Established in 2017 under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as area designations to drive investment toward low-income communities, Opportunity Zones (OZs) are now the nation’s largest place-based economic development initiative, attracting significant private capital and influencing how and where investment takes root.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 has set a new course for these investments. In 2026, state and territory governors (and the mayor of Washington, DC) will select a new pool of Opportunity Zones (OZs), potentially driving capital into new communities.

Recent Findings

Ohio’s OZ Investment Was Concentrated in Relatively Few Tracts and Larger Metropolitan Areas

We reviewed project-level OZ data from Ohio’s Department of Development, which tracks projects that used the state’s conforming OZ tax incentive. We found that between 2020 and 2024, more than half of OZ investment in Ohio was concentrated in only nine designated tracts. Cleveland and Columbus attracted significantly more OZ investment relative to their shares of the state’s population, while other metros and micropolitan and rural areas received relatively little OZ capital. OZ investment in Ohio was also concentrated in areas that may not have needed the investment incentive—those with higher-educated populations, greater capital flows, and appreciating housing values. Read more: The Geographic Spread of Opportunity Zone Capital.

Ohio Projects Using OZ Capital Were Mostly Market-Rate Multifamily and Commercial Real Estate

Between 2020 and 2024, 64 percent of OZ capital in Ohio went toward residential projects (including mixed-use projects), and most of the housing units created were market-rate. These findings highlight the potential of OZs to perpetuate displacement in areas already experiencing income and rent increases. Read more: Insights into Opportunity Zone Project Types.

National Data to Inform 2026 OZ Selections

In Ohio, we found that one-third of designated OZs, some of which did not demonstrate need, received investment, despite many zones that were not funded showing an economic need. We used these findings to create a national data tool that can inform governors’ offices and localities during the 2026 OZ selection process. We classify tracts into one of three categories: "Less likely to attract OZ investment," "More likely to attract OZ investment, with larger impact," and "Likely to attract capital even without OZs." These data—which include socioeconomic characteristics for each US census tract—identify “Goldilocks” tracts in each state that are likely to attract OZ investment and have substantial economic need. Download the data: Data to Inform 2026 Opportunity Zone Selections.