What Does 40 Acres
Actually Sell For
in Wisconsin?

I get this question more than any other. A landowner calls me and says: "I have 40 acres in X county. What is it worth?" And I cannot answer that question until I know a lot more than just the county and the acreage. Because 40 acres of Class A tillable ground in Walworth County is a completely different asset than 40 acres of swampy cut-over in Price County. Same size. Same state. Completely different value.

Online land value estimators will give you a number. That number is almost always wrong for your specific property. Zillow, LandWatch, and the generic valuation tools do not know your soil type, your road access, your water features, or your zoning. They take a county-wide average and apply it to your parcel. That is not a valuation. It is a guess.

This is how I think about 40-acre parcels across the counties I serve. Every property is different, but here is what drives the price in each region and what you should expect.

Tillable Ground in Southern Wisconsin

If your 40 acres is tillable farmland in Walworth, Rock, Green, or Lafayette counties, you are sitting on some of the best agricultural ground in the state. These counties have deep, productive soils with a long growing history. Class A and Class B soils dominate the landscape. A 40-acre tillable parcel in southern Wisconsin can sell for $8,000 to $12,000 per acre depending on soil quality, drainage, and location. That puts a 40-acre farm at $320,000 to $480,000.

What drives the price in southern Wisconsin? Soil quality is the biggest factor. A field with consistent Class A soil is worth a premium over one with variable soil types. Drainage matters a lot. Tiled ground sells for more than untiled ground. Proximity to grain elevators and co-ops also matters. A farm within a few miles of a good elevator is more valuable than one in the middle of nowhere.

Mixed Ground in Western Wisconsin

Western Wisconsin is where the Driftless Area meets the Mississippi River Valley. Counties like Pierce, St. Croix, Dunn, Pepin, Buffalo, Trempealeau, and La Crosse have variable terrain. A 40-acre parcel in this region could be half tillable and half wooded bluff. That mixed ground has a different value profile.

The tillable acres in the river bottoms can hit $6,000 to $9,000 per acre. The wooded acres on the bluffs are worth less for farming but can carry a premium for hunting and recreation. A good 40-acre hunting parcel in western Wisconsin with deer sign, cover, and water can sell for $4,000 to $7,000 per acre. The key is access. A parcel with year-round road access and internal trails is worth more than one you can only reach in dry weather.

Western Wisconsin also has significant buyer demand from the Twin Cities metro. Buyers from Minneapolis and St. Paul are looking for recreational ground within a two-hour drive. That demand lifts prices in Pierce, St. Croix, and Dunn counties compared to more distant regions.

Hunting and Recreational Land in Northern Wisconsin

Up in Price, Sawyer, Washburn, and Rusk counties, the land is different. These are northern forest counties with sandy soils, mixed hardwoods, and significant timber cover. A 40-acre parcel here is almost never tillable. It is hunting ground, timber ground, or recreational getaway land.

Prices in northern Wisconsin are generally lower than the south and west, but the range is wide. A 40-acre recreational parcel with decent habitat and road access might sell for $2,500 to $5,000 per acre. Add strong deer populations, water features, and good internal access, and you climb toward the top of that range. A 40-acre parcel with a cabin, well, and septic can sell for $6,000 to $8,000 per acre.

The biggest value driver in northern Wisconsin is timber. If your 40 acres has mature hardwoods, the timber itself has value. A timber cruise can tell you what the standing timber is worth, and that value stacks on top of the land value. I have seen 40-acre timber parcels in Clark and Jackson counties sell for more than the land alone would suggest because the standing timber was worth $50,000 to $80,000 on its own.

Central Wisconsin and the Central Sands

Central Wisconsin, including Wood, Portage, Marathon, and Waushara counties, is a mixed bag. The Central Sands region produces irrigated vegetables, potatoes, and field corn. A 40-acre parcel with irrigation rights in Portage County can command $8,000 to $10,000 per acre. The same parcel without irrigation drops significantly to the $4,000 to $6,000 range.

The timber counties in central Wisconsin like Clark and Jackson have strong hunting markets. Affordable recreational land, good deer populations, and proximity to Eau Claire and Wausau make these counties attractive for buyers looking for a weekend getaway without the premium of the northern forest counties.

What Actually Changes the Price

Here are the factors I look at on every 40-acre parcel, regardless of county:

• Soil quality. Tillable ground is priced by the productive acre. Soil class, drainage class, and organic matter all matter.
• Road access. Can a truck, tractor, or buyer get to the property year-round? Parcels with deeded easements or no legal access lose value fast.
• Water features. Streams, ponds, wetlands, and river frontage add value for hunting and recreation. They complicate farming but attract a different buyer set.
• Topography. Flat and farmable is one value. Rolling and wooded is another. Buyers pay for what the land can do, not just how many acres it is.
• Proximity to towns and infrastructure. A 40-acre parcel five miles from a decent town is worth more than the same parcel 30 miles from hard roads.
• Zoning and use restrictions. Can you build on it? Can you subdivide? Can you run livestock? Zoning drives value as much as soil does.

Why Online Estimates Are Not Reliable

I want to be direct with you about this. The automated valuation tools on the big real estate sites are built for suburban homes. They use county tax data and recent sales averages to generate a number. For a 40-acre rural parcel, that number is essentially meaningless.

I have seen online estimators value a 40-acre hunting parcel at $80,000 when it later sold for $240,000. I have seen them value a farm at $400,000 when the soil tests showed it was worth half that. The algorithms do not know what I know about your property. They do not know your soil class, your road frontage, your fencing condition, or your timber value.

The only way to get a real answer is to have someone walk the land and look at the specific factors that drive value for your property type. That is what I do for every seller I work with.

What 40 Acres Is Worth in Your County

Here is a rough guide based on typical parcels in the counties I serve. Remember, every property is different. This is a starting point, not a valuation.

• Walworth, Rock, Green, Lafayette: Tillable ground $8,000-$12,000/acre. Hunting/recreational $4,000-$6,000/acre.
• Pierce, St. Croix, Dunn, Pepin, Buffalo, Trempealeau, La Crosse: Tillable bottoms $6,000-$9,000/acre. Bluff hunting ground $4,000-$7,000/acre.
• Wood, Portage, Marathon, Waushara: Irrigated sand $8,000-$10,000/acre. Dry ground $4,000-$6,000/acre. Hunting $3,000-$5,000/acre.
• Clark, Jackson, Chippewa: Hunting and timber $3,000-$5,500/acre. Mixed ag $4,000-$7,000/acre.
• Price, Sawyer, Washburn, Rusk, Barron: Recreational $2,500-$5,000/acre. Timber value adds $1,000-$2,000/acre for mature stands.