Gov. Spencer Cox has recommended 37 census tracts to the U.S. Treasury for designation under Opportunity Zone 2.0, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) announced on September 24, 2026. That is the maximum Utah can nominate: 25% of its 147 eligible tracts. GOED’s list has 27 urban and 10 rural tracts, drawn from an eligible pool of 117 urban and 30 rural tracts. Salt Lake County has the most picks (11), followed by Utah County (7). Every listed tract appears on the IRS Rev. Proc. 2026-14 eligibility appendix, with matching rural flags. These are recommendations, not designated zones: GOED says Treasury is expected to certify the final list in December, and OZ 2.0 designations take effect January 1, 2027.
The announcement. In a September 24, 2026 release, GOED said Gov. Spencer J. Cox “has recommended 37 census tracts for designation as Opportunity Zones under the federal Opportunity Zone 2.0 program.” GOED’s Opportunity Zones page calls 37 “the maximum number of recommendations Utah can make” and publishes the full tract list alongside a map of the recommended tracts.
The math. GOED says Utah “has 147 census tracts that met the federal eligibility requirements” and that federal law caps nominations at 25% of eligible tracts, “limiting Utah’s recommendation to 37.” That matches the Treasury eligibility appendix to Rev. Proc. 2026-14, which lists 147 Utah tracts (117 non-rural, 30 rural). All 37 GEOIDs on GOED’s list appear on the appendix, and GOED’s urban/rural label matches the appendix’s rural status for every one.
Urban and rural. One of GOED’s three stated priorities was “the geographic composition of the eligible tracts. Of the 147 eligible tracts, 117 were urban, and 30 were rural. Accordingly, the recommended list includes 27 urban tracts and 10 rural tracts.” That works out to one in three eligible rural tracts picked, against roughly one in four urban tracts. Under OZ 2.0, investments through a qualified rural opportunity fund get a 30% basis step-up after five years instead of 10%, per IRS Notice 2026-55; GOED’s page makes the same point. Model both cases in our OZ calculator.
Where the tracts are. By county, from GOED’s list: Salt Lake 11, Utah County 7, Cache 3, Weber 3, Davis 2, Iron 2, and one each in Box Elder, Carbon, Duchesne, Grand, Piute, Sanpete, Tooele, Uintah and Washington. That is 15 of the 17 counties with an eligible tract on the appendix; San Juan (2 eligible) and Sevier (1) have none on the list.
How GOED chose. Per the release, GOED weighed “employment levels and growth, population growth, capital flows, existing infrastructure, labor market engagement, demographic and economic conditions,” plus local input, and “emphasized input from cities and counties that identified specific tracts as their top priority, as well as those that identified specific development projects.” GOED says it hosted two statewide informational webinars and ran a statewide survey. Its timeline: webinars in May 2026, analysis and surveys June through July, recommendations to the governor in August, and the governor’s submission to Treasury in September.
What comes next. GOED says “Treasury is expected to certify the final Opportunity Zone designations in December, with new Opportunity Zone 2.0 designations and investment rules taking effect Jan. 1, 2027.” Under Rev. Proc. 2026-14, the designation period runs from January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2036. Until certification, these 37 tracts are nominations, not designated Opportunity Zones. Follow Utah on our Utah zone page and the national OZ 2.0 tracker, and see how other states filed in our September 28 deadline wrap.
Original reporting by Sarah Whitfield for Opportunity Zone Invest, an independent OZ 2.0 research site. Facts are drawn from the primary sources cited above per our editorial standards. Nothing here is tax, legal, or investment advice.
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