Federal Reserve Board – Agencies release list of distressed or underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies

Federal bank regulatory agencies today released the 2025 list of distressed or underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies where certain bank activities are eligible for Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) credit.

Under the CRA, the agencies assess a bank's record of meeting the credit needs of its entire community, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound operations. The list released by the agencies includes distressed or underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies where revitalization or stabilization activities are eligible to receive CRA consideration. The designations reflect local economic conditions, including unemployment, poverty, and population changes. Previous years' lists and criteria for designating these areas are available here.

Revitalization or stabilization activities in these geographies are eligible to receive CRA consideration under the community development definition for 12 months after publication of the current list. As with past lists, the agencies apply a one-year lag period for geographies that were included in 2024 but are no longer designated as distressed or underserved in the current list.

The agencies leveraged an updated methodology to designate underserved middle-income census tracts for this list, based upon revised source information from various agencies. As a result, the amended urban influence codes use similar criteria and methods as previous delineations but have been consolidated from 12 to 9 categories. Additional information is available in the Source Information and Methodology.