The Land Report 100 Research Team analyzes transactions and scours records to determine America’s leading landowners and has used this process to identify the largest landowners in Texas for 2024. Texas’s Largest Landowner for 2024 is Brad Kelley with over 940,000 acres.

Invariably, we are asked about our sources. They range from county tax records to financial reports and corporate press releases. As the Voice of the American Landowner, we enjoy one final advantage — the trust and confidence of America’s leading landowners themselves. Whenever possible, we verify the figures cited in the Land Report 100 with landowners, their designated representatives, or their trusted advisors.

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No. 1 Brad Kelley

940,000 acres

This longtime land trader and conservationist is not only Texas’s largest landowner, but he ranks ninth nationwide on the 2024 Land Report 100. Much of Kelley’s portfolio is listed for sale with King Land & Water in Fort Davis. The largest single holding, Brewster Ranch, totals 353,494 acres. At $245 million, it’s the most expensive listing in America.

No. 2 Texas Pacific Land Corporation

868,000 acres

Texas Pacific dates back to 1871 when it was chartered by the federal government to build a transcontinental railroad. Unfortunately, it went bankrupt in 1888, and the 3.5 million acres that had been awarded to the company were placed in a trust. Turns out that bankruptcy has kept the company intact for more than 150 years. 

No. 3 King Ranch Heirs

836,000 acres

When Captain Richard King died in 1885, he had assembled 1 million acres “under wire” with 80,000 cattle, 20,000 horses and mules, and 25,000 sheep. According to the Dallas Daily Herald, it was “probably the largest stock raising establishment under the control of one man in the United States.” Today, King Ranch Inc. is owned by hundreds of his descendants who still gather at the ranch’s Main House, a National Historic Landmark. 

No. 4 Caddo Sustainable Timberlands

831,000 acres

The largest timberland owner in the Lone Star State has an oversize footprint not only in East Texas but in Western Louisiana as well. More than 30 mills in both states process timber harvested from its forests, and every single acre is certified by the rigorous standards of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.  

No. 5 The Briscoes

738,000 acres

Uvalde has long been the operational headquarters for the Briscoes’ banking and ranching interests. Today, Dolph “Chip” Briscoe III oversees the family’s far-flung Texas landholdings, which have grown from their South Texas roots on the Catarina Ranch to the Trans-Pecos and the Rolling Plains. 

No. 6 O’Connor Heirs

587,000 acres

A native of Ireland, Thomas O’Connor (1817–1887) was lured to Texas in 1834 by an uncle with the promise of a league of land — 4,428 acres — from the Republic of Mexico. Not long after he landed on the Gulf Coast, the Irishman made a name for himself when he joined the fight for Texas independence. His 50-plus years in Texas were filled with epic adventures. On his deathbed, O’Connor owned more than 500,000 acres. 

No. 7 Stan Kroenke

569,000 acres

Kroenke Ranches is taking bold steps on the Waggoner Ranch  by adopting a holistic approach to the ecological management of the 569,000-acre ranch’s wildlife resources. The primary land-management techniques currently being employed by the Wildlife Division are targeted specifically at quail and whitetailed deer habitats. Since Stan Kroenke purchased the largest single ranch under one fence in 2016, brush management has been performed on more than 150,000 acres.

 

No. 8 Jeff Bezos

462,000 acres

Amazon’s founder developed his love for vast expanses as a kid on his grandparents’ ranch outside of Cotulla. Today, his extensive ranchland holdings are concentrated north of Van Horn. Known to locals as the Corn Ranch, Bezos and his team at Blue Origin refer to the property by a different name: LS1 — Launch Site One.

No. 9 Hughes Family

325,000 acres

Family patriarch Dan Allen Hughes Sr. (1929–2016) began his career on the bottommost rung of the oil-and-gas industry, working as a roustabout for United Gas Pipeline. He earned a geology degree from Texas A&M University and went on to find, finance, and drill his own wells. The All-American Wildcatter had a passion for land. 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of his initial purchase of the famed Apache Ranch in Culberson County. 

No. 10 Mike Smith

319,000 acres

After graduating from Texas Tech University, Smith went to work for Paul Engler at Cactus Feeders in Amarillo. Engler was building his feed operation into the world’s largest, and he proved to be an able mentor to Smith, who not only established his own feed yards but also launched a commodity-trading firm. One of Smith’s most notable acquisitions in recent years was the Flat Top Division of the historic Swenson Ranch .