
Delaware$298n/a$63 (2025)+0.3%235 bu
Des Moines$253$251 (2023)$79+5.4%222 bu
Dickinson$247n/a$52-7.8%200 bu
Dubuque$303n/a$70+0.7%228 bu
Emmet$239n/a$62-9.8%219 bu
Fayette$270$203 (2010)$72.50+0.4%mixed
Floyd$293$282 (2025)$53+12.7%mixed
Franklin$271n/a$62-5.2%220 bu
Fremont$215$221 (2022)$61 (2025)-0.5%mixed
Greene$268n/a$60-2.9%228 bu
Grundy$322n/a$72.50+3.5%224 bu
Guthrie$248n/a$61.50+2.9%ends 2022
Hamilton$301n/a$41+5.2%225 bu
Hancock$265$292$63.50-7.0%mixed
Hardin$280n/a$54.50-0.7%219 bu
Harrison$255$273$58.50+2.4%mixed
Henry$253n/a$56.50-2.7%202 bu
Howard$283$277 (2016)$70 (2025)+7.2%227 bu
Humboldt$262n/a$52 (2019)-3.7%214 bu
Ida$291n/a$74-9.6%233 bu
Iowa$269n/a$73-3.2%223 bu
Jackson$275n/a$72.50+7.4%224 bu
Jasper$264n/a$47.50-1.1%242 bu
Jefferson$244n/a$71-4.7%203 bu
Johnson$277$297$89+6.9%219 bu
Jones$279n/a$64.50-3.8%228 bu
Keokuk$236n/a$49.50-4.1%208 bu
Kossuth$282$167 (2016)$48.50 (2024)+5.6%209 bu
Lee$242n/a$67+4.3%211 bu
Linn$258n/a$58-4.4%226 bu
Louisa$242$263$64+4.3%mixed
Lucas$176n/a$65+0.0%184 bu
Lyon$284$248 (2013)$60.50+2.9%210 bu
Madison$221n/a$66+0.5%207 bu
Mahaska$244n/a$68+0.8%223 bu
Marion$230n/a$49.50+7.5%219 bu
Marshall$286n/a$57.50-4.0%240 bu
Mills$258n/a$71 (2023)-5.1%214 bu
Mitchell$277$311 (2016)$71.50+2.6%221 bu
Monona$272$296$75.50+4.6%mixed
Monroe$174n/a$68-4.9%196 bu
Montgomery$248n/a$74.50-9.5%220 bu
Muscatine$288$272$75.50+9.1%mixed
O'Brien$310n/a$60+0.3%219 bu
Osceola$283n/a$67.50 (2023)+0.4%217 bu
Page$236n/a$76.50-2.9%221 bu
Palo Alto$282$279$59+8.5%mixed
Plymouth$288$240 (2020)$90.50-0.7%mixed
Pocahontas$269$232 (2020)$51-8.8%mixed
Polk$258$373 (2017)$58.50-3.4%216 bu
Pottawattamie$255n/a$91-9.3%221 bu
Poweshiek$278n/a$59+6.9%217 bu
Ringgold$201n/a$77.50+4.1%ends 2022
Sac$290$268 (2022)$73.50-5.2%236 bu
Scott$284n/a$71.50-0.7%234 bu
Shelby$270n/a$70 (2024)+0.0%224 bu
Sioux$336$355$86+6.7%mixed
Story$290n/a$63.50+4.3%217 bu
Tama$257n/a$82-4.8%213 bu
Taylor$228n/a$76-5.0%200 bu
Union$266n/a$83+12.2%208 bu
Van Buren$197n/a$49.50+0.0%182 bu
Wapello$247n/a$53.50+2.1%207 bu
Warren$218n/a$68+2.3%200 bu
Washington$286n/a$71+8.3%215 bu
Wayne$199n/a$66-0.5%212 bu
Webster$275n/a$50-1.8%223 bu
Winnebago$262n/a$54 (2025)-5.4%216 bu
Winneshiek$274n/a$59.50+2.2%219 bu
Woodbury$288$248$83.50+3.6%mixed
Worth$241n/a$60-5.5%216 bu
Wright$267n/a$59-7.3%209 bu

Corn trend: mixed: NASS publishes only an all-practice corn yield for the county, and the county also irrigates, so that yield is withheld rather than set beside dryland rent; ends: the county’s yield series stopped that year, too long ago to project.

Iowa median county rent by year

Median of counties published each year (non-irrigated cropland). Years with no survey are left blank.

2008
$16899 co.
2009
$17499 co.
2010
$17399 co.
2011
$19199 co.
2012
$22899 co.
2013
$25199 co.
2014
$25599 co.
2015no survey
2016
$23497 co.
2017
$22799 co.
2018no survey
2019
$22599 co.
2020
$22699 co.
2021
$23099 co.
2022
$25497 co.
2023
$26499 co.
2024
$27196 co.
2025
$27099 co.
2026
$26699 co.
What this can’t tell you. These are county means from a voluntary USDA survey. Rents vary widely inside a county, driven by soil, drainage, field size and how badly a neighbor wants the ground. Year-over-year stats above compare only counties published in both years, so a county dropping out of the survey can’t fake a trend.

Questions

What is the average cash rent per acre in Iowa for 2026?

The middle Iowa county pays $266 per acre for non-irrigated cropland: half of the 99 counties with a published 2026 USDA NASS rate are above it and half below. NASS also puts out its own statewide average, a separate figure that is not shown here. Rents vary widely by county: highest Sioux ($336), Grundy ($322), O'Brien ($310); lowest Decatur ($167), Clarke ($167), Appanoose ($173). The county mean is a survey reference point, not a rate card.

How much does pasture rent for per acre in Iowa?

The median USDA NASS county cash rent for permanent pasture in Iowa is $65.25 per acre across the 88 counties with a published 2026 pasture rate. Highest Pottawattamie ($91), Plymouth ($90.50), Johnson ($89); lowest Hamilton ($41), Allamakee ($46.50), Jasper ($47.50). Each county's pasture rate is in its own column in the county table below.

How much did Iowa cash rent change from 2025 to 2026?

Comparing the same 99 counties published in both years, the median non-irrigated cropland rent moved -1.5% year over year.

Why is my Iowa county not listed?

USDA NASS publishes a county rate only where enough Cash Rents Survey responses came back (and the county has at least 20,000 acres of cropland plus pasture). If your county is missing, NASS did not publish a rate for it.

When is county cash rent data released?

USDA NASS releases county cash rent estimates each August for the current crop year. This page rebuilds automatically when new data lands.

When must I give notice to terminate an Iowa farm lease?

Iowa law sets the deadline at September 1 before the lease year ends (Iowa Code section 562.6). Miss it and the lease typically continues another year on the same terms. See the AGSIST cash farm lease for the details and a printable lease.

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Source: USDA NASS Quick Stats, Cash Rents Survey county estimates (released each August) and county yield estimates. Page rebuilt automatically from data refreshed 2026-10-06.