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:

1) 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.
2) 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.
3) 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, 2023
Next map update expected: November 2023

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:
1. The 2015 and 2020 New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) Tract layers from CDFI Information Mapping System (CIMS) are 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.
2. 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.
3. The Persistent Poverty County layer is created by joining the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service's Poverty Area 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).
6 Data Resources
Name Size Type Resource Description History
48 Program | Excel tool 3.51 MB Data The following excel tool reflects currently available data on three categories of geographic eligibility for the IRA 48e Low-Income Community Bonus Credit Program. 1. 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, 2. 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, or 3. Counties that meet the USDA's threshold for Persistent Poverty, thereby are able to apply for Additional Selection Criteria Geography. This 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 at https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/12227d891a4d471497ac13f60fffd822
48e Program | Category 1 Shapefile 302.69 MB Archive This geospatial data resource reflects currently available data on 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. Tracts that meet the eligibility for the NMTC Program only using ACS data from 2011-2015, may still apply for Category 1 applications submitted before August 31st, 2024. Tracts that meet the eligibility for the NMTC Program using ACS data from 2016-2020 may apply for Category 1 until a year after the next vintage of the NMTC Program maps are released.
48e Program | ASC CEJST-E Shapefiles 48.71 MB Archive This geospatial data resource reflects currently available data on 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.
48e Program | ASC PPC Shapefiles 9.23 MB Archive This geospatial data resource reflects currently available data on Counties that meet the USDA's threshold for Persistent Poverty, thereby are able to apply for Additional Selection Criteria Geography.
48e Program DOE Landing Page 0 KB Website Department of Energy Landing Page for the 48e Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program.
48e Program Mapping Tool 0 KB Website This mapping tool reflects currently available data on three categories of geographic eligibility for the IRA 48e Low-Income Community Bonus Credit Program. 1) 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, 2) 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, 3) Counties that meet the USDA's threshold for Persistent Poverty, thereby are able to apply for Additional Selection Criteria Geography.
Author Information
Isa Ferrall-Wolf, Accelerated Deployment and Decision Support, ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6694-4272
Cite This Dataset
Ferrall-Wolf, Isa. 2023. "IRA Low-Income Community Bonus Credit Program Layers." NREL Data Catalog. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Last updated: October 11, 2023.
About This Dataset
222
Public
10/11/2023
Funding Organization
Work for Others (SPP, WFO)
Research Areas
Energy Analysis
Energy Systems Integration
License
View License