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More than 12 million U.S. properties carry an active lien right now, per DealMachine's parcel-level data pulled June 29, 2026. It's the largest pool of motivated sellers in the country that almost nobody is marketing to.
Key finding: More than 12 million U.S. properties carry an active lien as of mid-2026, with California leading all states at 2,725,259. These owners typically need to sell quickly to resolve outstanding debt, making active liens the country's largest pool of motivated sellers.
Here's how I think about it. An active lien isn't just a financial problem for the owner. For the right investor, it's an invitation. The owner has a debt attached to their property, a clock running on it, and usually no plan. You can be the plan.
How We Counted
First, definitions. An active lien in this dataset means a property currently carrying an unresolved lien: tax liens, mechanic's liens, judgment liens, HOA liens, and code enforcement liens. Not mortgages, since every financed property has one of those.
These are also not historical filings. A lien recorded in 2019 and paid off in 2022 doesn't count. The data comes from county recorder offices and court judgments at the parcel level, cross-referenced with current ownership records. If you've ever run a manual property lien search at a county office, you know how slow that is for one address. This dataset does it for every parcel in the country.
The 2026 State Rankings
Here are the 22 states ranked by active lien count, as of June 29, 2026:
| Rank | State | Active Lien Properties |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 2,725,259 |
| 2 | Florida | 1,832,717 |
| 3 | Texas | 1,432,416 |
| 4 | Ohio | 1,062,807 |
| 5 | Michigan | 557,715 |
| 6 | Arizona | 448,337 |
| 7 | Illinois | 438,635 |
| 8 | New Jersey | 418,690 |
| 9 | Nevada | 361,903 |
| 10 | Washington | 301,410 |
| 11 | Missouri | 290,657 |
| 12 | Pennsylvania | 271,190 |
| 13 | Indiana | 242,477 |
| 14 | North Carolina | 238,920 |
| 15 | New York | 230,372 |
| 16 | Tennessee | 216,980 |
| 17 | Wisconsin | 193,366 |
| 18 | Kentucky | 182,689 |
| 19 | Virginia | 172,260 |
| 20 | South Carolina | 158,377 |
| 21 | Georgia | 135,315 |
| 22 | Alabama | 117,620 |
| Total | 22 states | 12,030,112 |
California, Florida, and Texas lead on sheer housing count, but all three also have large absentee owner bases, and an owner who doesn't live in the property has less urgency to resolve a lien sitting on it.
Ohio at #4 is the story. With 1,062,807 liens on the books, Ohio outranks New York (230,372) by more than 4 to 1, despite New York having roughly 8 million more residents. Michigan at #5 follows the same pattern. Nevada at #9 and Washington at #10 both punch above their size too: Nevada holds roughly one lien-encumbered property for every four households in the state.
Three Patterns in the Data
1. The Sun Belt leads, but the Rust Belt deserves attention. California, Florida, and Texas take the top 3 on sheer size. Ohio and Michigan crack the top 5 on something else: aging housing stock generates mechanic's and code enforcement liens, and economic stress generates tax and judgment liens.
2. Liens and foreclosures are different lists. Nevada ranks #9 for liens but has run low foreclosure rates ever since its 2011-2012 foreclosure law changes made filings harder to push through. Every investor in your market is already mailing the foreclosure list. Far fewer are working liens. Same distress, less competition.
3. The small states still add up. Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama each sit under 200,000, but together they hold 583,572 lien-encumbered properties. In an emerging market, a smaller total with almost no competition beats a huge total everyone is fighting over.
Who Should Use This List
Two groups, specifically. New wholesalers who need motivated sellers that aren't getting mass-mailed: owners of properties with liens hear from far fewer investors than the foreclosure and probate lists, so your mail and calls actually get read.
And investors in states with thin MLS inventory. Most apps for finding off-market properties let you filter vacancy or absentee status. Almost none give you lien status at the parcel level.
Why This Data Doesn't Exist Anywhere Else
Fair question: if this data is so useful, why hasn't anyone published it?
Because it's hard to build. Lien records live in thousands of county recorder offices and court systems, in inconsistent formats. Most list providers skip that work and resell the tax-delinquent lists counties already publish: one lien type, some counties.
DealMachine aggregates all five lien types at the parcel level, then maps each property to owner contact data. Knowing how to find a lien on a property one address at a time is useful. Having every lien-encumbered parcel, with the owner's phone number attached, is a different business.
The key takeaway is simple. Twelve million owners are carrying debt attached to their property, most would benefit from a fast sale, and almost no one is contacting them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an active lien on a property?
An active lien is an unresolved legal claim recorded against a property for an unpaid debt: property taxes, contractor bills, court judgments, HOA dues, or code enforcement fines. The debt is still outstanding and must typically be paid before the property can transfer with clear title.
Does a lien mean the owner wants to sell?
Not automatically. But a lien means the owner has a debt problem attached to their largest asset, and selling is often the cleanest way out. That's why lien lists produce higher response rates than cold lists.
How do I find properties with active liens?
Two options. Search county recorder and court records manually, which works but doesn't scale. Or use a platform like DealMachine that aggregates lien filings at the parcel level, so you can filter an entire state or county and pull owner contact info immediately. That's the practical answer to how to find properties with liens at scale.
Can I buy a house that has a lien on it?
Yes. Liens are resolved at closing all the time: the title company pays the lienholder out of the sale proceeds, the lien is released, and the buyer takes clear title. Just make sure the owner's equity covers the lien plus your discount.