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There is no single billionaire plan to leave the United States and build private cities. The phrase points to distinct projects: Próspera, a real development in Roatán, Honduras, that operates under a contested Honduran legal framework; “Freedom Cities,” a U.S. advocacy proposal that has not become a federal city-building program in the reporting reviewed; and an unbuilt proposal for Solano County, California. Investors, advocates and operators are not interchangeable, and none of these projects is a sovereign country.
What “private city” means in these projects
“Private city” is an umbrella description, not a single legal status. In these cases, it can mean a development backed or operated by private organizations, a proposal for a city with different rules, or a project promoted as a more innovation-friendly place to live and work. The host government’s laws and authority still matter.
Próspera is the most developed example in this group. It is a Roatán development operating under Honduras’s ZEDE framework. A ZEDE is a political subdivision of Honduras—not a sovereign state outside it. WIRED clarified in an April 2, 2025 correction that Próspera remains subject to the Honduran constitution, national treaties and criminal laws.
The idea of a “network state” is related but not identical. Próspera’s official site identifies Balaji Srinivasan as the author of The Network State; Le Monde’s 2025 reporting describes the network-state idea as a project, while discussing Próspera as a built example of related principles. That connection does not show that all U.S. city proposals follow one coordinated program.
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How the projects differ
| Project | Location and status | Authority and stated aims | Reported scale or caveats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Próspera | Development on Roatán, Honduras; operating development described by reporting in 2024. | Operates under the Honduran ZEDE framework. Reporting describes a private, for-profit development with ambitions around lighter regulation, low taxes, businesses and residents. | The New York Times reported $120 million raised by the Delaware-based company behind it in 2024, including funds backed by Peter Thiel, Sam Altman and Marc Andreessen. Le Monde reported 2,125 residents in 2024, including people who might not physically live on the island. These are dated article-reported figures, not current audited totals. |
| Freedom Cities | United States; advocacy proposal, not established cities in the reporting reviewed. | WIRED reported meetings with Trump administration officials by Trey Goff, Próspera’s chief of staff, and others working through the Freedom Cities Coalition. Proposals discussed include energy, nuclear power, semiconductors, defense, biotech, manufacturing and housing. | WIRED reported that Donald Trump floated creating 10 Freedom Cities in 2023. That was a proposal, not a count of cities created. |
| Solano County proposal | California; a proposed development that Le Monde reported had not broken ground as of July 2025. | A consortium-led plan described in the report included housing, a solar farm, parks and fruit trees. It is separate from Próspera and the Freedom Cities advocacy effort. | Le Monde reported an $800 million “war chest,” tens of thousands of homes, one million fruit trees and 4,000 hectares of parks as proposed elements—not completed construction or amenities. The report also noted local opposition and concerns about drought and wildfire risk. |
Próspera: a built development with a contested legal framework
What has been reported about the development
Le Monde reported in August 2024 that Próspera covered about two square kilometers, or 3% of Roatán, and counted 2,125 residents at the time. The report said remote resident status could be obtained online for $1,300 per year, with a lower fee for Hondurans. That fee and resident count describe the report’s 2024 snapshot; residency status should not be confused with the number of people physically living on the island.
In the same reporting, Le Monde described Vitalia, a longevity and biotech event held at Próspera from January to April 2024, and reported experimental gene-therapy activity. These examples illustrate the development’s biotech ambitions; they do not establish that all activity there is clinical care or that a medical intervention is approved.
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Próspera’s own website, accessed in 2026, listed “200+” businesses, “$100M+” invested, 950 active jobs, “1,700+” residents from 40+ countries, and “34,000+” square metres of built real estate. These are organization-published figures with no clear as-of date or independent audit stated on the captured page. They should not be directly compared with the 2024 newspaper figures: the dates and definitions differ.
The New York Times reported in 2024 that a visitor was told entry required signing an “agreement of coexistence” that bound the visitor to “4,202 pages of rules.” That is the newspaper’s description of the agreement, not a quotation from a statute. German economist Titus Gebel, quoted by Le Monde in 2024, described the private-city model this way: “For a fixed [yearly] fee, the operator offers citizens of the free private city protection of life, liberty and property.” These descriptions point to a model in which private operators offer services and set contractual rules; they do not make the development independent of Honduran law.
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What the legal challenge does—and does not—establish
A 2025 academic article says Honduras repealed the ZEDE law in 2022 and that the Honduran Supreme Court declared ZEDEs unconstitutional in 2024. That is important legal context for Próspera, but it does not, by itself, establish the precise current effect on every aspect of the development’s operations. The primary court ruling and its specific consequences for Próspera are not established by the reporting summarized here. Avoid treating the project as either unquestionably legally settled or outside Honduran jurisdiction.
Freedom Cities: a U.S. proposal, not a set of operating places
WIRED’s 2025 reporting describes Freedom Cities as an advocacy effort involving meetings with administration officials, alongside Trump’s 2023 pledge to create 10 such cities. Meetings and a campaign promise are evidence that the idea has been promoted; they are not evidence that the cities have been created or that a federal program is operating.
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Advocates’ ambitions, as reported by WIRED, include easing constraints they see as barriers to building housing, energy infrastructure, manufacturing, biotech and defense capabilities. The proposed economic case is that different rules could encourage innovation and investment. Those are claims about a proposal, not demonstrated outcomes from existing Freedom Cities.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Who is connected—and what “escape” leaves out
The New York Times reported in 2024 that the Delaware-based company behind Próspera had raised $120 million, including funds backed by Peter Thiel, Sam Altman and Marc Andreessen. WIRED and Le Monde also link Thiel and Andreessen to Próspera through investment or backing. These accounts establish financial connections, not that each named person founded, operates or personally lives in the development.
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The projects’ advocates and supporters have expressed interest in lower taxes and lighter regulation, as well as innovation in areas such as housing, energy, biotech and manufacturing. It is more accurate to attribute those goals to the people and organizations promoting them than to assume every investor is trying to leave the United States. The existence of U.S. proposals also complicates a literal “escape” narrative: some advocates want new arrangements within the United States, while Próspera is in Honduras.
The trade-offs: rules, accountability and local effects
Supporters present private-city arrangements as a way to attract investment and try new approaches to regulation. Critics question who sets the rules, how residents can influence decisions, whether workers have meaningful protections, how benefits are distributed and what costs are borne by nearby communities. WIRED quoted critic Duran saying, “These are going to be cities without democracy,” in the context of concerns about worker rights and corporate power. That is a critic’s view, not an established description of every project or proposal.
Local circumstances matter as much as the governance pitch. Le Monde’s July 2025 account of the Solano County plan reported local opposition and concerns about drought and wildfire risk, while the proposal remained unbuilt. Those issues are not interchangeable with the legal dispute over Honduras’s ZEDE framework, but they show why plans for new cities must be assessed against host-community concerns and environmental constraints, not only promised investment or amenities.
Quick Recap
What readers should take away
- Próspera is a real development in Honduras, but it is not a sovereign state and its ZEDE legal framework is contested.
- Freedom Cities remain an advocated U.S. proposal in the reporting reviewed; the reported meetings and 2023 pledge do not mean cities have been established.
- The Solano County project was a separate, unbuilt California proposal as of Le Monde’s July 2025 report.
- Reported investments, residents, jobs and land figures come from different years and sources, with differing definitions; they do not form an audited apples-to-apples comparison.
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