According to X-ray crystallography, anhydrous lanthanum acetate is a coordination polymer.

Each La(III) center is nine-coordinate, with two bidentate acetate ligands and the remaining sites occupied by oxygens provided by bridging acetate ligands.

Lanthanum acetate forms hydrates of the composition La(CH3COO)3•nH2O, where n = 1 and 1.5.

Lanthanum acetate is used in specialty glass manufacturing and in water treatment.

Also, it is used to produce porous lanthanum oxyfluoride (LaOF) films.