A Target Employment Area (TEA) is a geographic/geopolitical area identified as having an unemployment rate at or above 150% of the national average or a rural area not within a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) or the outer boundary of a city or town having a population of 20,000 or more. The amount a foreign national must invest, as required by the EB-5 program, is $1 million. The amount is reduced to $500,000 if the investment is made in a TEA, which must be backed by substantial and verifiable data to show it is in fact at or above 150% of the national average unemployment rate or that the region qualifies as a rural area.