The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service have designated 6,576 Opportunity Zones across all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories, opening a new decade-long period for private investment in economically distressed areas.
The designations take effect Jan. 1, 2027, and will remain in place for 10 years. Of the selected areas, 2,594 are rural communities eligible for enhanced tax incentives.
Opportunity Zones are distressed census tracts where certain investments can qualify for favorable tax treatment. The program was established under the 2017 tax law and later made permanent through President Donald Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts.
The Treasury Department says the program has generated more than $110 billion in private investment since it began. The new designations are intended to bring in additional capital, encourage job creation and support growth in communities that have often struggled to attract investment.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the Working Families Tax Cuts permanently renewed and strengthened Opportunity Zones, giving investors, entrepreneurs, and local leaders the long-term certainty they need to commit capital to communities that have been overlooked for too long,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
The selection process began July 1, when states, territories and the District of Columbia nominated eligible census tracts for consideration. Treasury and the IRS had identified 25,332 eligible tracts, including 8,334 in rural areas. The final designations cover about a quarter of those eligible tracts nationwide.
Treasury has published a complete list and map of the designated zones, along with poverty-rate and median-family-income data for each tract.
