County Rankings

📊 Why County-Level Data Matters

State-level data hides enormous variation. Within Texas, a handful of Panhandle counties receive hundreds of millions in subsidies while urban counties like Harris (Houston) receive almost nothing. County rankings reveal the true geography of American farm subsidies — and it's far more concentrated than most people realize.

The top 100 counties by subsidy amount — just 0.3% of all U.S. counties — receive a disproportionate share of total farm payments. These counties cluster in the Great Plains (Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas) and the Mississippi Delta, reflecting the geography of commodity crop production. Counties dominated by fruits, vegetables, or livestock receive far less.

What to look for: Compare counties by total amount to find the biggest recipients, or sort by average payment to see where individual payments are largest. High average payments often indicate larger farming operations or heavy emergency spending — both worth investigating.