From Mexico to China, the Amount of Texas Land Countries Own

Land ownership in Texas is something that a majority of Texans take a lot of pride in. Despite the fact we have to pay an exuberant amount of taxes to keep that land, knowing that we own that piece of dirt, grass and trees is worth the price. If you're one of those that has a piece of property that has been in the family for generations, that sense of pride is even further enhanced. But what if I told you that not all of the land in Texas is owned by Texans or even Americans? Not all of it is and it'll surprise you how much is foreign owned.

My Family's Land

I am proud to say that I am from a family that has a large piece of land that has been in the family for a couple of generations. That land is in Lindale and several of my cousins own their piece of the land and I am working on getting my own piece of it with my parents. Of course my hope is to be able to pass it down to my nephew or my fiancé's daughter for either of them to live on in the future.

I was really surprised to learn about the amount of land in Texas, and even here in East Texas, has been bought and is being used for various purposes by foreign countries. Yes, China is one of those countries. So is Mexico, England, Canada, Germany and others. So what is this land being used for? Some of it is for farming, some of it is for timber, some of it for personal use. But it's not told exactly what the purpose is, just a general description.

It's Not a Recent Thing

The thing about this foreign country land ownership is that it's not a new thing. The purchase of some of these properties goes back 50 years. These land purchases are in every county in Texas, including East Texas. Just going down the list alphabetically, in Anderson County, Lebanon, Canada, Egypt, Venezuela, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Sweden and the Netherlands own bits of land there. It all adds up to just over 47,000 acres owned by foreign in entities in Anderson county alone.

In Smith County, almost 2,300 acres is owned by three different countries. In Gregg County, two different countries own a total of 1,100 acres. In Cherokee County, it's about 90,000 acres owned by five different countries.

Where am I getting this information?

Great question. This information comes from the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act or AFIDA. On their website at fsa.usda.gov, you will find a full spreadsheet of all the land in the United States owned by foreign countries. You can break that information down by state and by county which you can see HERE. You won't get an exact address of where the land is located but you will see what country and which corporation or individual owns it and how many acres.

As far as what exactly these countries are doing with the land is not included, either, but you can see a general purpose such as timber or farming or something else. It really is eye opening to see how much of Texas isn't owned by Texas.

Is anything being done about it?

According to KETK, which has a fantastic breakdown of the land owned by foreign countries in each East Texas county, Texas legislators passed a bill in 2022 to help prevent the purchase of land by certain foreign individuals or corporations from China, Iran, North Korea and/or Russia.

It's crazy to think that a foreign country can come in and buy a piece of property in an area outside of their country and not have to disclose exactly why and what the intentions of that land use are. Let's hope that more can be done with this or things can be more transparent.