Yesterday, on January 29, the U.S. Census Bureau released the 2020–2024 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates for all census tracts across the United States. While this new data DOES NOT affect the designation of EB-5 rural areas, the updated unemployment rates have impacted the distribution of High Unemployment Areas (HUAs) across the country.
IIUSA has already updated its online EB-5 TEA Mapping Tool to reflect the latest 2020–2024 ACS 5-year data. All EB-5 stakeholders are encouraged to visit the updated mapping tool and review the HUA qualification status of their EB-5 projects under the latest data.
National Unemployment Rate Trend
According to the 2020–2024 ACS 5-year data, the national unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.2%. Figure 1 below illustrates the year-over-year trends in the national average unemployment rate based on both ACS 5-year estimates and the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Changes in High Unemployment Areas Across the Country
Using the latest 2020–2024 ACS 5-year unemployment data, more than 39,000 census tracts across the 50 states and the District of Columbia qualify as HUAs. Compared with the previous 2019–2023 ACS 5-year estimates, our analysis found that nearly 5,480 census tracts now have been added to the HUA list, while 5,000 census tracts have lost their HUA qualification under the new 2020–2024 ACS data.
Table 1 below summarizes the number of HUA census tracts under the latest 2020–2024 ACS estimates and provides a comparison with the prior 2019–2023 data.
IIUSA will publish a more in-depth analysis of the new ACS data in the coming days. In the meantime, all EB-5 stakeholders are encouraged to visit our interactive EB-5 TEA Mapping Tool and review how the updated data has impacted their EB-5 projects.
Thank You to Our TEA Mapping Tool Sponsor:
