The federal Empowerment Zone map is maintained by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, whose geographic information system layer shows the census tract boundaries of all designated urban and rural zones and remains accessible through the HUD open data portal. That said, every Empowerment Zone designation expired on December 31, 2025, under 26 U.S.C. § 1391, so the map now serves historical and compliance purposes rather than qualifying new businesses for tax incentives.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1391 – Designation Procedure
Where to Find the Official Map
Empowerment Zone boundaries followed census tracts, not city or county lines. One block of a neighborhood could sit inside a zone while the block across the street did not, which is why an address-level check has always been necessary. HUD’s GIS layer shows Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community boundaries together and lets you search by address or pan across the country.
For tax filing purposes, the IRS can also confirm whether a specific location fell inside a zone during a given year. That confirmation matters when a return is under review, because eligibility for the Empowerment Zone Employment Credit turned on both the employer’s business location and the employee’s principal residence being inside the zone.
Which Areas Were on the Map
Forty Empowerment Zones were designated through a competitive federal application process: 30 urban and 10 rural.2Internal Revenue Service. Use of the Empowerment Zone and Renewal Community Tax Incentives HUD managed the urban designations and the Department of Agriculture handled the rural ones. Urban zones covered neighborhoods in Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Cleveland, Philadelphia, San Antonio, and Oklahoma City, among others. Rural designations covered areas including the Kentucky Highlands and parts of the Mississippi Delta.
The program began in 1993 under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act and expanded through the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 and the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000.3Department of Housing and Urban Development. Empowerment Zones Program Highlights Qualifying areas had to show pervasive poverty, high unemployment, and general population decline. The rural criteria are codified in 7 CFR Part 25.4eCFR. 7 CFR Part 25 – Rural Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities
Why the Map Still Matters After December 31, 2025
No new Empowerment Zone Employment Credit can be generated for tax years beginning in 2026 or later. Businesses that claimed the credit for 2025 or earlier years still file Form 8844 for those returns and can carry unused credits forward under the general business credit rules.5Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8844, Empowerment Zone Employment Credit If a return that claimed the credit is later audited, the map is the evidence that the business location and the employees’ residences fell inside a designated tract. Retaining copies of the boundary lookups you relied on is worth doing.
The map also still governs outstanding tax-exempt enterprise zone facility bonds under 26 U.S.C. § 1394. At least 95% of a bond issue’s net proceeds had to be used for qualified zone property with a principal user that was an enterprise zone business.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1394 – Tax-Exempt Enterprise Zone Facility Bonds Compliance runs through the longer of the remaining designation period or the bonds’ weighted average maturity date, so bond obligations can extend past the December 2025 sunset.7eCFR. 26 CFR 1.1394-1 – Enterprise Zone Facility Bonds If a financed facility stops being used inside the zone footprint or its principal user no longer qualifies as an enterprise zone business, the interest deduction on the bond financing is lost. For bondholders and borrowers, the map is the reference point for showing the property is still where it needs to be.
Opportunity Zones Are a Separate Map
The Opportunity Zones program, created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, is the closest active federal successor and uses its own map. Opportunity Zones target economically distressed census tracts, but the tax mechanism runs through Qualified Opportunity Funds that let investors defer and potentially reduce capital gains, not through employer credits.8Internal Revenue Service. Opportunity Zones Frequently Asked Questions
The two footprints overlap in some places and diverge in others. A property that sat inside an Empowerment Zone is not automatically inside an Opportunity Zone, and confirming location requires checking the Opportunity Zone map separately. The Department of the Treasury’s CDFI Fund maintains the official Opportunity Zone list and mapping tools. Anyone who used EZ boundary lookups in the past and is now looking for a location-based federal tax benefit should treat the Opportunity Zone map as a fresh check rather than an extension of the older one.