One source [0] says Texas is 4.2% public lands. Although that's near the bottom of the list, it is equal with Ohio, and ahead of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansa

One source [0] says Texas is 4.2% public lands. Although that's near the bottom of the list, it is equal with Ohio, and ahead of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Rhode Island. (These are 1991 figures though, so maybe things have changed in the last 30+ years.) You mention as comparators Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and California – those are all what are called "Western public land states" – the federal government acquired most of them by armed conquest or purchase of Mexican territory, and hence is the original landowner for the majority of the state (the US recognised some pre-conquest/purchase land ownership, so some land titles go back to Mexican or Spanish land grants, but that's a minority of their area). Congress then organized those areas into territories, and then admitted them as states – but the federal government remained a major landowner post-statehood. And many of these states still have significant federal public lands to this day. (There are also the Eastern public land states, whose lands were acquired by the federal government either through being ceded by the 13 original states, or by such events as the Louisiana and Florida purchases.) By contrast, other states are what are called "private land states", since the federal government was never a major landowner in them. This includes the original 13 colonies. It also includes Texas, because Texas declared independence from Mexico, and then after some years of independence, applied to enter the US as a state. Mexican public lands became public lands of the Republic of Texas, and their ownership was then inherited by the Texas state government (The Texas Lands Commissioner), not the federal government. All the federal lands in Texas have been acquired post-statehood, either by purchase or eminent domain. Similarly, although Hawaii has extensive public lands, they are mostly owned by the state not federal government, since the Kingdom of Hawaii's public lands passed to the State of Hawaii not the federal government, making it like Texas a private land state. Private land states tend to have significantly less public land than public land states, but it varies – both Nebraska and Nevada are Western public land states, but over 80% of Nevada is public land, Nebraska is near the bottom of the list. I believe that's because the federal government decided to sell or grant most of the federal lands in Nebraska into private ownership, but decided to retain most federal lands in Nevada. [0] https://www.summitpost.org/public-and-private-land-percentages-by-us-states/186111 https://www.summitpost.org/public-and-private-land-percentag...