Areas of Persistent Poverty & Historically Disadvantaged Communities

An “Area of Persistent Poverty” is defined by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. A project is located in an Area of Persistent Poverty if:

1. the County in which the project is located consistently had greater than or equal to 20 percent of the population living in poverty in all three of the following datasets: (a) the 1990 decennial census; (b) the 2000 decennial census; and (c) the most recent (2021) Small Area Income Poverty Estimates; OR
2. the Census Tract in which the project is located has a poverty rate of at least 20 percent as measured by the 2014-2018 5-year data series available from the American Community Survey of the Bureau of the Census; OR
3. the project is located in any territory or possession of the United States.

A "Historically Disadvantaged Community" is defined by the Justice40 Interim Guidance Addendum, issued by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), and Climate Policy Office (CPO):

1. any Census Tract identified as disadvantaged in the Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool (geoplatform.gov) (CEJST), created by CEQ, which identifies such communities that have been marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution; or
2. any Federally Recognized Tribe or Tribal entity, whether or not they have land.

Use the Grant Project Location Verification Tool to determine if your project is located in an Area of Persistent Poverty and/or a Historically Disadvantaged Community.

How to use the Grant Project Location Verification Tool:

1. Access the Mapping Tool at: https://maps.dot.gov/BTS/GrantProjectLocationVerification/
2. Locate the project location by searching or zooming. Utilize the "+" and "-" BUTTONS in the upper left-hand to fit the full project scope within the display area.
3. Ensure all layers are active by checking the boxes via the LAYER LIST tab in the upper right-hand corner. Layers are zoom-dependent. If the label is greyed out in the legend, the layer is not showing on the map because it is not zoomed in far enough.
4. Refer to the LEGEND and/or the LAYER LIST tab in the upper right-hand corner to understand the color shading and designations for your project area.
5. The BASEMAP GALLERY tab in the upper right-hand corner provides viewing options including satellite imagery, terrain and topographical reference information, if needed.