Looking for land for sale in Franklin County, Missouri? Justin Head and Ryan Record are Whitetail Properties land specialists and lifelong Franklin County locals who help landowners buy and sell hunting tracts, farms, and recreational ground from the Missouri River bottoms to the Meramec and Bourbeuse valleys — with a licensed Missouri attorney on the team for the title, access, and estate questions that come with rural land.
Land for Sale in Franklin County, Missouri
Whitetail Properties · Justin Head & Ryan Record
Franklin County is one of the most accessible and diverse pieces of countryside in Missouri — close enough to St. Louis to commute in, far enough out to feel like the country, and stitched together with the kind of rolling hardwood ridges, creek bottoms, and family farms that drew the first European settlers to this stretch of the Missouri River valley two centuries ago. Whether you’re looking for a managed hunting tract along the Bourbeuse, a working farm near Union or Washington, or a weekend retreat near Sullivan and the edge of the Ozarks, Franklin County land has something most other Missouri counties don’t: real proximity to a major metro and a real, working land economy.
Land for sale in Franklin County
We list hunting, farm, timber, and recreational land throughout Franklin 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 Franklin County Land Is Known For
- Easy access to St. Louis — most of the county is 30 to 60 minutes from the metro, drawing buyers who want acreage without giving up city access
- The Bourbeuse and Meramec Rivers — some of the best smallmouth bass water in the state runs through this county
- Wine country — the Missouri Rhineland and the Hermann AVA touch the northern part of the county; vineyards and tasting rooms support a strong tourism economy
- A real working farm community — cattle, hay, row crop, and an active 4-H and FFA culture rooted in towns like Union, Washington, Pacific, St. Clair, Sullivan, and New Haven
- Hunting — whitetail and turkey populations are strong, with managed habitat throughout the river bottoms and timber ridges
Towns of Franklin County
Franklin County isn’t one place — it’s a string of distinct river towns, each with its own feel, and where you buy land here often comes down to which of them you want to be near.
Washington is the county’s anchor, a city of about 14,500 set on a bluff above the Missouri River. Its brick downtown is one of the best-preserved in the state — more than 400 buildings on the National Register — and it’s been the “Corncob Pipe Capital of the World” since the Missouri Meerschaum factory started turning out pipes on the riverfront in 1869. With a hospital, full shopping, the Rotary Riverfront Trail, and the Hermann wine country just upriver, Washington is the hub buyers lean on; land 15–20 minutes out puts you in the country while keeping town close.
Union, the county seat since 1827, sits on the Bourbeuse River about 50 miles southwest of St. Louis. It’s the government and services center — courthouse, schools, everyday amenities — wrapped in the kind of working-farm country (cattle, hay, and row crop) that defines the middle of the county. The Bourbeuse running through it is also some of the best smallmouth water in the region.
Pacific is the county’s eastern doorstep and the shortest commute to the metro — roughly 35 minutes to St. Louis. Tucked among the silica bluffs along old Route 66 and the lower Meramec, with Shaw Nature Reserve next door, it’s the natural fit for buyers who want real acreage without giving up an easy drive to the city.
Beyond these three, Sullivan, St. Clair, and New Haven round out the county, each opening onto a different stretch of timber, river bottom, and farm ground.
Property Types Common in Franklin County
- Hunting tracts — managed for whitetail and turkey, often along creek bottoms or in mature hardwood timber
- Working farms — cattle pasture, hay ground, and row crop, often family-owned for multiple generations
- Recreational acreage — weekend retreats with cabin sites, ATV/UTV access, and water features
- Timber tracts — hardwood ridges with marketable standing timber
- Rural homesites — smaller acreage parcels for buyers wanting a country home with privacy
Public Hunting & Conservation Land Nearby
Buyers drawn to Franklin County for hunting have strong public-land options close by. The county holds several of the largest conservation areas on the northern edge of the Ozarks — including Meramec Conservation Area (~3,879 acres), Little Indian Creek (~4,205 acres), and Long Ridge (~1,866 acres), with deer, turkey, and Meramec and Bourbeuse River access. 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 6,751 deer taken in Franklin County across all methods, and 956 turkeys in the 2025 regular spring season — the highest spring turkey total of any county in Missouri. See our Deer & Turkey Harvest by County page for five-year trends across all five counties we serve.
Floating & Rivers Nearby
Franklin County sits on two of our home-water floats: the slow, shaded Bourbeuse River and the easygoing lower Meramec around Sullivan and St. Clair, with Old Cove Canoe & Kayak and the Meramec State Park concession close by. See our guide to our favorite floats in the Missouri Ozarks for access points and outfitters across all five counties.
Where to Stay Nearby
Want to try the area before you buy? Franklin County puts you 45–75 minutes from St. Louis, with cabins at Meramec State Park and historic B&Bs and whole-home rentals around Washington’s wine country. 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 Franklin County, Missouri
Thinking about selling your Franklin County land? You’re in one of the strongest rural markets we cover. Franklin County sits on the western edge of the St. Louis metro, so hunting tracts, timber, row-crop and pasture ground, and recreational acreage all draw a deep buyer pool — weekend hunters out of the city, farmers expanding their base, and families wanting a place on the Bourbeuse or Meramec. Whether your ground is timbered ridge near Sullivan, bottomland outside Union, or a smaller homesite tract near Washington or Pacific, there’s demand for it when it’s priced and marketed right.
We price Franklin 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 Franklin County
Even if you are not buying or selling land yet, Franklin County has a lot worth coming for. A few of our guides:
What our clients say
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“Justin went above and beyond. Very knowledgeable about recreational land in eastern Missouri. Excellent service, and an excellent result.”
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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 Gasconade County, Missouri
- Land for sale in Crawford County, Missouri
- Land for sale in Phelps County, Missouri
- Land for sale in Dent County, Missouri
Frequently Asked Questions
What is land selling for in Franklin County, Missouri?
It depends more on the specific tract than people expect — access, road frontage, timber, water, and proximity to Washington, Union, and the I-44 corridor all move the number significantly. Rather than quote a county average that fits nobody’s farm, we publish actual closed-sale trends every quarter in the free Ozarks Land Report, and we’ll give you a specific answer for your property with a free land valuation.
Do I need a survey before selling my land?
Not always — many rural tracts sell on their existing legal description. But older descriptions, fence lines that don’t match the deed, and unreleased liens are common in Franklin County, and they’re cheaper to fix before listing than during a contract. Justin is a licensed Missouri attorney, so reviewing title and access issues before your land hits the market is part of how we work.
How long does it take to sell hunting or recreational land in the Ozarks?
There’s no one-size answer — priced-right tracts with good access can move quickly, while landlocked or overpriced ground can sit for a year or more. Timing comes down to access, condition, and pricing — and we’ll give you a realistic read on your specific property, not a sales pitch.
Is Franklin County a good place to buy hunting land within an hour of St. Louis?
It’s one of the best options there is — big timber, creek bottoms along the Meramec and Bourbeuse, and a strong deer herd, all reachable from St. Louis in roughly an hour. That proximity keeps buyer demand consistent, which matters whether you’re buying for the long haul or thinking about resale someday.
Franklin County Land Research — The Tools We Use
Smart land buying starts with homework. Before you ever walk a tract in Franklin County, a handful of public resources let you check boundaries, ownership, acreage, taxes, and recorded surveys — the same tools we lean on for every property we list and sell. Here’s where to look and how to actually use each one.
Missouri Land Survey Index — find & buy recorded surveys
Maintained by the Missouri Department of Agriculture, the Missouri Land Survey Index lets you search for and purchase land surveys recorded across the state. If a prior survey exists for a Franklin County tract, this is where you find it — invaluable for confirming corners, easements, and whether the acreage on paper matches what’s actually on the ground before you trust a fence line. (This one is statewide, so it works for every county we cover.)
Franklin County GIS / Parcel Viewer — maps, boundaries & ownership
The Franklin County GIS parcel viewer is an interactive map where you can search by owner name, parcel number, or address and see the parcel drawn on aerial imagery — its shape, approximate acreage, road frontage, and the neighboring tracts. It’s the fastest way to get oriented on a property before a site visit. Keep in mind that GIS lines are an approximation, not a survey — great for scoping a property, not for setting a boundary.
Franklin County Collector — real estate & tax search
The Franklin County Collector’s real estate search pulls the tax and ownership record for any parcel in the county — owner of record, parcel ID, assessed value, and the property taxes due. It’s a quick gut-check on who owns a tract, what it’s assessed at, and whether the taxes are current before you ever make an offer.
For more on vetting a rural tract the right way, see our guide to checking legal access before you buy and what Missouri’s purple paint law means for posted boundaries.
These are third-party and government resources; the information can lag or contain errors, and none of it replaces a current survey or a title search. When you’re ready to buy or sell Franklin County land — or just want help reading any of it — call Justin Head at (573) 308-7376 or Ryan Record at (573) 259-6360.