What the Western Wisconsin land market is actually doing.

Here is the market math I use and quote, updated with the most recent reported figures for 2025 and 2026. This is public data plus the patterns I see in the field; it gives you a frame for your own property, not a substitute for a property-specific valuation. Let's get one if you're ready.

Sources: USDA NASS · UW-Extension · DATCP
Updated: September 2026

Wisconsin cropland keeps setting records.

$7,250 per acre average Wisconsin cropland value in 2025, up about $450 from 2024 (USDA NASS).
Actual Wisconsin agricultural land sales averaged $7,238 per acre in 2025, a 9.6% increase over 2024 and an all-time high (UW-Madison actual-sales data).
Average cash rent for non-irrigated cropland ran about $161 per acre in 2025, with an average of $166 per acre in 2026. In Vernon County, tillable cash rents have run around $245 per acre.

The lesson for sellers: cropland demand has stayed strong through the rate cycle, and soil quality plus operator relationships still set the per-acre number. For a farm, the tillable acres are usually the backbone of the appraisal, and the rent record is the proof the bank and the buyer want.

Rows of corn against a treeline under late-day light — tillable ground: priced by the acre and the rent

The Driftless is the priciest recreational land in Wisconsin.

$5,500-$14,000

Driftless Area hunting ground, per acre

Bluff Country recreational tracts (Buffalo, Trempealeau, Vernon, Crawford and Richland counties) typically trade in this band, the highest recreational ground values in the state.

$6,500-$9,200

Coulee Region, per acre

The La Crosse to Trempealeau corridor and surrounding coulees concentrate buyers on ridgetop cover, water and access.

$2,500-$6,000

Raw farm-country hunting ground

in the same southwestern Wisconsin counties: simpler parcels without the premium cover sell in this band.

$5,800+

Top timber starts near this, per acre

High-quality timbered tracts in Buffalo and Trempealeau counties carry a premium on the timber value alone.

What drives the spread on recreational ground: timber quality and volume, tillable ratio, water (creek, river, pond), legal access, parcel size and scenery, the coulee location, and proximity to the buyer who wants it. Two neighboring tracts can differ by thousands per acre on access and cover alone.

Read: how much is my hunting land worth?

What goes through our office.

$250K-$5M

Typical price range of the properties we list and sell, from a 20-acre home site to a full operating farm.

3 states

Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, anchored on the Mississippi River Valley and the Driftless ridges.

1 market

Land, homes and lifestyle priced and marketed as one asset, not two listings.

The honest caveat

Published averages tell you where the market stands, and your place is not an average. A property-specific valuation pulls your soils, your exact sales set, your access and your improvements into one number. That is the number I build when I meet you.

Where these numbers come from

USDA NASS, 2025 Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics | average cropland value
UW-Madison Extension, Wisconsin Agricultural Land Prices | actual sales average and trend
Wisconsin Farm Reporter (DATCP) | cash rental rates

Want your property's number on this chart?

Send the basics and I'll pull your county record, find the closings that compare, and give you a valuation you can act on. Free, direct and private.

Thanks, Josh

Get your property's market number

Town, acres, what's on it, and anything you've been told that doesn't sit right.