Areas of Persistent Poverty & Historically Disadvantaged Communities
To determine if a project is located in these areas for the purpose of a grant application, please use this new map tool! Instructions are below on this page.
An “Area of Persistent Poverty” is defined by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. A project is located in an Area of Persistent Poverty if:
- 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
- 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
- the project is located in any territory or possession of the United States.
A "Historically Disadvantaged Community" is defined by USDOT, consistent with OMB's Interim Guidance for the Justice40 Initiative. A project is located in a Historically Disadvantaged Community if:
- the project is located in certain qualifying census tracts; OR
- the project is located on Tribal land; OR
- the project is located in any territory or possession of the United States.
How to use RAISE Mapping Tool:
- Access the Mapping Tool at: https://maps.dot.gov/BTS/GrantProjectLocationVerification/
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- The BASEMAP GALLERY tab in the upper right-hand corner provides viewing options including satellite imagery, terrain and topographical reference information, if needed.
USDOT has also published a table to help applicants identify if a project meets these definitions.
Last update: Area of Persistent Poverty Counties were updated based on the 2021 SAIPE data in Winter 2023.
Next update: Updated Historically Disadvantaged Communities will be published in Spring/Summer 2023.