Support independent journalism. Subscribe for $50 for your first year. Limited time.

Economy

Are ‘Opportunity Zones’ Creating Opportunity? Rural America Is Waiting.

Local officials tell NOTUS they haven’t seen investment dollars pour in. But they’re welcoming the coming changes to the tax program.

Housing construction

There’s no comprehensive federal tracking of the impact of opportunity zones, but outside research has shown the program yielding mixed results. (Damian Dovarganes/AP) Damian Dovarganes/AP

By Jade Lozada

September 3, 2026 05:50 a.m.

Montgomery County, Illinois, is roughly 700 square miles of sparsely populated land almost perfectly situated in between Springfield and St. Louis. It’s home to a Route 66 Welcome Center and, if a federal tax-incentive program is successful, is supposed to be a hotspot for new economic development.

But when Mike Plunkett, a county coordinator whose job it is to field those millions of dollars in investment, looks around, he wonders why a developer would come there.

“What do we have to offer that a million other Midwestern communities don’t have? We have very little competitive advantage,” Plunkett said.