Looking for land for sale in Phelps County, Missouri? Justin Head and Ryan Record, land specialists with Whitetail Properties, help landowners around Rolla and St. James buy and sell hunting land, cattle farms, and rural homesites in trout-stream country — the Gasconade, Little Piney, and Mill Creek — with a licensed Missouri attorney on the team.
Land for Sale in Phelps County, Missouri
Whitetail Properties · Justin Head & Ryan Record
Phelps County combines the best of two worlds: the bedrock Ozarks landscape of timber, springs, and the upper Gasconade River drainage, and the steady economic base of Rolla and Missouri University of Science and Technology. The result is a land market with consistent demand from a mix of local buyers, university families, retirees, and out-of-state hunters who want quality timber and proximity to public land. The Mark Twain National Forest blankets a meaningful part of the county, and the rolling country between Rolla, St. James, and Newburg holds some of the most underrated land in Missouri.
Land for sale in Phelps County
We list hunting, farm, timber, and recreational land throughout Phelps County. Good land here moves fast and often sells before it is ever widely advertised — so if this page is light on active listings, that is usually good news for sellers. Browse what we currently have, or find out what your own ground is worth.
What Phelps County Land Is Known For
- The Gasconade River and the Little Piney — classic Ozark float water with strong smallmouth bass and trout populations on certain stretches
- Mark Twain National Forest — substantial National Forest acreage that effectively expands the hunting territory of adjacent private tracts
- Rolla and Missouri S&T — a steady professional buyer base and solid local economy
- St. James wine country — a smaller, less crowded version of Hermann with strong vineyard activity
- Productive timber — hardwood and pine country with marketable standing timber on many properties
Towns of Phelps County
Phelps County pairs a real college town with spring-fed water and wine, giving it more amenities than most counties this far into the Ozarks.
Rolla is the county seat and largest city at about 20,000, home to Missouri University of Science and Technology and sitting right on I-44 — a regional hub for healthcare, shopping, and jobs that keeps steady demand for nearby acreage.
St. James is a wine town just up the interstate, home to St. James Winery — the largest in Missouri — and the gateway to Maramec Spring Park, where the state’s fifth-largest spring feeds a celebrated trout fishery. Land near St. James carries both the wine-country and spring-water appeal.
Newburg is a small former railroad town on the Little Piney River south of Rolla, surrounded by the timbered, water-laced ground that draws hunters and floaters.
From the I-44 corridor to the spring branches and the Little Piney, Phelps County offers recreational land with town conveniences close at hand.
Property Types Common in Phelps County
- Hunting land — managed tracts with strong deer populations, often adjacent to public ground
- Cattle and hay farms — working ag land in the rolling country between the river drainages
- Recreational acreage — weekend retreats and cabin sites, often near rivers or public land
- Timber tracts — hardwood ridges and pine plantations
- Rural homesites — small acreage near Rolla, St. James, Newburg, and Edgar Springs
Public Hunting & Conservation Land Nearby
Phelps County buyers have easy public access around Rolla — Little Prairie, Bohigian, and Beaver Creek Conservation Areas — plus the Houston/Rolla/Cedar Creek district of Mark Twain National Forest and the large Woodson K. Woods CA to the north. See our guide to public hunting in the Missouri Ozarks for acreage, allowed game, and official maps across all five counties.
Deer & Turkey Harvest
In the 2025–26 season, hunters reported 2,723 deer taken in Phelps County across all methods, along with 809 turkeys in the 2025 regular spring season. See our Deer & Turkey Harvest by County page for five-year trends across all five counties we serve.
Floating & Rivers Nearby
Phelps County offers two very different floats: the spring-fed Little Piney trout stream out of the national forest, and the broad, family-friendly Gasconade River at Jerome. See our guide to our favorite floats in the Missouri Ozarks for access points and outfitters across all five counties.
Where to Stay Nearby
Phelps County makes an easy base around Rolla and St. James, with a luxury farm retreat, wine-country suites, and plenty of cabins close to the Little Piney and Gasconade. See our guide to where to stay in the Missouri Ozarks for direct-booking cabins, inns, and rentals across all five counties.
Selling Land in Phelps County, Missouri
Thinking about selling your Phelps County land? Phelps gives you the bedrock Ozarks — timber, springs, and the upper Gasconade River drainage — plus the steady pull of Rolla and Missouri S&T, which keeps a real economy and buyer base in the county. Demand here comes from hunters after spring-fed creek bottoms and hardwood ridge, recreational buyers drawn to the water around St. James and Maramec Spring, and folks who want acreage within reach of Rolla and I-44. Whether your ground is a timbered hunting tract, creek frontage, or pasture, it sells when it’s priced and marketed right.
We price Phelps County land on what comparable parcels are actually closing for — not a fantasy number the market won’t support — using real local sales, including the closed price-per-acre data we track every quarter in the Ozarks Land Report. As landowners and hunters here ourselves, we handle the whole sale: valuation, drone and mapping work, qualifying buyers, and closing. If you want a straight answer about what your property is worth, request a free, no-obligation land valuation or call Justin or Ryan directly.
Talk to a Local Land Agent
Justin Head · (573) 308-7376 · justin.head@whitetailproperties.com
Ryan Record · (573) 259-6360 · ryan.record@whitetailproperties.com
Things to Do in Phelps County
Even if you are not buying or selling land yet, Phelps County has a lot worth coming for. A few of our guides:
What our clients say
“Best agent I have ever worked with!”
Todd F.
“Justin went above and beyond. Very knowledgeable about recreational land in eastern Missouri. Excellent service, and an excellent result.”
John N.
“Justin was absolutely amazing. Knowledgeable, kind, responsive, and professional. We are all lucky to have him in our community!”
Andrew D.
Get the Quarterly Ozarks Land Report
Free every quarter — real price-per-acre trends and what’s selling across the Missouri Ozarks, built from actual closed sales. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Other Counties We Serve
Ozarks Land Report covers five Missouri counties. Whether your property sits across the line in another county we serve, or you are searching for land in a different part of the Ozarks, here is where else we work:
- Land for sale in Franklin County, Missouri
- Land for sale in Gasconade County, Missouri
- Land for sale in Crawford County, Missouri
- Land for sale in Dent County, Missouri
Frequently Asked Questions
What is land selling for in Phelps County, Missouri?
A cattle farm outside Rolla, a creek-frontage recreational tract, and a rural homesite near St. James are three different markets wearing one county name. We publish what actually sold each quarter in the free Ozarks Land Report, and we’ll put a specific number on your property with a free valuation.
Do I need a survey before selling my land?
Often no — but Phelps County ground with old easements, shared driveways, or legal descriptions written generations ago benefits from a careful review before listing. Catching those issues early keeps contracts from falling apart later, and with a licensed Missouri attorney on the team, that review is built into how we list land.
How long does it take to sell land in Phelps County?
Properties with good access and realistic pricing draw activity within the first weeks; remote or hard-to-finance tracts take longer. We’d rather tell you the honest timeline up front than promise speed we can’t deliver.
Can I buy Phelps County land if I live out of state or hours away?
Yes — a large share of our buyers shop from St. Louis, Kansas City, and out of state. We walk properties on camera, fly FAA-licensed drone tours, and provide the kind of detailed video and documentation that lets you evaluate a tract seriously before you ever make the drive, and much of the transaction can be handled remotely.
Phelps County Land Research — The Tools We Use
When you’re sizing up land in Phelps County, the county’s GIS map does most of the heavy lifting — and a quick check of the state survey index can save you real money. Here are the two we reach for on every Phelps County tract.
Phelps County GIS / parcel maps (Integrity GIS)
The Phelps County GIS viewer is the workhorse here. Search by owner, parcel number, or address and the parcel draws right on the aerial — its shape, approximate acreage, road frontage, and the surrounding ground. It’s the fastest way to understand a property before you ever set foot on it, and it’ll often surface ownership and parcel details too. Keep in mind the mapped lines are a planning approximation, not a survey.
Missouri Land Survey Index — recorded surveys statewide
Pair that with the Missouri Land Survey Index from the Department of Agriculture. It lets you find and purchase any survey already recorded on a Phelps County tract — so if the corners have been pinned before, you can pull that work instead of paying to survey it again.
For more on vetting rural ground, see our guides on checking legal access before you buy and Missouri’s purple paint law.
These are third-party and government resources — information can be outdated or incomplete, and none of it replaces a current survey or a title search. When you’re ready to buy or sell in Phelps County, or want help reading any of it, call Justin Head at (573) 308-7376 or Ryan Record at (573) 259-6360.