Each month a new map is presented to the Commission to help explain important trends in the Bay Area, across the nation and around the world. These custom-crafted maps are prepared by MTC’s Data & Visualization team.
Bay Area Opportunity Zones
This month’s Map of the Month highlights Bay Area Opportunity Zones as designated by the State of California Department of Finance. The federal tax bill, passed in December 2017, allows investors to defer or eliminate capital gains on investments made in “Opportunity Zones”. These zones must be designated by the governor in each state from a set of eligible Census tracts. Governors must select no more than 25 percent of eligible tracts statewide. Federal criteria for determining eligible areas states that tracts must either have poverty rates above 20 percent or median family income below 80 percent of either the statewide or metropolitan area income. 3,516 Census tracts in California qualify under this criteria, spread across 54 counties. Of these the governor must select tracts as Opportunity Zones in California. The state’s final recommendation is provided on the map. Within the Bay Area, 530 tracts were eligible under the federal criteria, of which 107 were designated by the governor. Of the 107 designated tracts, 94 tracts were MTC Communities of Concern.