Where does the City of Dallas own land?
The city is in the middle of rewriting the rules for how it handles its own real estate
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On Monday the City's Finance Committee went through eleven proposed changes to its own financial rulebook. Three of them are interesting: authorizing a new or replacement city building would drop from a supermajority vote to a simple majority, money from selling city property would go into a maintenance reserve up to $20 million per sale, and a rule requiring the city to publish a budget at the “no-new-revenue” tax rate would be deleted. Nothing was voted on. Full council discusses it August 19th and votes August 25th. Here’s an article from KERA.
It just so happens that in my way too many years of mapping, my most requested map has probably been….where does the City of Dallas own land? So I’ve decided to open it up to all of you fine readers.
Which local governments own what land?
Link to the map (no phone)
Dallas County has about 700,000 parcels. 10,381 of those are owned by our local governments. Summing to about 133 of the County’s 909 square miles. That’s 1 acre in 7 owned by the government.
The City of Dallas owns 54% of that land, worth $10.6 billion. DISD owns 4% of it, worth $5.8 billion.
The City has done 204 land deals between 2021 and 2026. They’re mapped below:
https://themap.io/maps/view/9350eb10-9e7c-42f5-92db-b67467d182ec
Sources
Dallas Central Appraisal District — 2026 certified roll. Who owns every parcel in the county, and what it’s appraised at.
Review Financial Management Performance Criteria and Consider Potential Changes — the actual presentation staff gave the Finance Committee on August 3rd. Jack Ireland, Chief Financial Officer, and Janette Weedon, Director of Budget and Management Services.
Dallas City Council calendar — agendas, video, and minutes for every meeting, including this one.
KERA News — reported the proposed change before the meeting.
Want the data? Email me at robert@themap.io.