How Much Is Forfeited?

Since 2000, at least $82 billion worth of property has been forfeited by governments nationwide, with $57 billion collected by the federal government and almost $25 billion collected by state and local governments. ¹  That is a lot of cash, cars, homes, and other property, and yet it actually understates the scope of forfeiture. Indeed, the $25 billion figure should be considered a very conservative estimate of the scope of state and local forfeiture for several reasons.

First, a considerable portion of state data is missing: We tracked revenue data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia over 24 years, which corresponds to 1,224 datapoints—and over one-third are missing or unknown. Second, even when states do report, their data are often incomplete, either because agencies or jurisdictions failed to report or because reported data are inaccurate. Third, some states only assign value to currency, so their revenue figures miss any non-cash properties like cars. ²  And fourth, many states do not track forfeited property and instead report only deposits to their forfeiture funds—after costs are deducted—so figures do not reflect the full value of property taken from owners.

As Figure 14 illustrates, forfeiture under state laws has been fairly steady over the past decade, with the value of property forfeited in 34 states consistently around $300 million to $350 million per year. ³

Figure 14: State forfeiture revenue, 34 states, 2014–2023

Note: Totals exclude four outlier forfeitures, one each from 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019. See text for details. 

In 2023, the most recent year with data for a large number of states, 45 states and the District of Columbia forfeited a combined total of just under $300 million worth of property, though their individual takes varied widely. ⁴  Not surprisingly, more populous states tend to have more forfeiture revenue. The top five in 2023 were California, Texas, Florida, New York, and New Jersey, which combined accounted for nearly half of all state forfeiture revenue. After controlling for population, however, the top five states in per capita forfeiture revenue are Rhode Island, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Massachusetts. ⁵  Notably, these five states all earn overall law grades of D- or below.

Meanwhile, at the federal level, the Department of Justice and Department of the Treasury together forfeited $4.5 billion worth of property in 2023, which is an increase over previous years (see Figure 15). This increase was mostly the result of two large cases that generated a combined $1.87 billion. ⁶  In addition, the combined net assets available in the departments’ forfeiture funds have gradually increased from $766 million in 2000 to over $5 billion in 2023 (see Figure 16). The funds’ net assets are not a direct measure of the federal government’s forfeiture activity, but they do provide a general indication of the vitality of the federal government’s forfeiture programs over time. The growth in these funds means that both the DOJ and Treasury are consistently taking in more forfeiture revenue than they spend. ⁷

Figure 15: Federal forfeiture revenue, 2000–2023 

Figure 16: Net assets of federal forfeiture funds, FY 2000–2023

Note: The 2015 spike is from a large forfeiture in a fraud case that was processed but not disbursed by fiscal year end.