Looking For Development Opportunities? These Cities Still Have Lots Of Vacant Land

Humorist Mark Twain once said, “Buy land, they’re not making it anymore.” 

And while land is a finite resource that’s only grown scarcer since Twain’s death in 1910, it’s still possible to find a property that’s suitable for development.

The 20 most populated cities in the U.S. have a total of 516,980 acres of undeveloped land with an average lot size of 1.22 acres, according to a recent report from Commercial Café. Cities in the South and Southwest, where urban sprawl is prevalent, have tens of thousands of acres of undeveloped lots each.

Texas cities have the most undeveloped land, according to the report, with Dallas and Fort Worth alone accounting for 165,000 acres. Even densely built-up areas like New York City still have plenty of land for development. The Big Apple has a total of 17,393 acres of developable land.

Dallas had one of the biggest land sales in its recent history with 460 acres in the Mountain Creek development southwest of the city. The new owners plan to develop the property with new homes and apartments.

Meanwhile, neighboring Fort Worth’s undeveloped property is better suited for industrial development. Between 2012 and 2022, at least 51 million square feet of manufacturing and warehousing space was built in the city, and the trend is set to continue. Fort Worth has 22 million square feet of industrial space in the pipeline, either planned or under construction.

Most of the vacant land in Phoenix is owned by the city, which recently approved a list of 150 parcels to build affordable housing in an effort to create 50,000 residences by 2030. 

Here’s how the top 10 metro areas stack up in terms of acres of vacant land and average parcel size:

• Dallas: 90,739 acres, 2.72-acre average parcel size
• Fort Worth: 74,835 acres, 2.66-acre average parcel size
• Phoenix: 53,022 acres, 3.34-acre average parcel size
• San Antonio: 48,834 acres, 1.4-acre average parcel size
• Houston: 46,168 acres, 0.6-acre average parcel size
• Los Angeles: 42,228 acres, 1.25-acre average parcel size
• Indianapolis: 26,604 acres, 1.11-acre average parcel size
• Austin: 25,117 acres, 1.6-acre average parcel size
• Jacksonville: 24,396 acres, 0.96-acre average parcel size
• Denver: 17,962 acres, 2.14-acre average parcel size
• New York City: 17,393 acres
• San Diego, 11,607 acres
• San Jose, 11,527 acres
• Seattle, 7,252 acres
• Columbus, 7,247 acres
• Philadelphia, 2,287 acres
• Oklahoma City, 2,104 acres
• Charlotte, 512 acres
• San Francisco, 473 acres

CommercialCafe did not provide the average parcel size for the bottom 10 cities on its list. 

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