Opportunity Insights

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.

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

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

• Economic mobility research
• Policy research institute
• Big data analytics
• Social capital analysis
• Upward mobility studies

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. 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

Core 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

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and regional.

• Communities In Schools (CIS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 December 2025Research 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 LabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative 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)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA partnership to explore and amplify higher education as an engine of mobility, examining how colleges and universities impact economic opportunity.
• Spanish Opportunity LabregionalStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint organization of the Economic Opportunity European Conference, expanding OI's research impact to European contexts.
• HUD (Housing and Urban Development)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on HUD's Community Choice Demonstration project, testing strategies to increase access to high-opportunity neighborhoods.
• Meta Platforms, Inc. (for Social Capital Atlas)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration 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)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration 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

Direct 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

• Xx.com/OppInsights
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/opportunityinsights

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Opportunity Insights