EPA Brownfields Program Statistics: 2026 Data
EPA's own Brownfields data includes a tax-revenue comparison drawn from a 2017 study it cites: across the 48 brownfields analysed, cleanup was followed by an estimated $29 to $97 million in additional local-government tax revenue in a single year, which EPA states is 2 to 7 times more than the $12.4 million EPA itself contributed to those cleanups. Below are EPA's own published program totals, efficiency figures, and the land-value research behind that comparison, every number sourced to EPA's own accomplishments page.
National Brownfields Program totals
Through EPA's own grant-funded Brownfields program (multipurpose, assessment, revolving loan fund, and cleanup cooperative agreements), as of July 1, 2026:
| Measure | Total |
|---|---|
| Properties assessed | 43,397 |
| Properties cleaned up | 3,106 |
| Properties made ready for anticipated use (RAU) | 13,236 |
| Acres made ready for anticipated use (RAU) | 189,309 |
| Dollars leveraged | $46 billion |
| Jobs leveraged | 230,503 |
Source: U.S. EPA, Brownfields and Land Revitalization: Accomplishments, "as of July 1st, 2026."
How far EPA's grant dollars stretch
Through fiscal year 2025, EPA reports these two program-efficiency averages for its Brownfields grants (both include grants awarded in FY23 and earlier, since leveraging typically happens years after the award):
| Measure | Average |
|---|---|
| Dollars leveraged per EPA grant dollar | $19.47 |
| Jobs leveraged per $100,000 in grant funds | 10 jobs |
State and Tribal Partner programs
States and Tribal Nations run their own brownfield response programs, setting their own cleanup standards, with EPA providing capacity funding. EPA reports these figures for that work separately from its own direct grant program above:
| Measure | Total |
|---|---|
| Properties enrolled | more than 33,229 annually (on average) |
| Cleanups completed | more than 232,228 |
| Acres made ready for anticipated use | more than 3,891,801 |
EPA labels only the "properties enrolled" figure as an annual average; it states no time basis or date for the cleanups and acres figures. EPA date-stamps the federal totals above "as of July 1st, 2026," but does not separately date-stamp this state/tribal block, so we report the two blocks side by side without combining them into one total.
Land use and travel impact of redeveloping a brownfield
EPA's page also cites results from a nationwide assessment comparing brownfield redevelopment to building the same growth on undeveloped ("greenfield") land:
| Measure | Reported effect |
|---|---|
| Share of 2013–2030 job and housing growth that could be supported on brownfield sites | 11–13% |
| Reduction in impervious-surface expansion | 73–80% |
| Reduction in residential vehicle-miles traveled from new growth | 25–33% |
| Reduction in job-related vehicle-miles traveled from new growth | 9–10% |
These figures come from a separate nationwide assessment EPA's accomplishments page cites and links to as a PDF; we have not independently opened or verified that underlying report, only EPA's own restatement of its findings.
Property value and tax revenue after cleanup
EPA's page cites two peer-reviewed studies on what happens near a cleaned-up brownfield. A 2017 study (Haninger, Ma & Timmins, published in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists) found that cleaning up brownfield properties led to residential property value increases of 5–15.2% within 1.29 miles of the site. The second study, cited by EPA, is Sullivan, K., 2017, "Brownfields Remediation: Impact of Local Residential Property Tax Revenue," published in the Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management, 19(3). Analyzing data near 48 of those brownfields, that study found an estimated $29 to $97 million in additional local-government tax revenue in a single year after cleanup, which EPA's own page states is 2 to 7 times more than the $12.4 million EPA contributed to the cleanup of those same brownfields.
These are findings from two named third-party academic studies that EPA's page cites and summarizes, not EPA's own primary research. We have not independently opened or verified the two underlying papers beyond EPA's citation of them.
What this data does, and doesn't, cover
Every figure above is EPA's own count of activity that moved through its Brownfields grant program or a state/tribal response program. It is not a count of every Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment performed nationally. Most Phase 1 ESAs are ordered privately by commercial buyers, lenders, and developers for real estate transactions that never touch this federal program, and we found no reliable primary-source count of that broader total (the paid market-research "market size" reports we found were not consistent with each other, so we're not citing any of them here). This data is the best fetchable national picture of assessment and cleanup activity we found, but it measures EPA's own program, not the private Phase 1 ESA market this site otherwise covers.
Sources
Every figure on this page traces to one primary source, fetched and verified on 2026-08-15: U.S. EPA, Brownfields and Land Revitalization: Accomplishments. The academic studies referenced above are cited as EPA's own page cites them; see that page's own footnotes for the full study citations.
How to cite this page
"EPA Brownfields Program Statistics, 2026," Phase 1 ESA Quotes, https://phase1esaquotes.com/brownfields-statistics/, accessed 2026-08-15.