Opportunity Insights
Opportunity Insights is a Harvard-based, nonpartisan not-for-profit research institute co-directed by Raj Chetty, John Friedman, and Nathaniel Hendren. It analyzes large-scale administrative data on economic mobility and provides free public tools — including the Opportunity Atlas, Social Capital Atlas, and Economic Tracker — to policymakers, practitioners, and researchers.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersCambridge, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Opportunity Insights does
Opportunity Insights (OI) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit research and policy institute founded in 2018 and based at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The organization is co-directed by economists Raj Chetty, John Friedman, and Nathaniel Hendren, and operates with an 11–50 person team of researchers and policy analysts. Its core product is the application of large-scale administrative datasets — sourced from partners including the U.S. Census Bureau and Meta — to measure and explain economic mobility in the United States, producing research on the "Fading American Dream," neighborhood opportunity, and racial disparities.
OI's product surface consists of five flagship analytical tools — the Opportunity Atlas, Social Capital Atlas, College Mobility Report Cards, Economic Tracker, and Migration Patterns — alongside a downloadable data repository of replication code and published datasets. Underlying technical work is centered on big-data analytics and quasi-experimental econometrics (e.g., the HOPE VI housing study and the Communities In Schools impact evaluation) rather than commercial AI/ML systems. The organization also runs translational programs such as the Creating Moves to Opportunity housing pilot, the CLIMB higher-education initiative, and an "In the Classroom" teacher fellowship.
OI's business model is grant-funded: all research, tools, and data are provided to the public at no cost, and the institute does not operate a commercial pricing or licensing model. Customers in the strategic sense are federal, state, and local policymakers, community practitioners, and academic researchers who apply OI evidence to program and policy design, with the institute monetizing through research grants and institutional partnerships rather than user fees or enterprise contracts.
Opportunity Insights firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Opportunity Insights
- Legal name
- Opportunity Insights
- Website
- https://opportunityinsights.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Opportunity Insights is a Harvard-based, nonpartisan not-for-profit research institute co-directed by Raj Chetty, John Friedman, and Nathaniel Hendren. It analyzes large-scale administrative data on economic mobility and provides free public tools — including the Opportunity Atlas, Social Capital Atlas, and Economic Tracker — to policymakers, practitioners, and researchers.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Opportunity Insights industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Economic and Policy Research
- NAICS
- Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Data Analytics Integration & Insight Platforms (Research Ops, Dashboards, Insight Repositories) (MPAAALAO)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Career Exploration, Interest/Skills Assessment & Pathway Planning (EDAFAMAK), College & Program Discovery, Matching & Fit Tools (EDAFAMAA)
Keywords
Where Opportunity Insights is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cambridge
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Opportunity Insights business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Research Grants and Funding: As a non-profit organization based at Harvard University, Opportunity Insights operates primarily through research grants and institutional funding to support their scientific research on economic mobility.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels6 records
Opportunity Insights product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Opportunity Insights conducts scientific research using big data on economic mobility and upward opportunity in the United States, and packages its findings into interactive mapping tools (Opportunity Atlas, Social Capital Atlas, Economic Tracker, Migration Patterns), downloadable datasets, and policy initiatives. It also runs training courses, fellowships, and resources for policymakers, community leaders, and researchers to translate evidence into practice.
Product overview
Opportunity Insights is a non-partisan, not-for-profit research organization based at Harvard University that conducts scientific research using big data on economic mobility. Their portfolio consists of interactive analytical tools (Opportunity Atlas, Social Capital Atlas, Economic Tracker, Migration Patterns) that visualize and explore neighborhood-level data on economic opportunity, combined with downloadable data repositories for academic research. They also offer educational resources including Research Talks, Courses, and Tools for Local Leaders to help translate findings into policy. The organization is directed by Raj Chetty, John Friedman, and Nathaniel Hendren, and focuses on areas including national trends, education, neighborhoods, and racial disparities in economic opportunity.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Opportunity Atlas: Explore neighborhood-level data to find solutions to community challenges.
- Social Capital Atlas
- Economic Tracker
- College Mobility Report Cards
- Migration Patterns
Products and services
- Opportunity Atlas
Quantifiable outcome
- Research demonstrates that three years of CIS support significantly benefits low-income students, with economic benefits including higher lifetime earnings and increased federal tax revenue.
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Opportunity Insights
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Opportunity Insights technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Opportunity Insights partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and regional.
- Communities In Schools (CIS)coreResearch collaboration to study the CIS model's impact on student outcomes. The study shows that CIS integrated supports (tutoring, mentoring, health services) improve graduation rates, college enrollment, and lifetime earnings for low-income students.
- Harvard University's EdRedesign LabcoreCollaborative research partnership with Harvard's EdRedesign Lab on education interventions and redesign, combining OI's data analytics capabilities with EdRedesign Lab's focus on educational innovation.
- CLIMB Initiative (higher education partnership)coreA partnership to explore and amplify higher education as an engine of mobility, examining how colleges and universities impact economic opportunity.
- Spanish Opportunity LabregionalJoint organization of the Economic Opportunity European Conference, expanding OI's research impact to European contexts.
- HUD (Housing and Urban Development)corePartnership on HUD's Community Choice Demonstration project, testing strategies to increase access to high-opportunity neighborhoods.
- Meta Platforms, Inc. (for Social Capital Atlas)coreCollaboration with Meta for data underlying the Social Capital Atlas project, providing social capital estimates for schools, colleges, and ZIP codes.
- U.S. Census Bureau (for Opportunity Atlas)coreCollaboration with the U.S. Census Bureau providing data for the Opportunity Atlas, mapping neighborhood-level outcomes across the United States.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Opportunity Insights competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- J-PAL (Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab): MIT-based research organization using big data and randomized experiments to study poverty and economic mobility. Closest direct peer to OI in mission, methodology, and policy translation approach.
- Urban Institute: Non-partisan research organization producing data-driven evidence on economic mobility, housing, education, and inequality. Directly comparable in operating model, policy translation, and data tool publishing.
- Mathematica Policy Research: Non-profit research and data analytics firm producing rigorous evidence on social programs, education, and economic opportunity. Direct peer in operating model, evidence generation, and policy evaluation.
- MDRC: Non-profit social policy research organization focused on programs for low-income populations. Direct peer in producing evidence on education and workforce interventions for economic mobility.
- National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER): Premier economics research organization producing working papers on labor, public economics, and inequality. Closely comparable to OI in academic rigor and dataset-driven research outputs.
Broad incumbents
- Brookings Institution: Large, established think tank covering economic opportunity among many other policy domains. Overlaps with OI on economic mobility research but operates at much broader scope and scale.
- RAND Corporation: Major research institution with economic mobility, education, and social policy work. Comparable in research-to-policy translation but with a substantially larger portfolio and defense/health policy mix.
Regional players
- Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR): Stanford-based economic policy research institute conducting academic research on inequality and economic mobility. Comparable academic operating model and policy engagement approach.
Others
- U.S. Census Bureau: Federal data provider that supplies the underlying administrative data for OI's Opportunity Atlas. Adjacent ecosystem participant — not a competitor, but a critical upstream data partner.
Emerging players
- Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR): Non-partisan think tank focused on economic inequality and mobility research with policy advocacy. Comparable in non-partisan positioning and economic mobility focus, though smaller in scale and reach than OI.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks4 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Opportunity Insights social profiles
Digital presenceOpportunity Insights financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Opportunity Insights leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Opportunity Insights funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Opportunity Insights M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Opportunity Insights
What does Opportunity Insights do?
Opportunity Insights conducts scientific research using big data on economic mobility and upward opportunity in the United States, and packages its findings into interactive mapping tools (Opportunity Atlas, Social Capital Atlas, Economic Tracker, Migration Patterns), downloadable datasets, and policy initiatives. It also runs training courses, fellowships, and resources for policymakers, community leaders, and researchers to translate evidence into practice.
Is Opportunity Insights a public or private company?
Opportunity Insights is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Opportunity Insights founded?
Opportunity Insights was founded in 2018. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Opportunity Insights based?
Opportunity Insights is headquartered in Cambridge, United States, in the North America region.
How does Opportunity Insights make money?
One revenue line is on record: research Grants and Funding.
Who are Opportunity Insights's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are J-PAL (Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab), Urban Institute, Mathematica Policy Research, MDRC and National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Broad incumbents are Brookings Institution and RAND Corporation. Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) is listed as a regional player. U.S. Census Bureau is listed as an others. Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) is listed as an emerging player.
Does Opportunity Insights have an API?
No public API is recorded for Opportunity Insights.
What industry is Opportunity Insights in?
Opportunity Insights's product category is Economic and Policy Research. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAAALAO, Data Analytics Integration & Insight Platforms (Research Ops, Dashboards, Insight Repositories), with a secondary code of EDAFAMAK, Career Exploration, Interest/Skills Assessment & Pathway Planning. Its NAICS code is 54172 and its SIC code is 7370.