Moving to the United States: land, costs and rules
Focused on the rural Midwest and South. Varies widely climate. Long in the South. Everyday costs run roughly 10% below Sweden on our comparison index.
The numbers before you commit
Rural house with some land
€174,800
Farmland per hectare
€12,880
Monthly living, family of four, excluding housing
€2,668
Residency
Visa and land rules need real planning
Conversions use indicative reference rates, not live market rates. Use them for planning scale, not for transactions.
Climate and growing season
Varies widely
Long in the South
What works in your favour
- Cheap rural acreage
- Homestead-friendly counties
- Deep equipment market
What to watch
- Visa route is the hard part
- Health insurance costs
- Property tax varies hugely
Who is allowed to buy land in the United States?
Ownership is generally open, but a growing number of states restrict foreign ownership of farmland, and county zoning decides what you may build and keep.
State-level farmland restrictions
Several states limit or prohibit foreign ownership of agricultural land, and federal law requires reporting of foreign holdings under AFIDA.
County zoning rules everything
Minimum lot sizes, septic and well approvals, livestock limits and whether you may live in an RV or cabin are all county-level decisions.
Water rights are separate from land
In much of the western US, the right to use surface water is a separate property right that may not come with the parcel.
Turn this into a plan for your family
Put in your household, your budget and how self-sufficient you want to be, and get a year-by-year plan for the land, the food and the animals. Free to start.
Until you choose a region, figures and guidance are based on international sources: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), CGIAR and International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). Scope: international.