While the GOP wants to cutback Medicaid and SNAP - The Ultra-Wealthy Are Betting Big on America's Luxury Ranch Estates

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

There’s a new status symbol emerging among the ultra-affluent, and it’s not worn on the wrist, parked in a garage, or framed and hung on the wall. Instead, it’s sprawling, outfitted with panoramic views, sometimes off-grid, and often comes with a herd or two. From Montana’s high plains to the rolling scrublands of Texas, expansive ranches—some rivaling national parks in size—are being scooped up at staggering prices.

What was once the domain of multigenerational farmers and cattlemen has transformed into a magnet for billionaires, celebrities, and investors chasing space and solitude. Media magnate Ted Turner owns more than a dozen ranches across half a dozen states; retired golfer Greg Norman has an almost 12,000-acre game ranch in Colorado’s White River Valley; and Kanye West has two Montana ranches totaling more than 10,000 acres.

Legacy ranch brokers say the demand is as intense as it’s ever been, with multi-thousand-acre properties changing hands both in blazes of publicity and also privately, quietly, and quickly, with per-acre pricing reaching new heights. This cultural shift isn’t happening in a vacuum. A perfect storm of post-pandemic wanderlust, Hollywood romanticism, and pop culture obsession—led by smash hits like Yellowstone—has vaulted ranch life into the UHNWI mainstream. While streaming numbers for a blockbuster western TV series may not directly correlate with ranch sales, the rustic lifestyle they glamorize is undeniably fueling the market.

“We’re seeing a luxury ranch renaissance unfold in real time. These properties offer more than just privacy and scale—they deliver a lifestyle rooted in adventure, legacy, and connection to the land,” Latham Jenkins, a Jackson Hole–based broker with Live Water Properties who has recently sold several guest ranches in the region, tells Robb Report.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/why-ultra-wealthy-betting-big-180000303.html

[Rebl2]

1. Exactly who

do they think they will get to work on those ranches.

[keep_left]

3. It reminds me of that "Galt's Gulch" cartoon.

[ananda]

10. LOL

AI robots?

Maybe that will be Musk's new task --
to create them.

[tulipsandroses]

2. Is there a tax scam/loophole involved?

I know the rich get to use some of their other toys as tax breaks.

[EarthFirst]

5. I'm sure there are large carve outs in the farm subsidy program...

…they can cosplay as a rancher and benefit from the tax incentives and farm subsidy bailouts simultaneously.

[underpants]

4. I remember that Ted Turner and Oprah owned massive amounts of Montana

That was back in the 90’s.

This also reminds me of the properties many really super wealthy supposedly have in New Zealand. Considered the safest most inhabitable in the event of a nuclear war or massive unrest.

Domestically these provide a lot of land around you as security. Just a guess.

[Rebl2]

6. I believe

Turner still has a large ranch there.

[mopinko]

7. have a friend who was the office manager for a rich lawyer here in chgo.

he has something like 30 ranches in montana and wyoming. he had 1 of the 1st teslas.
his practice defends drug companies in class action suits. quite the scam that whole thing is.

[cilla4progress]

8. Been the history of Montana

For over a hundred years

[WarGamer]

9. Thank Taylor Sheridan, Paramount and "Yellowstone"

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

12. This was going on decades before that show

Blame "Legends of Fall" if you want to blame any popular media.

[Ping Tung]

11. Luxury Ranch Estates aka Heavily guarded fortresses.