How Much Is an Acre Worth in Fauquier County?

The short answer

Fauquier County's vacant-land median sold price was about $432,000 as of the third quarter of 2025, across roughly 90 to 100 land sales a year. Improved farms typically sell for $1.15 million to $4 million, with occasional sales reaching $7.9 million to $9 million for larger or higher-amenity properties. For contrast, Virginia's statewide average agricultural land value is about $5,434 per acre — a useful baseline, though most Fauquier parcels sell well above bare agricultural value once frontage, improvements, and location are factored in.

These are county-wide medians. An individual parcel's value depends heavily on acreage, soils, road frontage, improvements, and, for a narrow slice of the county, proximity to data-center infrastructure.

What moves value in Fauquier

Terrain and soils vary widely across the county, from the rolling pasture and hay ground in the Piedmont north and west to more wooded, hillier terrain toward the Blue Ridge foothills. Working cattle and hay operations are common, and the average Fauquier farm runs about 180 acres, per USDA census data — though many smaller operations run at a loss and depend on the land-use tax program to stay viable.

Fauquier sits in the middle of the corridor developers are now watching most closely. Live data-center proposals exist in the Remington and Midland corridor, where multiple campuses have been floated, and around Vint Hill, where a developer has been signing option agreements directly with landowners near Vint Hill and Catlett. That interest touches a specific set of parcels near existing infrastructure — it does not mean most Fauquier farmland is in play.

Land-use taxation is a bigger factor here than in most Virginia counties. Fauquier uses a sliding-scale assessment, and rollback taxes on a change of use can reach back to the effective date of the land-use agreement, not just the standard five years. Zoning matters too: in the county's RA and RC districts, which cover roughly 90% of Fauquier, parcels over 30 acres can typically subdivide only about 15% of the property for residential lots, with division rights fixed to land records as of May 21, 1981.

Fauquier's Purchase of Development Rights program is a value factor few outside the county know about. It pays $60,000 per development right retired in exchange for a permanent conservation easement, provided the parcel is 50 or more contiguous acres, zoned RA or RC, actively agricultural, and not already under easement. More than 13,000 acres in the county have been protected through the program. It isn't a data-center-scale payment, but it's a real option for owners of large, unencumbered parcels who want a fixed number instead of a market gamble.

What a per-acre figure leaves out in Fauquier

An average price per acre is a starting point and a poor finishing point, because two Fauquier parcels of identical size can be worth very different money.

The first divider is use value versus market value. For Tax Year 2026 the state's advisory council put Fauquier's average agricultural use value at $590 an acre on soil classes I through VII. That is the number the county assesses enrolled land against, and it has almost nothing to do with what the same ground would bring on the open market.

The second is whether the parcel can be divided. In RA and RC zoning, which covers roughly ninety per cent of the county, a parcel over thirty acres may subdivide only about fifteen per cent of its area, and those rights are fixed to the parcel as of the May 21, 1981 land records.

The third is what it costs to make a parcel buildable, which is where well and septic costs in Fauquier stop being an abstraction. Towns matter too: ground near Warrenton, Marshall, The Plains and Bealeton prices differently in each.

Land vs. improved farm

Bare land and an improved, operating farm are different products in this market. A vacant parcel sells on acreage, frontage, and development potential. An improved farm — with a house, barns, fencing, and working infrastructure — sells to a buyer who wants to move in and operate, and commands a meaningfully higher price per acre as a result. Fauquier's improved-farm sales in the $1.15 million to $4 million range, and the occasional $7.9 million to $9 million sale, generally reflect larger acreage, equestrian infrastructure, or well-maintained residences rather than bare ground alone. With roughly 90 to 100 land sales a year across the whole county, a single well-improved farm coming to market can noticeably shift what the local comparable data looks like for months.

The data-center caveat for Fauquier

Fauquier is one of the stricter jurisdictions in the region on this front. The county adopted a rule in March 2024 requiring a special exception for any data-center building over 50,000 square feet near Vint Hill, and the Town of Warrenton removed data centers as a by-right industrial use in July 2025. Amazon's already-approved Warrenton facility remains in citizen litigation, with oral arguments held in June 2026.

That friction means Fauquier's data-center land values, while real — a 47.7-acre Vint Hill sale went for about $1.9 million per acre in July 2023, a county record — sit well below what comparable infrastructure commands in Loudoun. For the full regional price ladder, see our data center land value page; for what an approach from a developer actually looks like, see what a data center offer really means.

How to get a real number

County-wide medians are a starting point, not a valuation. Your acreage, soils, frontage, easement status, land-use enrollment, and proximity to any infrastructure all shape what your specific parcel is worth. That's especially true in Fauquier, where the gap between a bare hay field and an equestrian-ready estate a mile away can be enormous, and where PDR eligibility, division rights, and rollback exposure all factor into what a sale actually nets you. For a broader look at how Fauquier compares to its neighboring counties, see our land value page; for a look at what's actually happening on the ground here, see our Fauquier County page.

Sources

• USDA 2022 Census of Agriculture: Fauquier County profile (PDF)