Treasury and the IRS designated all 6,576 census tracts that governors and the D.C. mayor nominated as Qualified Opportunity Zones, the department announced on Nov. 5. The new Opportunity Zones designations take effect Jan. 1, 2027, and each lasts 10 years.
The 6,576 tracts are 26% of the 25,332 tracts Treasury listed as eligible in April, a calculation from the two figures. States left three of every four eligible tracts off their lists, so the program covers a smaller map than the eligibility rules allowed.
How the Designations Break Down
Of the designated tracts, 2,594 are rural, which is 39.4% of the total, according to the release. Rural tracts were 8,334 of the 25,332 eligible, or 32.9%. Governors nominated rural areas at a higher rate than their share of the eligible pool, a calculation from the release’s figures.
The release says the program has drawn more than $110 billion in private investment since the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created it. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Working Families Tax Cuts permanently renewed and strengthened the program. IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano said the designations enable targeted investment where it is most needed.
What the Program Gives Investors
Treasury’s headline figure for the program is the $110 billion total, which counts private investment since 2017 and not tax revenue forgone.
What GAO Said About Oversight
The Government Accountability Office reviewed the program in report GAO-21-30, published in 2020. GAO found that “there is no limit on the amounts investors can claim for tax breaks.” It also found that unclear statutory authority left insufficient data to evaluate performance, because Congress had not designated an agency to collect data.
GAO now lists its recommendations to Congress in that report as closed and implemented after the July 2025 law, Public Law 119-21, that renewed the program. The best case for the program is that the investment total and the new data authority answer the 2020 criticism. Whether the new data show the money reached residents is a question the 2027 designations will take years to answer. The designations start Jan. 1, 2027.
