The Opportunity Zone (OZ) program uses federal tax incentives to encourage private investment in low-income communities and was made into a permanent, decennial program through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (OBBBA). This brief shifts attention to the next round of OZ designations and examining all 49 OZ eligible census tracts across Worcester County, including the 26 in the City of Worcester.

Raising Housing: Understanding the Affordable Housing Crisis in Worcester moves beyond description to deeper analysis of the Housing Production Plan within a broader analytical framework, highlighting its most consequential findings and assessing their implications.

Worcester faces an intensifying housing crisis shaped by rising rents, stagnant incomes, an aging housing stock, and sustained population growth. Nearly 40% of all households—and about 50% of renters—are cost-burdened (Defined by HUD as spending more than 30% of gross income on housing).

Commercial Real Estate (CRE) is a key economic engine for municipalities. It provides space for jobs for the community, provides own economic value through its use and outputs, and serves as an important source of revenue for City governments.

Over the past few decades, the City of Worcester has undergone substantial demographic and economic changes. As an economic and population hub in central Massachusetts, studying past changes helps us to better understand the current regional conditions and to think in a more informed way about the future.

The City Manager's office put forth a proposal to adopt an "inclusionary zoning" (IZ) policy to amend the Worcester Zoning Ordinance, for new housing built in the city.

Due to a coalition of local organizations and a vote by the City Council, Worcester voters this November will have the chance to adopt a 1.5 percent property tax surcharge for the purposes of funding community preservation projects.

This document expands on that report, by looking at three years of data, examining internet connection speed, and WPS student access.

The American Dream is a nebulous concept—success looks like different things to different people. But one relative constant is the concept of homeownership.

This report catalogues many of Worcester’s official zones, districts, overlays and areas. Where available, information is taken from the City of Worcester’s Geographic Information System department. The intention is for those interested in Worcester to gain a better understanding of the underlying map that governs the structure and function of the world around them.