More than 6,500 communities covering all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories have been federally designated as opportunity zones, the Treasury Department and the IRS announced on Thursday.
The federal opportunity zone initiative incentivizes long-term private investments in designated low-income communities. Opportunity zones help rural and urban communities across the U.S. attract new development and investment capital, strengthening local and statewide economies.
Investors can receive tax benefits through the program when they invest in real estate, infrastructure projects, and operating businesses within opportunity zones.
In total, 6,576 eligible census tracts were designated as qualified opportunity zones, 2,594 of which are in rural areas, the IRS said.
The full list and map of opportunity zones are available here. It includes locations for the U.S. territories American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Originally established by Congress through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the opportunity zones program was made permanent with the 2025 passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Republicans are now calling Working Family Tax Cuts. President Donald Trump’s signature tax-and-spending law also added enhanced incentives for investment in eligible rural communities and a process was established for redesignating zones every 10 years.
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The new qualified opportunity zone designations will become effective on Jan. 1, 2027, and retain this designation for 10 years.
“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 in a statement on Nov. 5. “Today’s announcement of the new designations will help direct private investment to communities that stand to benefit most, and expand economic opportunity, support job creation, and unlock long-term growth in these communities across the country.”
According to the IRS, the program has helped generate more than $110 billion in private-sector investment since its creation.
“Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, Qualified Opportunity Zones were permanently extended and expanded by the Working Families Tax Cuts giving states an opportunity to attract long-term investment into underserved, rural, and economically distressed areas,” IRS CEO Frank Bisignano said in a statement. “By designating thousands of new Qualified Opportunity Zones, the IRS and Treasury are enabling targeted investment and growth in communities where it is needed the most.”
This past April, the Treasury Department and the IRS released a list of 25,332 eligible census tracts across the country for nomination, of which 8,334 are in rural areas eligible for increased benefits as part of the OBBBA. On July 1, the Treasury Department and the IRS began accepting nominations from governors and the mayor of the District of Columbia for eligible census tracts. An additional 130 eligible census tracts, 28 of which are in rural areas, were nominated during the statutory window.
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A total of 6,576 eligible census tracts were nominated by the end of the statutory window.
The list of eligible census tracts is available here. The poverty rate and median family income for each tract can be found here.
Photo caption: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (Abe McNatt/The White House/Flickr)
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