Though the state’s coastline continues to erode at an alarming rate, Louisiana remains home to an estimated 27,424,000 acres of land. So, what’s it worth? According to one government economist, about $354 billion.
As The Wall Street Journal reports, economist William Larson has put together an estimate of the nation’s total land value, as well as the land value of every state. His data shows California is worth the most, at $3.9 trillion, while Vermont is worth the least, at a paltry $44 billion. On a per acre basis, New Jersey has the most valuable land at $196,410 an acre, and Wyoming the least, $1,557 an acre.
Louisiana’s per acre value works out to $12,910. Other nuggets of note on Louisiana from Larson’s estimates: just 8% of all land in the state is developed, and the federal government owns about 6% of all land here.
Larson’s total estimate for the value of the 1.89 billion acres of land that accounts for the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia is $22.98 trillion. The dollar figure—equal to about 1.4 times last year’s gross domestic product—represents only the value of the land, and not buildings, roads or other improvements, and excludes bodies of water.
Larson’s estimates, released this month in a paper from the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, aren’t meant to be a definitive measure. Rather, they attempt to provide baseline methods and estimates upon which further research can draw. His estimates reflect the land’s value in 2009. Therefore it shows a post-recession figure (he says the country’s value fell 24% from 2006 to 2009), and it doesn’t account for the changes in value due to the shale-gas activity in Louisiana and elsewhere.
Across the country, the data shows the federal government owns 24% of all land, worth a collective $1.8 trillion. (That’s 8% of the country’s total value, or around 10% of the total outstanding federal debt.) Just 5.8% of U.S. land is developed, but that land accounts for 50.7% of the total value. Almost half, 47%, of U.S. land is used for agriculture.
