How Much Can an Agritourism Farm Really Make? The Honest Numbers (and Why Most Farms Earn Less Than You Think)

4 days ago

18 min read

A farmer at a porch table checking a ledger and calculator, a quiet empty field behind him on the left and families carrying apple baskets at a busy U-pick orchard with a farm stand and parked cars on the right

Big Springs Farm, near Lanesboro in rural southeast Minnesota, has been run by the same family since 1873. Co-owners Justin and Pamela Brown cut a 10-acre corn maze, grow about 100 kinds of pumpkins, and drew more than 250 people on opening day. The Post Bulletin newspaper called the venture "lucrative if not technically profitable."

That line is the honest answer for most farms. By our calculation from USDA Census income brackets, the middle U.S. agritourism farm took in only about $5,000 to $10,000 from visitors in 2022. That is far below the $44,004 "average" you see quoted everywhere. Farms near more people earn more. And none of those figures are take-home pay.

The Short Answer: How Much Do Agritourism Farms Make?

The average U.S. farm with agritourism income grossed $44,004 in 2022. But the middle farm grossed only about $5,000 to $10,000 (our calculation from USDA brackets). A small group of big earners pulls the average up. Location, visitor numbers and costs decide where your farm lands. In two extension budgets below, only about 19 and 33 cents of each dollar became profit (our calculation).

The "Average" Agritourism Farm Doesn't Exist

Here is the headline everyone quotes. In 2022, 28,617 U.S. farms earned $1.26 billion from agritourism and recreation, an average of $44,004 each. We broke those national numbers down in our Agritourism Statistics 2026 guide, and we weighed the profit question in Is Agritourism Profitable?

Today's question is different: what does a normal farm make?

An average is a poor guide when a few farms earn a fortune. Put one farm earning $1 million in a room with nine farms earning $5,000 each. The "average" farm in that room makes over $100,000.

Bar chart comparing the $44,004 average agritourism income per U.S. farm in 2022 with the middle farm's estimated $5,000 to $10,000 — The average is pulled up by a small group of big earners. The middle farm grosses far less.

How we worked out the "typical" farm

USDA does not publish a median (middle) figure. It publishes how many farms fall into each income bracket. We used the 2022 Census table to find the farm in the middle of the line.

2022 agritourism income bracket	Farms	Share of farms	Running total
Under $1,000	5,364	18.7%	18.7%
$1,000 to $4,999	8,281	28.9%	47.7%
$5,000 to $9,999	3,807	13.3%	61.0%
$10,000 to $24,999	4,564	15.9%	76.9%
$25,000 or more	6,601	23.1%	100%

The 50% mark falls inside the $5,000 to $9,999 bracket. So the middle U.S. agritourism farm grossed somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000 from visitors. That is our calculation, not an official USDA figure, but the bracket counts come straight from the Census.

Nearly one farm in five took in under $1,000.

It's the same story state by state

Kentucky: more than three-fourths of farms with agritourism income reported less than $10,000.
Georgia (2022): 51.4% of agritourism farms earned under $5,000, even though the state average was $41,849.
Missouri (2017): farms earning $25,000 or more were just 13% of operations, yet took 86% of receipts.

And it isn't new. In 2014, USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) reported that 51% of agritourism farms earned under $5,000. Only 1 in 7 earned over $25,000.

Reality Check: When someone quotes you an "average," ask for the middle.

An average can be honest and still mislead you. When a consultant, a lender or a news story says "agritourism farms make $44,000," ask what the middle farm makes. In U.S. agritourism, by our calculation, the answer is about $5,000 to $10,000.

The good news? Small acreage is not the problem. Farms under 50 acres earn about one-quarter of all U.S. agritourism income, and the largest size group by number of farms is 10 to 49.9 acres, averaging $33,903. We covered that growth in why farms under 10 acres grew visitor money 137%.

So if size isn't what separates the $5,000 farm from the $50,000 farm, what is?

The Location Secret: Farms Near People Earn More

ERS has studied this for years. Its findings point one way.

In 2019, ERS researchers wrote that "agritourism farms close to urban areas tend to have higher agritourism revenue." They added: "Farms and ranches in more populated counties also earned more revenue."

In a December 2024 chart on the 2022 Census, ERS repeated it: "farms in more populated counties tend to earn more agritourism income." The top 50 counties sat in just 23 states, yet earned $352 million. That is more than a quarter of the national total. ERS put the median county's agritourism income at $161,000.

ERS also found that "Farms in remote rural areas are more likely to participate in agritourism." Remote farms try it more often. Farms near people earn more from it.

Reality Check: There is no official "city farm vs country farm" average.

You may see blogs quote a dollar figure for metro farms versus rural farms. We found no such per-farm average in any ERS agritourism report. What ERS has published are statistical findings that farms in more populated counties earn more, plus where agritourism farms are found. Be wary of anyone who gives you a neat "city farm makes X" number.

Where agritourism farms actually sit

A 2012 ERS report used 2007 USDA survey data to show where agritourism farms were. The largest single group, 44.1%, was in the most rural "noncore" counties. Another 34.5% were in metro counties.

But look at the distance to a town. More than half of agritourism farms were less than 5 miles from a city of 10,000 people or more.

Bar chart showing 54.2% of U.S. agritourism farms are under 5 miles from a city of 10,000 people, 21.8% are 5 to 20 miles away and 24.0% are 20 miles or more — More than half of agritourism farms were within 5 miles of a town of 10,000+. Data: USDA ERS, 2007 survey.

Earlier ERS work found that nearly two-thirds of farm recreation visitors lived in metro counties.

The visitors come from towns and cities. The money follows the visitors.

Two farms, two very different results

Now go back to Big Springs Farm. It is a beautiful, historic farm in rural Minnesota. It draws good crowds. It still isn't clearly profitable.

Compare Southern Belle Farm in McDonough, Georgia, south of Atlanta, run by Jake Carter's family. It serves a metro market of about 6 million people and draws about 500,000 guests a year, including 40,000 schoolchildren.

Or Derthick's Farm and Corn Maze, about 40 minutes from Cleveland, Ohio. Manager MaryEllen Hamlin told Marketplace: "I make about 40 acres of hay, but there's no income in that." The story reported that virtually all of her profits come from agritourism.

Same hard work. The difference is how many people live within an easy drive.

Nature can beat a nearby city

ERS also found higher income for farms in or near counties with abundant natural amenities, the kind of scenery and outdoors that people travel for.

One study using 2012 Census data put a number on it. Being an hour closer to a National Park Service site was linked to about $2,150 more agritourism revenue per farm.

So a remote farm can win, if it gives people a strong reason to drive.

Gross Is Not Take-Home: What You Actually Keep

Every figure so far is gross: money in the till before a single bill is paid.

When ERS looked at the whole farm business of agritourism farms in 2007, the result was sobering. Average gross farm income was $184,876. Household income from farming was negative: minus $1,531. ERS wrote that household income from farming "was actually negative for most agritourism farms." Average off-farm income was $73,895, which is what kept these households going.

Those are whole-farm numbers, not agritourism alone, but they show the pressure.

Three extension budgets that show the gap

1. U-pick and tours on a peach orchard (Virginia Tech, 2025). U-pick brought in $46,800 and tours, rides and workshops another $20,000. Then came $15,000 in agritourism costs, $16,400 in extra labor and $23,400 in wholesale sales lost because that fruit went to U-pick instead. Extra profit: $13,000.

Waterfall chart showing $66,800 of new U-pick and tour revenue on a peach orchard shrinking to $13,000 of extra profit after costs, labor and lost wholesale sales — In this extension example, about 19 cents of each new dollar became profit (our calculation).

2. A sunflower maze (Penn State Extension, 2024). About 3,500 visitors at $5 each, plus sunflower sales, brought in about $21,000. After costs, the example kept about $6,900.

3. A farm tour (Rutgers/SARE training). With $4,000 in fixed costs, including $1,000 for insurance, a $100 tour price and $50 of variable costs per tour, the example needs 80 tours just to break even.

Penn State Extension, citing a national study, reports that 66% of farms had agritourism profit under $10,000. And 79% reported cash-flow or operating-capital problems. A national survey led by the University of Vermont (2018 data) found that 26% of U.S. operators reported no profit or a loss.

Why visitor numbers decide everything

A University of Georgia budget priced a 9-acre corn maze. Planting and eight weeks of running it cost $8,857. Add its share of overhead, and the total came to $20,943.80 a year (2008 dollars).

Bar chart of corn maze break-even price per visitor: $41.89 at 500 visitors, $20.94 at 1,000, $10.47 at 2,000 and $4.19 at 5,000 — The same maze can lose money or make money. Visitor volume decides it.

A corn maze field with pumpkins in the foreground on an autumn farm — Illustrative photo, not Big Springs Farm or any farm named in this article. Photo: Hannah McBride on Unsplash.

An illustrative worked example (our numbers)

Here is a simple illustration using that same Georgia cost figure. It is our example, not a real farm.

Farm A is far from town and draws 1,500 visitors at $10 each. Revenue: $15,000. Cost: $20,943.80. Result: a loss of about $5,944.
Farm B has the same maze nearer a town and draws 5,000 visitors at $10. Revenue: $50,000. Cost: $20,943.80. Result: a profit of about $29,056.

Same maze. Same ticket price. A $35,000 swing, driven by how many people show up. Costs have risen since 2008, so treat this as a lesson, not a forecast.

Field-Tested Play: Run your own numbers before you build anything.

Plug your likely visitors, ticket price and add-ons into the free Agritourism Revenue Calculator. Then put your costs into the Farm Profit Calculator to see what your first season really keeps. Run it three times: a bad year, a normal year and a great year. If only the great year works, rethink the plan.

Start-up costs vary hugely. A 2026 DTN/Progressive Farmer report put the range at $50,000 to $500,000-plus. For a breakdown by activity, see how much it costs to start an agritourism business.

What Each Activity Really Brings In

Here are the best real figures we could find. Read the "typical or average" column carefully.

Activity	Real figure	Typical or average?	Source and year
Airbnb farm stay	about $8,000 a year	Typical host (gross)	Airbnb, 2025 data
Airbnb farm stay	about $9,600 a year	Average listing	Airbnb via Philadelphia Inquirer, 2026
Hipcamp (California)	$14,500 a year	Average host	Hipcamp via Ag Alert, 2026
Deer hunting (Texas)	$20,658 a year	Average landowner revenue, among those who reported	Texas A&M survey, 2022
Small-game lease (Texas)	$2 to $10 per acre	Price range	Texas Parks and Wildlife
U-pick peaches plus tours	$66,800 in, $13,000 extra profit	Extension example	Virginia Tech, 2025
Sunflower maze	about $21,000 in, about $6,900 kept	Extension example	Penn State, 2024
Ornamental gourds (Kentucky)	about $2,000 per acre	Average	Univ. of Kentucky via WEKU, 2026
School tours (Alberta)	C$4 to C$6 per person (partial day); C$100 minimum common	Price range	Alberta Agriculture, 2007 values
Weddings	No reliable per-event figure	n/a	Farms, barns and ranches hosted 17% of ceremonies (The Knot, 2023)

Notice the farm stay rows. Airbnb says the typical farm stay host earned about $8,000 in 2025. Airbnb told a newspaper the average listing can make about $9,600. Typical sits below average again. That is the same pattern as the whole industry.

Bar chart of gross yearly agritourism income by activity: Texas deer hunting $20,658 average, California Hipcamp $14,500 average, Airbnb farm stay $9,600 average and $8,000 typical — These are gross figures. Cleaning, insurance, marketing and your time still come out.

Farm stays and camping

Farm stays are the clearest "second income" for many farms. Together, farm stay hosts on Airbnb earned about $120 million in 2025. In 2026, Airbnb also announced a Farm to Stay grant program with grants of up to $10,000.

Some do far better than average. Valerie Fellenbaum of Pleasant Pines Stables in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, says that from March to about the end of October they're "anywhere from 85% to 90% booked." She and her husband say they make "much more" than the $9,600 average.

If you're weighing stays, read our step-by-step farm stay guide before you build a cabin.

A horse grazing near a rustic farm cabin on a green hillside, the kind of setting used for farm stays — Illustrative photo, not Pleasant Pines Stables or any farm named in this article. Photo: T Y on Unsplash.

Mazes and pumpkins

Fall attractions can earn well, but only with crowds. Kentucky research shows gourds bring about $2,000 per acre on average, more than double corn. Cornell professor Stephen Reiners told The Hustle that typical pumpkin overhead might run $3,000 to $4,500 per acre.

One urban pumpkin-lot owner said that on each new lot, "we're going to lose money the first year." If a maze is on your list, run the break-even math above before you plant a single row.

Hunting

Hunting shows the highest yearly figure per host or landowner in our table. But the Texas average comes only from the 15% of landowners who reported revenue, and the survey authors warn it can't be used to work out profit margins.

How Big a Slice of Farm Income Visitors Really Are

Here is another honest truth. For most successful farms, agritourism is one slice of the pie, not the whole pie.

Riehm Produce Farm, Tiffin, Ohio: fall agritainment makes up about 10% of annual income. Farmers markets, the farm stand and a CSA bring in most of the rest.
Patterson Fruit Farm, near Cleveland, Ohio: about a fifth of revenue comes from its ticketed "fun fest" area, weddings and pick-your-own apples. Roughly 80% still comes from its market and grocery sales.
Eagle Creek Farms, Bowden, Alberta: agri-tourism brings in about a third of farm income.
Green Mountain Girls Farm, Vermont: tours, classes and stays can be about a third of income.
Derthick's, near Cleveland: virtually all profits.

Nationally, agritourism was 5.6% of farm-related income in 2017, according to ERS. For more on revenue models, see How Much Money Can You Really Make From Agritourism In Your Farm?

A 10% to 33% slice can still cover a loan payment or carry you through a bad crop year.

Canada and the UK: What the Official Numbers Say

Canada: the number you're looking for doesn't exist

If you farm in Canada, here is something few people will tell you. Statistics Canada does not count agri-tourism in its Census of Agriculture.

StatCan tested the topic in 2011, but the concepts weren't understood or defined the same way across the country. It was left out of the 2016 census as outside its scope, and the 2021 questionnaire has no agri-tourism question. Agri-tourism now sits inside "all other farm revenue" in the Farm Financial Survey, and we found no separate published total. So there is no official count of Canadian farms with agri-tourism or what they earn.

The closest official clue is direct sales. In 2020, 13.6% of Canadian farms (25,917) sold directly to consumers, up from 12.7% in 2015. In Ontario it was 15.9%.

You may also see "$633 million" for Ontario agritourism. That 2026 study figure is annual economic output, an economic-impact measure. It is not a total of what farms earned. The same study reported $313 million in GDP and more than 8,700 jobs.

Reality Check: Insurance can eat a good year.

Agritourism Ontario's CEO cited one business whose liability premiums rose from $17,000 in 2021 to $123,000 in 2023. Yearly rises of 20% to 40% are "becoming increasingly common," the GTA Agricultural Action Committee reported. Get quotes before you count your profit.

UK: visitor income is real, but letting buildings pays more

England's Farm Business Survey gives one of the clearest official pictures. In 2024/25, 72% of farms had some diversified activity. The mean diversified income per diversifying farm was £31,100.

But look at which activities pay.

Bar chart of average income per English farm by diversified activity in 2024/25: letting buildings £27,900, other renewables £19,800, tourist accommodation and catering £8,700, sport and recreation £3,600 — In England, letting buildings pays far more on average than visitor activities. Source: Defra.

Defra calls sport and recreation "the third most common type" of diversification, yet it has "the lowest average enterprise income": £3,600. Tourist accommodation and catering averaged £8,700. Back in 2014/15, that figure was £7,700. In cash terms, it rose just £1,000 in a decade.

Diversification still matters. In 2024/25, 21% of English farms made no profit at all. Among diversified farms, 26% got at least half their Farm Business Income from diversification.

In Scotland, 60% of farms had at least one diversified activity in 2024-25. The gap in average farm income between diversified and non-diversified farms widened to £32,600.

Location helps here too. The Stamper family at Wellington Farm in Cumbria, on the edge of the Lake District National Park, launched six glamping pods with hot tubs in 2020. FarmingUK reported they were "operating at an average of 80% occupancy." For a UK success story with real detail, read our Farmer Copleys case study.

A Farm People Travel To: What Bloopy Durians Taught Me

I'm Stephen Loke, founder of Bloopy Durians, a durian farm in Bentong, Malaysia, featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. Durian seasons are short: about 4 to 5 months a year, from December to February and June to August.

So we give people a reason to make the trip. Visitors reach the farm on a four-wheel-drive adventure. They come from all over the world, including America, Canada, the UK, Germany, Russia, Japan, Australia, China, Thailand and Hong Kong. Many companies send their staff and management to the farm. When people search Google to "eat Musang King," we rank at the top.

The second lesson matters even more. We keep a WhatsApp list of loyal customers who buy durians whenever they are available. That list is a reliable source of income, and we also supply durians for corporate events. Make every visitor count, then keep them buying long after they drive home.

How to Move From Typical to Top

The numbers point to four moves. Each one pushes your farm from the $5,000 crowd toward the farms that earn real money.

Four-step diagram for raising agritourism income: go where the people are, sell the trip not the ticket, raise spend per visitor, fill more days and keep buyers — The four moves that separate typical agritourism farms from top earners.

Step 1: Go where the people are

ERS says farms in more populated counties earn more. You can't move your farm, but you can move your offer toward people. Hold events in town, sell at markets and make sure drivers can find you.

Field-Tested Play: Draw your one-hour circle.

Open a map and mark everything within an hour's drive: towns, schools, churches, employers, campgrounds, tourist routes. That is your market. Then fix your listing using our guide to getting found on Google Maps.

Step 2: Sell the trip, not the ticket

If you're far from town, a $10 maze won't pull people 90 minutes. A full-day experience, a rare crop, a view or an overnight stay might. ERS links natural amenities to higher income for a reason. Our guide on how transport and access affect agritourism shows how remote farms make the trip part of the fun.

Step 3: Raise spend per visitor

Dull's Tree Farm, about an hour north of Indianapolis, draws about 80,000 visitors a year. Food accounts for 20% to 25% of revenue. "We sell a donut per visitor on average," co-manager Lucas Dull told DTN.

You don't always need more visitors, just more spend per visitor. See upsells that double your agritourism revenue.

A wooden bucket of freshly picked green and red apples at a U-pick orchard — Illustrative photo, not any farm named in this article. Photo: Ryan Arnst on Unsplash.

Step 4: Fill more days and keep your buyers

A maze open eight weekends has eight weekends to earn its money. Stays, school tours, classes and a second season spread your costs over more days. And a customer list, by email or WhatsApp, turns one visit into years of sales.

Field-Tested Play: Collect contacts from day one.

Every visitor who leaves without a way to reach them is a lost sale. Offer a reason to sign up: first notice of the harvest, a members' early-entry hour or a seasonal discount.

Legal, Insurance and Tax Questions to Ask Before You Count the Money

This is not legal, tax or insurance advice. These are questions to ask the right professionals before you open the gate.

Insurance costs vary widely. In 2012, one Maine farm owner said liability premiums run $1,000 to $10,000 a year, depending on the farm's revenue. Illinois offers an agritourism liability insurance tax credit. By our calculation from a University of Illinois study, the 141 applications processed in 2022 reported about $3,300 each in liability insurance paid, and 44.4% of operators surveyed didn't know the credit existed. In the 2024 national survey, 70.5% of operators surveyed carried agritourism-specific liability insurance.

Questions to ask your insurance agent:

Does my farm policy cover paying visitors, or do I need agritourism liability cover?
Are overnight guests, hayrides, animals and food covered?
What will my premium be if visitor numbers double?

Questions to ask a lawyer:

Does my state or province have an agritourism liability law, and what signs or waivers does it require?
Do my zoning and permits allow events, parking and stays?

Questions to ask your accountant:

Is my agritourism income farm income or business income for tax purposes?
Which costs can I deduct, and should I track each activity separately?

Start with our guides to agritourism insurance, agritourism laws by state and tax questions to ask your accountant.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do agritourism farms make a year?

In 2022, the average U.S. farm with agritourism income grossed $44,004. By our calculation from USDA's income brackets, the middle farm grossed about $5,000 to $10,000. Nearly one in four farms earned $25,000 or more.

Is agritourism profitable for small farms?

It can be. ERS notes that "smaller farm operations seldom report significant agritourism revenue." But a 2013 study found that "small-scale farms that involved agritourism generated the greatest household incomes and returns to assets" in its comparison. Farms under 50 acres earn about a quarter of all U.S. agritourism income.

Do farms near cities make more from agritourism?

Yes, on the evidence. ERS has found that farms near urban areas and in more populated counties earn more agritourism revenue. There is no official per-farm average for city versus country farms, though.

How much does a farm stay make on Airbnb?

Airbnb says the typical farm stay host earned about $8,000 in 2025, and it told a newspaper the average listing can make about $9,600 a year. These are gross earnings before costs.

How much money does a corn maze make?

It depends on visitors. In a University of Georgia budget, a corn maze costing $20,943.80 a year needed $41.89 per visitor to break even at 500 visitors, but only $4.19 at 5,000. A Penn State sunflower maze example took in about $21,000 and kept about $6,900.

How much does agritourism insurance cost?

There's no official national range. One Maine owner reported $1,000 to $10,000 a year (2012), Illinois tax-credit applications averaged about $3,300 in premiums paid in 2022 (our calculation), and one Ontario business's premium hit $123,000. Get quotes before you launch.

What share of farm income comes from agritourism?

Nationally, agritourism was 5.6% of U.S. farm-related income in 2017. On the successful farms in this article, it ranged from about 10% to a third of income, and at Derthick's in Ohio it brings in virtually all the profit.

The Bottom Line

Most agritourism farms earn less than the headlines suggest. The middle farm takes in a few thousand dollars, and many keep only part of that.

But the farms that win aren't lucky. They are close to people or give people a reason to travel. They know their numbers before they build. They raise spend per visitor, fill more days and keep their customers coming back.

Find out which kind of farm you have right now.

Take the Free Farm Readiness Quiz

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P.S. Remember Big Springs Farm: more than 150 years of family farming, a 10-acre maze, a strong opening day, and still "not technically profitable." Hard work alone doesn't decide the result. Location, visitor numbers and a plan do. Take the quiz and see which piece your farm is missing before you spend a dollar.

About the author: Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com, whose farm is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. This article is for education only and is not legal, tax, insurance or financial advice.

Sources

Photo Credits

Corn maze with pumpkins: Photo by Hannah McBride on Unsplash (Unsplash License).
Horse grazing near a rustic cabin: Photo by T Y on Unsplash (Unsplash License).
Bucket of picked apples: Photo by Ryan Arnst on Unsplash (Unsplash License).
All charts and diagrams: AgritourismSuccess.com, made from the sources listed above.