12 
BULLETIN 1224, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 
The greatest consistent difference between the census values and 
the average sale prices is found in the region including central and 
western Iowa, southwestern Minnesota, and southeastern South 
Dakota. In practically all the counties in this area the census value 
was greater than the average sale price by amounts ranging from $10 
to $65. The census value averaged about $26 higher. This is just the 
area in which the land boom was most intense and where, conse- 
quently, such an upward bias would be most expected. Other regions 
showing a decided upward bias on the part of the census values are 
central Illinois and central Indiana. These were also land-boom 
areas, or rather areas in which land activity was more pronounced 
than in adjoining areas. 
From the map it appears that deviations of the census values from 
the average sales prices were much greater in Indiana than in Iowa, 
particularly when the deviations are expressed as percentage devia- 
tions. This is probably due to the lower degree of accuracy of the 
average sales prices in this area. The average sales prices were not 
adjusted to the county basis by the assessment ratio process as they 
were in Iowa, South Dakota, Illinois, and Nebraska, hence are often 
erratic. 
As one moves away from these centers of most intense activity, the 
discrepancy between the census values and average sales prices grows 
less and less. In western Ohio, central and southern Wisconsin, cen- 
tral and southeastern Minnesota, the difference, either plus or minus, 
is not so great. In southeastern Ohio and western South Dakota 
and Nebraska the differences are so small as to possess no significance. 
On the average, the census value is about 25 cents per acre higher 
than the average sale price in western South Dakota. However, in 
the cut-over regions of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, the census 
values show a very strong upward bias. This is new farming country 
and the figures represent the hopes of the settlers rather than their best 
judgment as expressed in the prices they are actually willing to pay. 
It may be concluded that the census average values closely approxi- 
mate the average sales prices in all regions except those in which the 
land boom was most intense. Even in these areas the upward bias 
in the census values is not great enough to affect the ratios of rent to 
value for the groups by any considerable amount. This is brought 
out in Table 2. 
Table 2. — Average deviations of census values from average sales prices, by groups. 1 
Group 
number. 
Average 
rent. 
Average 
value, 
(census). 
Average 
difference 
between 
census 
values and 
sales 
prices. 2 
Ratio of rent to value. 
Census 
values. 
Corrected 
values. 
6 
7 
9 
10 
14 
Dollars. 
3.76 
7.46 
6.81 
7.42 
4.13 
Dollars. 
124 
160 
164 
22.') 
128 
Dollars. 
+8 
+13 
-3 
+13 
+ 2 
Per cent. 
3.0 
4.7 
4.1 
3.3 
3.2 
Per cent. 
3.2 
5.1 
4.1 
3.5 
3.3 
1 In determining the average difference between the census values and average sale prices all the counties 
represented in Figure 4 which fell within the general area of the county groups as outlined in Figure 1 
were used. Those counties, however, where the deviation was extreme as compared to the surrounding 
counties were omitted in determining the average-difference. 
2 Sales prices are the basis of comparison. 
