For the purposes of this map, land banks are defined as governmental entities or special purpose nonprofit corporations that specialize in the acquisition of vacant,¹ abandoned, and tax delinquent properties with the intention of returning these properties to productive use, or temporarily holding and maintaining them for the purpose of stabilizing distressed markets or fulfilling long term land use and community goals.²

Approximately 80 percent of land banks that currently exist in the United States were created pursuant to comprehensive state-enabling statutes that authorize local governments throughout a state to create land banks.

As of March 2022, the following seventeen states have passed comprehensive state-enabling land bank legislation

It should be noted that land bank statutes throughout the country are not identical to one another. Each land bank statute reflects a different legal and political environment, and provides varying legal powers to the land bank(s) it governs. Exemplary powers provided to land banks through state enabling statutes include, but are not limited to, the ability to acquire real property through the delinquent tax enforcement process, the ability to hold real property tax-exempt, and the ability to dispose of property for other than monetary consideration according to the direction of the land bank board of directors and land bank jurisdiction.

¹ Properties received by a land bank may also be occupied.
² Modified definition from Alexander, F.S. (2011). Land Banks and Land Banking. Center for Community Progress.