Committee of 100’s ongoing effort to identify and monitor legislation that restricts property ownership by foreign governments, businesses, and people shows a continuing effort by state governments and Congress to limit the ability of such entities to own property in the U.S.

As of March 17, 2025:

• 27 states are currently considering 84 bills that would restrict foreign property ownership in some way;
• U.S. Congress is currently considering 7 bills;
• 22 states have passed 38 bills that restrict foreign property ownership, 17 of which passed into law in 2024.

Since 2021:

• 42 states have introduced 323 bills restricting property ownership by foreign entities;
• U.S. Congress has introduced 49 such bills;
• From 2021 to 2023, only 23 were considered. In 2023, the rate increased dramatically; 130 bills were considered in 2023 and 124 bills were considered in 2024;
• Of the 372 bills that have been introduced by states and Congress since 2021, 236 (63%) include provisions that prohibit Chinese citizens from owning some form of property, 18 of which explicitly and singly target China and Chinese citizens from owning some form of property;
• Of the 38 bills that have been passed into law, 1 bill: Florida’s SB 264, enacted in 2023, includes provisions that single out Chinese citizens and prohibits non-permanent residents from owning any form of property in the state.

Committee of 100 believes that passage of bills prohibiting property ownership by citizens of foreign countries legitimizes harmful and xenophobic claims about immigrants that exacerbate anti-Asian violence that has negatively affected U.S. citizens and non-citizens alike. This legislation also disproportionately affects a wide range of people of color living in the United States; most of the countries targeted in this legislation are majority non-white.

Interactive map

Altogether, these bills include provisions that encompass a wide range of restrictions on an extensive variety of properties by a large array of foreign entities and their respective countries. The interactive mapping tool below illustrates legislative activity by state governments and Congress pertaining to restriction of property ownership by foreign citizens, businesses, and governments, especially those related to the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The mapping tool below allows users to navigate across this legislative landscape by specifying the combination of provisions they are interested in through the dropdown menus above the map. The map then highlights the intersection of the selected provisions. Clicking a state (or “U.S.,” which refers to federal legislation considered by the U.S. Congress) provides a detailed summary of all legislation currently being considered or passed into law, as well as any state-constitutional provisions related to foreign property ownership. Note that failed bills are included in the statistics described above (among bills that have been introduced) but are excluded from the map simply to reduce congestion in the state summary box. Additionally, to highlight constitutional provisions, all other menu menu selections must be omitted.

Data explorer

The data explorer below the map allows users to view the legislative landscape in a second way; by selecting a bill status and provision category, users may view the distribution of provisions contained in bills for a given bill status-provision category combination. For instance, the default selections show the distribution of foreign country groups among bills currently being considered by state legislatures and Congress; of the 91 total bills currently being considered, 34 contain provisions that restrict property ownership by Foreign Adversaries. The glossary below the apps detail the terms used.

The following template illustrates the general formula of restrictions specified in each bill: Some entity (e.g. governments, nonresident aliens) belonging to some country(ies) (e.g. all foreign countries, foreign adversaries, PRC) are restricted from having some interest (e.g. prohibited from owning, leasing, or are regulated in some other way) in some property (e.g. all real property, agricultural property, state land).

Interactive map

Data explorer

Glossary of terms

Entity types

• Government: A country’s government and affiliated governmental entities, which includes entities that are sponsored, funded, controlled, or owned by the government.
• Businesses: Businesses, companies, corporations, or other organizations that are headquartered in, or organized under the laws of, a foreign country.
• Nonresident aliens: Individual citizens of foreign countries that are not permanent U.S. residents and/or who are domiciled in a foreign country.
• Resident aliens: Individual citizens of foreign countries that are permanent U.S. residents and/or permanent residents of the state.

Foreign country groups

• All foreign countries: All non-U.S. countries.
• Foreign Adversaries: Governments of foreign countries identified by the Secretary of Commerce as having “engaged in a long-term pattern or serious instances of conduct significantly adverse to the national security of the United States or security and safety of United States persons,” which includes (as of 2025): People’s Republic of China, Republic of Cuba, Islamic Republic of Iran, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela under the regime of Nicolás Maduro.
• Countries of Particular Concern: Countries designated by the Secretary of State under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 as having a government that “has engaged in or tolerated ’particularly severe violations of religious freedom,’” which includes (as of 2025): Burma, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Cuba, Eritrea, Islamic Republic of Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
• Threat-Assessed countries: Countries identified by the Director of National Intelligence in the Director’s Annual Threat Assessment report as “the most direct, serious threats to the United States,” which includes (as of the 2024 report): People’s Republic of China, Russian Federation, Islamic Republic of Iran, and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
• ITAR countries: Countries identified in 22 C.F.R. § 126.1 as being denied “licenses and other approvals for exports and imports of defense articles and defense services, destined for or originating in certain countries,” which (as of 2024) includes Republic of Belarus, Burma, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Cuba, Islamic Republic of Iran, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Syrian Arab Republic, and Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
• Sanctioned countries: Countries and other entities identified by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Sanctioned Programs and Country List.
• State Sponsors of Terrorism: “Countries determined by the Secretary of State to have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism,” which includes (as of 2025): Republic of Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Islamic Republic of Iran, and Syrian Arab Republic.
• Hostile countries: This term is particular to Arizona’s SB 1066 (2025), and is not defined outside of the following language: “[…] foreign entity that is hostile to the United States […]”.
• China identified: The People’s Republic of China is explicitly included in a custom list of countries restricted from property ownership.
• Only China: The People’s Republic of China is singly identified as the country restricted from property ownership.

Restrictions

• Ownership prohibited: Prohibition of purchase and/or ownership of property.
• Lease and/or rental prohibited: prohibition of rental and/or lease of property.
• Other regular: Various regulations that do not directly prohibit buying, owning, renting, or leasing property, including reporting, monitoring, conducting studies about, and increasing penalties for foreign property ownership.

Property types

• All real property: All real estate and real property, sometimes including water rights and/or mineral rights belonging to the property.
• Agricultural land and/or natural resources: Real property that is used for farming, ranching, or timber production, and/or zoned for agricultural use. Restrictions of this category may or may not also include natural resource rights belonging to the property.
• Sensitive land: Real property located within a certain (and variable) distance of a military facility and/or critical infrastructure.
• Residential property: Real property that is zoned as residential property.
• Commercial property:  Real property used for business or commercial use, and/or zoned for such use.
• State land: Real property owned by and/or under the control of a state.

State constitution

• Restrictions: Includes restrictions of foreign property ownership directly in the state constitution.
• Allows/directs statutory restrictions: Includes provisions that either direct or allow the legislature to enact laws that restrict foreign property ownership.
• Protections: Includes affirmative property rights to some group directly in the state constitution.

Committee of 100 would like to thank Harrison M. Pittman, Director of The National Agricultural Law Center and the Boston University School of Law’s Antiracism & Community Lawyering Practicum and the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law & Equality for their research that has greatly aided this project. If you have a comment or know of new bills that have recently been proposed, please email Committee of 100 Research and Data Scientist Sam Collitt at [email protected].