EXCLUSIVE: The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service announced Thursday the designation of 6,576 Opportunity Zones nationwide – including in all 50 states, U.S. territories and Washington, D.C. – opening a new 10-year window for private investment in economically distressed communities.
The designations will take effect Jan. 1, 2027, according to Treasury and IRS guidance, and will remain in place for a decade.
Of the newly designated zones, 2,594 are in rural communities eligible for enhanced tax incentives under the law.
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Opportunity Zones are economically distressed census tracts where qualifying investments may receive preferential tax treatment. The program was created under the 2017 tax law and was made permanent under President Donald Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts.
Treasury said the program has helped generate more than $110 billion in private-sector investment since its creation.
The new designations are intended to build on that investment by attracting additional private capital, supporting job creation and stimulating economic growth in communities that have historically 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 in a statement obtained by FOX Business.
The designations follow a nomination process that began July 1, during which states, territories and the District of Columbia selected eligible census tracts for consideration.
Treasury and the IRS had initially identified 25,332 eligible census tracts, including 8,334 rural tracts, for consideration.
The final list includes roughly one-quarter of the eligible tracts nationwide.
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The Treasury Department has made available a full list and map of the newly designated Opportunity Zones, along with poverty-rate and median-family-income data for each census tract.
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