How Much Land Does the Federal Government Own?

This data was originally published in Stanford Magazine. It demonstrates what percentage of the land in each state is owned directly by the federal government. Many of the western states contain substantial percentages of federal land, which takes up 84.5% of the land in Nevada, whereas in the east, federal land occupies as little as .04% of the state, such as in Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Government land is used comprised mainly of military bases, testing areas, nature and wildlife reserves, Indian reservations, or commercial leasing for mining or agriculture. Administrations that oversee these lands include the US Army Corps of Engineers, the US Department of Defense, the US Forest Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, among others. Altogether, government land makes up about 30% of the entire territory of the United States.

Notably, Washington D.C. is excluded from the data. The territory can most accurately be described as "under the tutelage of the federal government."