FPL Income: Thresholds, What Counts, and 2026 Programs

The federal poverty level income for 2026 begins at $15,960 a year for a single person in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia, with $5,680 added for each additional household member.1U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2026 Poverty Guidelines The income that gets compared against those numbers, for most health programs, is Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) built from your federal tax return. HHS publishes the guidelines each year and adjusts them for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, and federal and state agencies then use them as the baseline for Medicaid, CHIP, Marketplace subsidies, SNAP, and more.2U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Programs that Use the Poverty Guidelines as a Part of Eligibility Determination

2026 Federal Poverty Level by Household Size

For the 48 contiguous states and D.C., the 2026 guidelines are:1U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2026 Poverty Guidelines

  • 1 person: $15,960
  • 2 people: $21,640
  • 3 people: $27,320
  • 4 people: $33,000
  • Each additional person: add $5,680

Alaska and Hawaii get their own, higher figures because delivering goods and services there costs more. In Alaska, one person is $19,950 with $7,100 added for each additional member. In Hawaii, one person is $18,360 with $6,530 added per additional member.1U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2026 Poverty Guidelines A family of four hits 100% of poverty at $41,250 in Alaska compared with $33,000 in the lower 48, and every percentage-based cutoff builds on that higher baseline.

Turning the FPL Into a Program Cutoff

Almost no benefit program uses the flat 100% figure as its ceiling. Programs set eligibility at a percentage of the FPL, so to find your threshold for a specific program, multiply the guideline for your household size by that percentage. A single person checking eligibility for a 150% FPL program would multiply $15,960 by 1.50 and get $23,940.

What Income Counts Toward the Federal Poverty Level

For Medicaid, CHIP, and Marketplace premium tax credits, the income figure compared against the FPL is MAGI. MAGI starts with adjusted gross income from your tax return and adds three things: untaxed foreign income, non-taxable Social Security benefits, and tax-exempt interest.3HealthCare.gov. What’s Included as Income

Income types that count toward MAGI include:3HealthCare.gov. What’s Included as Income

  • Wages, salary, and tips.
  • Net self-employment income after business expenses.
  • Unemployment compensation.
  • Social Security, both taxable and non-taxable portions, including SSDI. Enter the full amount before deductions.
  • Interest, dividends, and capital gains.
  • Rental and royalty income, net of expenses.
  • Most IRA and 401(k) withdrawals. Qualified Roth withdrawals are excluded.
  • Alimony from divorce or separation agreements finalized before January 1, 2019.

Income That Does Not Count

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is specifically excluded from MAGI.4HealthCare.gov. Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) Child support you receive, veterans’ benefits, workers’ compensation, gifts, and life insurance proceeds also stay out because federal tax rules treat them as non-taxable and outside AGI. Loans aren’t income either, since borrowed money creates a repayment obligation rather than a net gain.

Lump-Sum Payments

A one-time payment such as a legal settlement, inheritance payout, or lottery prize counts as income in the month you receive it. That can temporarily push your household above an FPL threshold even when your regular earnings sit well below the cutoff. If you’re enrolled in a subsidized program and receive a large lump sum, report it promptly. Skipping that step can create a painful surprise at tax time.

How Your Household Is Counted

Your household for FPL purposes is built around your federal tax return. It includes the tax filer, a spouse filing jointly, and anyone claimed as a dependent.5HealthCare.gov. Tax Household A qualifying dependent is generally a child under 19 (or under 24 if a full-time student) or another relative who receives more than half of their financial support from you.6Internal Revenue Service. Dependents

Two unmarried adults sharing an apartment who file separate returns count as separate households, even if they split the rent. Married couples are treated as one household whether they file jointly or separately.

When a Dependent Earns Income

If a dependent child earns enough to trigger an IRS filing requirement, their income gets added to the household total for FPL purposes. A teenager earning $14,000 over the summer can shift the family’s FPL percentage enough to reduce subsidies or cross an eligibility line.

Shared Custody

Children in shared custody arrangements can complicate household size. Under Medicaid and CHIP rules, a child who expects to be claimed by a non-custodial parent falls under a special exception: the child’s household is determined by who they actually live with. For a child under 19, that household includes the child, their siblings, any of their own children, and whichever parent lives with them. The same child can end up in different households for tax purposes and for Medicaid.

Programs and Their 2026 Income Limits

Each program sets its own ceiling as a multiple of the poverty guideline. Applied to the 2026 single-person FPL of $15,960:

  • Medicaid in expansion states: up to 138% FPL, or about $22,025 for one person. The 138% figure is 133% plus a built-in 5% income disregard.7HealthCare.gov. Federal Poverty Level
  • Marketplace premium tax credits: between 100% and 400% FPL. For 2026, the upper bound is $63,840 for a single filer.8Internal Revenue Service. Eligibility for the Premium Tax Credit
  • SNAP: gross income up to 130% FPL in most states, or $20,748 for one person.2U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Programs that Use the Poverty Guidelines as a Part of Eligibility Determination
  • CHIP: varies by state, but commonly covers children in families earning up to 200% FPL or more.
  • Head Start: generally 100% FPL, or $15,960 for one person.

Non-expansion states set their own Medicaid income limits, which can be far lower than 138%. In those states, a working adult earning $10,000 may not qualify for Medicaid yet also earn too little to receive Marketplace subsidies.

The 400% Cliff Is Back for 2026

From 2021 through 2025, temporary legislation removed the hard 400% income cap on Marketplace premium tax credits, so people above that line could still get some subsidy. That provision expired on January 1, 2026.9Congress.gov. Enhanced Premium Tax Credit and 2026 Exchange Premiums For the 2026 plan year, household income above 400% of the poverty guideline eliminates premium tax credit eligibility entirely. For a family of four, that cutoff is $132,000. One dollar over erases the full subsidy, which is why it’s called a cliff.

Reconciliation Risk if You Underestimate Income

Anyone who received advance premium tax credits must file Form 8962 to reconcile the credits against actual annual income.10Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8962 Starting with the 2026 tax year, there are no caps on how much you can be required to repay.11Internal Revenue Service. Questions and Answers on the Premium Tax Credit In earlier years, repayment was capped by income. That safety net is gone, so underestimating 2026 income can trigger a dollar-for-dollar clawback of every excess subsidy payment. If income came in lower than projected, the reconciliation runs the other way and you receive the additional credit as part of your refund. Reporting income changes to the Marketplace when they happen keeps the estimate accurate and reduces year-end surprises.12Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Reporting a Change in Income

HHS Guidelines vs. Census Poverty Thresholds

Two related measures get confused often. The HHS poverty guidelines are the simplified numbers used throughout this article: they vary only by household size and geographic region, and they exist to determine program eligibility. The Census Bureau poverty thresholds are a more detailed statistical tool used to measure how many Americans live in poverty, accounting for whether household members are children or adults and whether someone is over 65. That produces 48 threshold values against the eight household sizes in the HHS guidelines. Both trace back to the same 1960s methodology and both are updated annually using the Consumer Price Index, but the HHS version rounds and simplifies to make eligibility decisions faster and more consistent.13U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Poverty Guidelines API When a benefits application says “federal poverty level,” it means the HHS guidelines. When researchers report the share of Americans below the poverty line, they mean Census thresholds.