Top 10 US States by Federal Farm Payments
USDA Economic Research Service data ranking all 50 US states by total federal farm payments. Draws current numbers directly from the states dataset.
Research period:
Research question
Across 50 US states in the USDA Economic Research Service dataset, which receive the highest total federal farm payments, and how does the top of the distribution compare to the national mean?
Methodology
This ranking is generated fresh from the current dataset from the U.S. Department of Agriculture every time the page loads, not a fixed figure typed in once and forgotten. When a new release is published, our next data refresh picks it up automatically.
States with no data reported are left out rather than shown as a false zero, since the U.S. Department of Agriculture occasionally withholds a figure for data-quality reasons.
Every number on this page traces back to a specific record from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, so you can verify it yourself against the original source. See our methodology page for the full data pipeline and how often we refresh.
Top 10 US States by Federal Farm Payments
Live data, current as of the most recent source-data refresh
The ranked top 10
Every row below reflects the current dataset from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and updates automatically the next time we refresh it.
| # | State | Region | Total payments | Conservation | Net farm income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | South | $1.2B | $185.6M | $15.4B |
| 2 | Oklahoma | South | $823.5M | $55.0M | $3.7B |
| 3 | Kansas | Midwest | $727.0M | $118.7M | $6.0B |
| 4 | Iowa | Midwest | $724.6M | $464.0M | $9.5B |
| 5 | California | West | $665.5M | $85.5M | $12.1B |
| 6 | Nebraska | Midwest | $623.9M | $136.1M | $9.3B |
| 7 | South Dakota | Midwest | $590.4M | $186.5M | $6.4B |
| 8 | Arkansas | South | $509.3M | $101.3M | $3.3B |
| 9 | Minnesota | Midwest | $507.6M | $207.6M | $5.2B |
| 10 | Missouri | Midwest | $505.5M | $155.7M | $4.9B |
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA ERS Farm Income and Wealth Statistics. Values are current as of our most recent data refresh. U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA ERS Farm Income and Wealth Statistics. Values are current as of our most recent data refresh.
Findings
Top entity in the ranking
The top-ranked record in this dataset is Texas, with a value of $1.2B on the Total payments column. The full top-10 set is rendered in the table above. Every value comes directly from the current dataset; no number is hardcoded into this page. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture publishes a revision, the ranking and the prose around it update automatically.
Distribution shape
The gap between the top-ranked record ($1.2B) and the 10th-ranked record ($505.5M) characterizes how concentrated the top of the distribution is. Where the top value is many multiples of the median value of the visible set, the population is highly concentrated, a small number of entities accumulate the bulk of the measured quantity. Where the top and bottom of the visible set are close together, the distribution is relatively flat across the top end. The full distribution beyond this top-10 cut is summarized in the aggregate context section below and explored in the linked entity profiles.
Aggregate context
Across the full population behind this ranking, here are the summary statistics: how many records exist in total, the sum of the ranking metric across all qualifying records, and the mean per-record value. The methodology page documents the exact filter applied (records with null or zero values on the ranking metric are excluded). This aggregate row is computed from the same dataset that powers the ranking above.
Source provenance
The records in this ranking originate from U.S. Department of Agriculture, specifically the USDA ERS Farm Income and Wealth Statistics. PlainFarmData ingests each new release and republishes the figures here automatically, so this page always reflects the current dataset rather than a fixed snapshot. The methodology page documents the source URL, the vintage date, and the transformation steps applied during ETL.
Why this ranking matters
Rankings like this one let a reader scan a population quickly and identify outliers, concentrations, and patterns that warrant deeper investigation. The detail pages linked from each entity in the table above give the full per-entity context: time-series history where available, related metrics from adjacent tables, and links onward to the underlying source records. The methodology page explains how an entity earns inclusion in the dataset and how the ranking column is computed at the source.
What this analysis cannot tell us
Federal farm payment totals aggregate multiple program categories (commodity, insurance, conservation, disaster) that operate under different eligibility rules and payment formulas, the aggregate number does not reveal which program drives payments in each state. Payment values reflect a specific fiscal year and can vary year-to-year based on commodity prices, weather events, and farm-bill reauthorization cycles. State totals flow to where the agricultural establishment is located, not necessarily where the landowner resides. Federal Crop Insurance indemnities flow through private insurance companies under the USDA Risk Management Agency framework, some payments that economically benefit farmers show up as insurance indemnities rather than direct federal subsidies. The net_farm_income column covers the state's entire farm sector including non-subsidized specialty and livestock operations.
Secondary cut from the same source
Top 10 states by USDA conservation payments, a separate program category
Sources
- USDA Economic Research Service, Farm Income and Wealth Statistics - https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/farm-income-and-wealth-statistics
- USDA Farm Service Agency, Payment Files Public Records - https://www.fsa.usda.gov/
- USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, Census of Agriculture - https://www.nass.usda.gov/AgCensus/
Every figure on PlainFarmData is rendered directly from the USDA Census of Agriculture and farm-subsidy program data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USDA Farm Service Agency source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.