USDA eligibility map: check an address
Enter a US street address to see whether it is in a USDA-eligible rural area, the property-location test for USDA Single Family Housing Direct and Guaranteed loans (Section 502) and Multifamily Housing. The answer comes from USDA Rural Development's published eligibility map when you search. Location is one requirement: household income limits and loan approval are separate, and Rural Development makes the official determination on a complete application.
What USDA counts as a rural area
Rural Development guarantees loans “only” in areas it designates as rural (7 CFR 3555.201). The definition is in section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949: open country, and any place, town, village or city that is not part of or associated with an urban area and has
- a population of 2,500 or less;
- more than 2,500 but no more than 10,000, if it is rural in character; or
- more than 10,000 but no more than 20,000, if it is outside a metropolitan statistical area and has a serious lack of mortgage credit for lower and moderate-income families.
An area that was rural and lost the status because of the 1990, 2000, 2010 or 2020 census stays rural until data from the 2030 census arrive, if it has more than 10,000 and no more than 35,000 people, is rural in character and has a serious lack of mortgage credit (42 U.S.C. 1490). USDA maps the result as ineligible areas; everything outside them is eligible.
USDA eligible area by state
Share of each state's area that is USDA eligible: a HeritageDeed estimate from USDA's published eligibility map. Each state page lists every county and the towns USDA maps as ineligible.
| State | Area eligible (estimate) |
|---|---|
| Alabama | 94.7% |
| Alaska | 99.7% |
| Arizona | 96.0% |
| Arkansas | 98.3% |
| California | 93.2% |
| Colorado | 96.7% |
| Connecticut | 70.3% |
| Delaware | 86.3% |
| Washington, DC | 0% |
| Florida | 76.3% |
| Georgia | 89.6% |
| Hawaii | 96.6% |
| Idaho | 99.0% |
| Illinois | 91.1% |
| Indiana | 91.8% |
| Iowa | 96.7% |
| Kansas | 98.8% |
| Kentucky | 96.4% |
| Louisiana | 98.0% |
| Maine | 99.4% |
| Maryland | 78.0% |
| Massachusetts | 72.6% |
| Michigan | 95.1% |
| Minnesota | 96.8% |
| Mississippi | 98.5% |
| Missouri | 96.4% |
| Montana | 99.9% |
| Nebraska | 98.7% |
| Nevada | 98.7% |
| New Hampshire | 95.3% |
| New Jersey | 67.3% |
| New Mexico | 98.2% |
| New York | 91.1% |
| North Carolina | 93.0% |
| North Dakota | 99.7% |
| Ohio | 89.9% |
| Oklahoma | 96.7% |
| Oregon | 99.1% |
| Pennsylvania | 94.4% |
| Puerto Rico | 91.7% |
| Rhode Island | 72.9% |
| South Carolina | 93.5% |
| South Dakota | 99.8% |
| Tennessee | 93.2% |
| Texas | 96.1% |
| Utah | 96.6% |
| Vermont | 99.6% |
| Virginia | 92.1% |
| Washington | 97.2% |
| West Virginia | 99.3% |
| Wisconsin | 96.4% |
| Wyoming | 99.9% |
Location, income, then the loan
Location. The property has to be in an eligible area. This lookup answers that question for a point.
Income. For the Guaranteed loan the household's income must be within the program's moderate-income limit for the county, defined in 7 CFR 3555.10 as the greater of 115 percent of the US median family income, the average of the statewide and state nonmetro median family income, or 115/80ths of the area low-income limit for the household size. The Direct loan serves low and very-low-income applicants.
The loan. The house must meet the site and property standards, and the buyer goes through a lender (Guaranteed) or Rural Development (Direct). If an area's designation changes to nonrural, existing conditional commitments are honored, and requests whose application and purchase contract were complete before the change may be approved (7 CFR 3555.201).
How the lookup works
The address is matched to a location. If the match has a different house number or street direction from the one you typed, the lookup stops and says so instead of answering for another place. The location is then checked against USDA Rural Development's published eligibility map for both Single Family Housing and Multifamily Housing. A point inside an ineligible area is not eligible; a point outside every ineligible area is.
The check is at the address point, not the lot lines, so a property on the edge of a town can come out differently from USDA's parcel-level review. If the data cannot be retrieved, the lookup says eligibility was not determined; it never turns an outage into “eligible”. Related free tools: the census tract lookup (income level, QCT and DDA status) and the Opportunity Zone lookup.
Questions
How do I check if an address is eligible for a USDA loan?
Enter the street address above. The lookup locates it and checks that point against USDA Rural Development's published eligibility map for Single Family Housing and Multifamily Housing. No ineligible area at the point means the property location meets USDA's rural-area test.
Is this an official USDA property eligibility determination?
No. USDA says its maps do not constitute a final determination, and that the final determination of property eligibility is made by Rural Development upon receipt of a complete application. This lookup uses the published map and is a free screening.
What makes an area ineligible for a USDA home loan?
The rural-area definition in section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1490): open country and places that are not part of or associated with an urban area and have up to 2,500 people, up to 10,000 if rural in character, or up to 20,000 outside a metropolitan statistical area with a serious lack of mortgage credit for lower and moderate-income families. Cities and towns above those limits, and areas tied to an urban area, are mapped as ineligible.
Why is a town of more than 20,000 people still USDA eligible?
The statute keeps an area that was rural and lost the status because of the 1990, 2000, 2010 or 2020 census rural until data from the 2030 census arrive, if it has 10,000 to 35,000 people, is rural in character and has a serious lack of mortgage credit for lower and moderate-income families (42 U.S.C. 1490).
Does USDA eligibility depend on income?
Yes, separately. The address test is only about location. For the Guaranteed loan, household income must be within the moderate-income limit, which 7 CFR 3555.10 defines as the greater of 115 percent of the US median family income, the average of the statewide and state nonmetro median family income, or 115/80ths of the area low-income limit for the household size. Your lender can check a household against its county's limit.
What happens if an area loses USDA eligibility while I am buying?
Under 7 CFR 3555.201(a), Rural Development guarantees loans only in areas it designates as rural, but if a designation changes to nonrural, existing conditional commitments are honored and loan requests whose application and purchase contract were complete before the change may be approved.
How much of the United States is USDA eligible?
By HeritageDeed's estimate from USDA's published eligibility map, about 96.5% of the land area of the states, DC and the territories is USDA eligible. The share is lowest in New Jersey (67.3%), Connecticut (70.3%), Massachusetts (72.6%), and Washington, DC has no eligible area. Land area is not population: most people live in the larger towns and cities, which are usually ineligible.
Legal references
- 42 U.S.C. 1490, definition of rural area (Housing Act of 1949, section 520)
- 7 CFR 3555.10, definitions: moderate income and rural area
- 7 CFR 3555.201, site requirements: rural areas
Facts as of October 20, 2026. A screening from USDA Rural Development's published eligibility map, not an official USDA determination, not a loan approval and not legal or financial advice. HeritageDeed is not affiliated with USDA.
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