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Land For Sale in California

Beautiful California!

These idyllic images of sunny seaside and city landscapes exist, so it's easy to forget that there's a whole state full of beautiful scenery outside these urban and coastal regions. From arid, to tropical, to dense forests, California contains all of it! There is land for sale in California that can offer you any of these climates.

Land For Sale in California

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Premier listing

$24,000,000#CA1218445

15,000 acres

Cathey's Valley, CA 95306

$38,000,000#CA427074

14,753 acres

Santa Margarita, CA 93453

$34,000,000#CA1156182

1,200 acres

Carmel, CA 93923

Buy Land in California by County

Alameda
Alpine
Amador
Butte
Calaveras
Colusa
Contra Costa
Del Norte
El Dorado
Fresno
Glenn
Humboldt
Imperial
Inyo
Kern
Kings
Lake
Lassen
Los Angeles
Madera
Marin
Mariposa
Mendocino
Merced
Modoc
Mono
Monterey
Napa
Nevada
Orange
Placer
Plumas
Riverside
Sacramento
San Benito
San Bernardino
San Diego
San Francisco
San Joaquin
San Luis Obispo
San Mateo
Santa Barbara
Santa Clara
Santa Cruz
Shasta
Sierra
Siskiyou
Solano
Sonoma
Stanislaus
Sutter
Tehama
Trinity
Tulare
Tuolumne
Ventura
Yolo
Yuba

California Farming History

Much of the Bay Area was once just fruit and almond trees for as far as the eye could see, and a long history of cattle ranches and timber farms exist throughout different regions of the state. The most common types of farms in both northern and southern California are listed below:

  • Fruit Orchards
  • Vineyards
  • Timber Farms
  • Cattle Ranches
  • Grazing Land
  • Agricultural Farms

California Acreage Today

Timber Farms:

 Much of the recreational land for sale in California sold today was once timber farmland that still supports a large wildlife population, with creeks and rivers, and often lake frontage on the property. These are wonderful places for the hunting and gaming enthusiast who wants to spend time outside among the beautiful redwoods and evergreen forests near Mt. Shasta and the mountains of northern California near the Oregon border. There are also recreational and timber farms in Humboldt and Mendocino County.

Agricultural Farmland:

 Where there once stood miles and miles of fruit trees along the rolling hills of northern and central California, now stand cement buildings and paved city centers, leaving little trace of the bountiful acres of fruit and nut tree orchards that once reached as far as the eye could see. Standing between Vacaville and the mountain passes leading out of California, The Nut Tree sign is all that is left of the once-remote truck stop along the highway, surrounded by a lonely sea of agricultural farmland spreading south and east that used to be the northern tip of California’s fruit orchards lining Hwy 80 and I-5.

The Nut Tree sign and restaurant, surrounded by outlet malls and chain restaurants that fill the Vacaville area today, now stand as a lone reminder of what used to be the last outpost of civilization before miles of open road. There are still fruit farms and orchards throughout the central valley and southern California, though at a fraction of the size they once were. Still, they often show up on listings for land for sale in California and are a beautiful place to live.

Grazing/Pastureland:

 While there are still plenty of agricultural, organic, and local produce farms in California, much of the farm and ranch land is used for livestock grazing today. Some of the grazing farmland has also given way to solar wind farms, with gently rolling hillsides across the state covered with dozens of tall, white windmills beside the highways.

Recreational Land:

 A lot of the large acreage land for sale that was once farmland or ranches has been repurposed for recreational use. Timber farms, lakefront properties, and river land in Humboldt and other neighboring communities near the Russian River are often used for recreational purposes. There are also many vineyards and wineries throughout the state, especially in the Sonoma and Napa Valley that sit just to the north of San Francisco.

Although the recent wildfires devastated the area, many of the vineyards survived and have remained open. It is not uncommon to see complete vineyards listed for sale. Although wineries and vineyards aren't purely recreational, wine tours and wine tasting are viewed as a recreational activity by many wine enthusiasts around California and throughout the world. There's a tradition of small, local wineries thriving in these northern communities where wine tasting tours are held nearly every day. Here are some of the other popular uses for recreational farm land that are frequently found on the market:

  • Spas/Resorts
  • Natural Mineral Springs
  • Organic Produce Farms

Ranch and Farmland by Region:

 This list is to give a general idea of the type of farmland or ranch for sale in California that you can typically find in the different regions of the state. This is by no means comprehensive, but rather a simple outline of what is currently on the market.

Northern California:

Northern/Central Coast

  • Cattle Ranches
  • Organic Farms
  • Vineyards
  • Coastal Farms

Mountain Ranges

  • Timber farms
  • Hunting/Fishing
  • Natural Springs
  • Equestrian Farms

Northern- Central Valley

  • River/Lake Frontage
  • Agricultural Farmland
  • Livestock/Ranches

Southern California:

  • Coastal Resorts/Spas
  • Central Valley Agricultural Farms
  • Vineyards

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Top Land Features in California