Opportunity Zones in Houston, TX

The City of Houston has 97 Qualified Opportunity Zones under the original 2018 (OZ 1.0) designation round. These zones remain in effect through December 31, 2028.

Under the Opportunity Zones 2.0 framework, the State of Texas will nominate a new round of Opportunity Zones in 2026, with those designations taking effect on January 1, 2027.

Opportunity Zones are economically distressed communities designated at the census-tract level. U.S. taxpayers who reinvest eligible capital gains into Qualified Opportunity Funds that invest in Opportunity Zone property may qualify for several federal tax benefits.

To qualify for the Opportunity Zone tax incentive, investors must reinvest eligible capital gains into a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF). The QOF must then deploy capital into qualified Opportunity Zone property or businesses located within designated census tracts.

Qualifying investments may include ground-up real estate development, substantial rehabilitation of existing property, or operating businesses structured as Qualified Opportunity Zone Businesses (QOZBs), provided all statutory and regulatory requirements are satisfied.

• The Beginner's Guide to Opportunity Zones
• What Is a Qualified Opportunity Fund?
• The Two Ways to Invest in Opportunity Zones

Houston's 97 Opportunity Zones are located throughout the city, with major concentrations along the East End and Ship Channel corridor, Third Ward and Southeast Houston, Greenspoint and North Houston, Gulfton and Southwest Houston, and Sunnyside and South Park. There are an additional 10 Opportunity Zones in suburban Harris County.

The census tracts below were designated in 2018 under IRS Notice 2018-48 and correspond to 2010 U.S. Census tract boundaries. These OZ 1.0 designations remain in effect through December 31, 2028.

On January 29, 2026, the U.S. Census Bureau released its five-year American Community Survey (ACS) estimates for the 2020–2024 period. These data determine which census tracts are eligible for Opportunity Zone designation under the OZ 2.0 framework.

Across the State of Texas, 2,420 census tracts meet the statutory median-family- income and/or poverty-rate thresholds. Under the 25 percent statutory cap, Texas may nominate up to 605 of those tracts, with new designations taking effect on January 1, 2027.

See our analysis of the OZ 2.0-eligible tracts for the full methodology, or explore the eligible tracts on the interactive Opportunity Zones map.