Opportunity Zones for Selma and Wilcox, Hale, Greene and Montgomery counties approved by feds

The federal government has approved Opportunity Zones to attract investment in 141 places in Alabama, including several in the Black Belt News Network coverage area.

Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday announced that Alabama’s Opportunity Zones 2.0 nominations have been approved by the U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service. The Opportunity Zones Program encourages long-term private investment in economically distressed communities through tax incentives.

The approved Opportunity Zones includes a zone in Selma bordered by Broad Street on the east, the railroad tracks to the north and Beech Creek to the south.

In Wilcox County, an Opportunity Zone includes the area around Freetown, Ellawhite, Hillcrest and Tayloe.

Greensboro is included in an Opportunity Zone in Hale County.

An opportunity north of Demopolis includes Forkland, Five Points, Fowler, Miller,  Boligee, Lizzieville, Allison, Crawford Fork and Epes. A zone southeast of Demopolis includes Knoxwood, Alfalfa and Old Spring Hill.

Montgomery encompasses five Opportunity Zones.

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Statewide, the 141 newly approved Opportunity Zones include 65 rural and 76 non-rural census tracts in 66 counties. The new designations go into effect on Jan. 1, 2027.

“This updated version of the Opportunity Zones Program will provide greater possibility for private investment within 141 census tracts in Alabama,” Ivey said in a news release.

The original Opportunity Zones program was established by Congress as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage long-term, private-sector investments in eligible urban and rural communities nationwide. Version 2.0 made the program permanent through President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts Act in 2025. The state’s new Opportunity Zones will retain this designation for 10 years.

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs submitted the state’s nominations in September after a process to gather local recommendations for Opportunity Zones in Alabama’s counties. The submissions were then evaluated and sent to the U.S. Treasury Department for approval.

The updated framework of the Opportunity Zones program is intended to improve transparency, accountability and overall community impact by directing investment more strategically toward high-need areas, expanding opportunities for rural and underserved communities, encouraging investment in operating businesses in addition to real estate development and strengthening reporting requirements related to job creation, economic growth and community development outcomes, according to a news release from Ivey’s office.

An interactive national map from the U.S. Treasury Department that includes Alabama’s newly designated Opportunity Zones is available here.  

A U.S. Department of Treasury spreadsheet that lists Alabama’s newly designated Opportunity Zones is available here.