DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15061838
title: Low-Income Community Bonus Credit Program

description: IRA Low-Income Community Bonus Credit Program Layers














These geospatial data resources and the linked mapping tool below reflect currently available data on three categories of potentially qualifying Low-Income communities: 



Census tracts that meet the CDFI's New Market Tax Credit Program's threshold for Low Income, thereby are able to apply to Category 1. 

Census tracts that meet the White House's Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool's threshold for disadvantage in the 'Energy' category, thereby are able to apply for Additional Selection Criteria Geography. 

Counties that meet the USDA's threshold for Persistent Poverty, thereby are able to apply for Additional Selection Criteria Geography. 


Note that Category 2 - Indian Lands are not shown on this map. Note that Persistent Poverty is not calculated for US Territories. Note that CEJST Energy disadvantage is not calculated for US Territories besides Puerto Rico. 

The excel tool provides the land area percentage of each 2023 census tract meeting each of the above categories. To examine geographic eligibility for a specific address or latitude and longitude, visit the program's mapping tool. 

Additional information on this tax credit program can be found on the DOE Landing Page for the 48e program at https://www.energy.gov/diversity/low-income-communities-bonus-credit-program or the IRS Landing Page at https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/low-income-communities-bonus-credit. 

Maps last updated: September 1st, 2024 Next map update expected: December 7th, 2024 

Disclaimer: The spatial data and mapping tool is intended for geolocation purposes. It should not be relied upon by taxpayers to determine eligibility for the Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program. 

Source Acknowledgements: 



The New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) Tract layer using data from the 2016-2020 ACS is from the CDFI Information Mapping System (CIMS) and is created by the U.S. Department of Treasury Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. To learn more, visit CDFI Information Mapping System (CIMS) | Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (cdfifund.gov). https://www.cdfifund.gov/mapping-system. Tracts are displayed that meet the threshold for the New Market Tax Credit Program. 

The 'Energy' Category Tract layer from the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) is created by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) within the Executive Office of the President. To learn more, visit https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en/. Tracts are displayed that meet the threshold for the 'Energy' Category of burden. I.e., census tracts that are at or above the 90th percentile for (energy burden OR PM2.5 in the air) AND are at or above the 65th percentile for low income. 

The Persistent Poverty County layer is created by joining the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service's Poverty Area Official Measures dataset, with relevant county TIGER/Line Shapefiles from the US Census Bureau. To learn more, visit https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/poverty-area-measures/. Counties are displayed that meet the thresholds for Persistent Poverty according to 'Official' USDA updates. i.e. areas with a poverty rate of 20.0 percent or more for 4 consecutive time periods, about 10 years apart, spanning approximately 30 years (baseline time period plus 3 evaluation time periods). Until Dec 7th, 2024 both the USDA estimates using 2007-2011 and 2017-2021 ACS 5-year data. On Dec 8th, 2024, only the USDA estimates using 2017-2021 data will be accepted for program eligibility.