Arizona Beef Facts
- Arizona is home to 15,100 farms and ranches2, 5,864 with cattle and calves1.
- In 2022, 732,123 farms across the country reported involvement with cattle production.3
- Arizona cattle accounted for $1,260,586,000 in cash receipts in 2023.4
- There are 930,000 cattle and calves in Arizona and is ranked 31st in the nation.1
- Arizona has 171,000 beef cows that have calved with 189,000 dairy cows that have calved.1
- There are 235,000 cattle on feed in the state of Arizona.1
- Cattle are raised in every county in Arizona and on diverse landscapes, from low elevation desert rangelands to high-elevation mountain meadows.
Sources:
- U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA NASS), 2024 State Agriculture Overview: Arizona; as of January 2025 link
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2022 Census of Agriculture: 2022 Census Volume 1, Chapter 2, State Level Data link
- U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA NASS), 2022 U.S. Census of Agriculture: Highlights link
- U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA NASS), Meat Animals Production, Disposition, and Income 2024 Summary link
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The Contribution of the Beef Industry to the Arizona Economy
A study by the University of Arizona's Cooperative Extension Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (read the 2014 study here)
- Arizona's beef industry manages more than 71 percent of the state’s cattle and calf inventory.
- Grazing is the dominant land use in Arizona, making up 73 percent of Arizona’s total land area and approximately 98 percent of Arizona’s total agricultural land, with cropland accounting for the remaining 2 percent of agricultural land.
- The beef community contributed $431 million to Arizona’s GDP.
- Approximately 21 percent of all farms in Arizona specialize in beef production.
- The beef industry exports approximately $521 million (43%) of its total beef output.
- For every 100 jobs in the cattle community, 65 jobs in outside operations are created.
