Household Income as a Percentage of Federal Poverty Level

To find your household income as a percentage of the federal poverty level, divide your annual household income by the poverty guideline for your household size, then multiply by 100. For 2026, the guideline for a single person in the 48 contiguous states is $15,960, so someone earning $23,940 sits at 150 percent of the federal poverty level. That percentage is the number Medicaid, Marketplace subsidies, SNAP, WIC, and a long list of other programs use to decide whether you qualify.

2026 Federal Poverty Guidelines

The Department of Health and Human Services updates these guideline amounts every year based on changes in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers.¹ For the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the 2026 figures are:²

1 person: $15,960
2 people: $21,640
3 people: $27,320
4 people: $33,000
5 people: $38,680
6 people: $44,360
7 people: $50,040
8 people: $55,720
Each additional person: add $5,680

Alaska and Hawaii use higher guideline amounts to account for their elevated living costs.² If you live in either state, use the separate tables HHS publishes rather than the numbers above.

Who Counts in Your Household

Household size sets the denominator in your calculation, so miscounting people distorts your percentage as badly as misreporting income. For Marketplace and Medicaid, your household is your tax household: the person filing the return, their spouse if filing jointly, and anyone claimed as a tax dependent.³ A tax dependent is generally a child or relative who lives with you and depends on you for more than half of their financial support.

A common error is counting everyone under the roof. A roommate who files their own taxes and isn’t your dependent doesn’t belong in your household. Neither does an adult child who files independently. A college-age child living away from home does count if you claim them. Larger household, higher guideline, easier to qualify at any given income.

What Income Counts

Most programs that use FPL percentages measure income as Modified Adjusted Gross Income, or MAGI. MAGI starts with the adjusted gross income from your tax return (line 11 on Form 1040) and adds three items: untaxed foreign income, non-taxable Social Security benefits, and tax-exempt interest.⁴ That Social Security addition surprises people. Even the portion of your benefits that the IRS doesn’t tax gets added back in.

Income that counts includes wages, self-employment earnings, unemployment compensation, retirement and pension withdrawals (except qualified Roth distributions), rental income, capital gains, tips, investment income, and Social Security Disability Income.⁴

Several income types are excluded. Supplemental Security Income (SSI), child support received, veterans’ disability payments, worker’s compensation, gifts, loan proceeds, and alimony from divorces finalized on or after January 1, 2019 do not count.⁴ Overlooking these exclusions inflates your reported income and can cost you benefits you actually qualify for.

Dependents’ income is added to your household total only when the dependent is required to file a federal tax return. A dependent who files voluntarily just to claim a refund doesn’t push up the household number.⁵

Running the Calculation

Divide your annual household income by the poverty guideline for your household size, multiply by 100, and drop everything after the decimal point. You round down, not up.⁵

Take a family of three with household income of $54,640. The 2026 guideline for three people is $27,320. Divide $54,640 by $27,320 and you get 2.0. Multiply by 100 and the household sits at exactly 200 percent of the FPL. Change the income to $54,500 and the division yields 1.9949; multiplied by 100 and truncated, that’s 199 percent. One percentage point can decide a program cutoff.

If you’re claiming the premium tax credit, IRS Form 8962 walks through the same math. Line 3 holds household income, line 4 holds the guideline for your household size and state, and Worksheet 2 produces the percentage that goes on line 5. Income above 400 percent of the guideline gets entered as 401.⁵

What Your Percentage Qualifies You For

Once you have the number, compare it against the cutoff for each program you’re interested in. Programs define income and household slightly differently, so qualifying for one doesn’t guarantee you qualify for another.

Medicaid

In states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, adults qualify with household incomes up to 138 percent of FPL. The statute sets the limit at 133 percent, and a built-in 5-percentage-point income disregard pushes the effective threshold to 138 percent.⁶ Not every state has adopted expansion, so eligibility at this income level depends on where you live. CHIP covers children in families with incomes well above Medicaid thresholds, with cutoffs that vary significantly by state.

Marketplace Premium Tax Credits

For the 2026 plan year, premium tax credits are available to households between 100 and 400 percent of FPL.⁶ The enhanced subsidies in place since 2021, which had removed the 400-percent cap and lowered required premium contributions across income levels, expired at the end of 2025. Households above 400 percent no longer qualify for any premium subsidy, and households below that line will pay more toward premiums than they did in recent years.

One change for 2026 makes accurate income estimates especially important: the repayment cap on excess advance premium tax credits is gone. In prior years, if you received more in advance credits than you were entitled to, a cap limited how much you had to repay as long as your income stayed below 400 percent of FPL. Starting with tax year 2026, you owe back the full excess regardless of income.⁷

SNAP, WIC, and Other Programs

SNAP uses a different measurement than the annual MAGI approach above: gross and net monthly income. Gross monthly income generally must be at or below 130 percent of FPL, and net monthly income (after deductions for housing, medical expenses, and other allowable costs) at or below 100 percent.⁸

Other program thresholds tied to FPL:

WIC (Women, Infants, and Children): income at or below 185 percent of FPL.⁹
Lifeline phone and internet discounts: household income at or below 135 percent of FPL, or participation in a qualifying program such as Medicaid or SNAP.¹⁰
LIHEAP energy assistance: individual states set the limits, but federal law caps eligibility at no higher than 150 percent of FPL (or 60 percent of state median income, whichever is greater) and no lower than 110 percent.

Medicare Savings Programs, which help cover Medicare premiums and cost-sharing, use their own monthly income tests rather than an FPL percentage of household income in the same form. If you’re on Medicare, those limits are worth checking separately.¹¹

Reporting Income Changes During the Year

If you’re receiving Marketplace subsidies or other benefits tied to your FPL percentage, the calculation isn’t a one-time event. Report income and household changes to the Marketplace as they happen: a raise, a job loss, a new baby, a marriage. Updates can be made online, by phone, or in person, but not by mail.¹²

After you submit updates, the Marketplace recalculates your eligibility and may adjust your monthly subsidy. Complete every step on the resulting to-do list, including re-enrolling in a plan if the system prompts you, for the changes to take effect.¹² Skipping that step is how people end up with a surprise bill at tax time.

With the repayment cap eliminated, underestimating your income for 2026 can mean owing back the full difference in excess advance credits when you file.⁷ If your income goes up during the year, reporting it promptly reduces the reconciliation hit. If it drops, reporting it means higher subsidies for the remaining months rather than waiting until tax time for a refund.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 9902 – Definitions
2
HealthCare.gov. Federal Poverty Level (FPL)
3
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Household Size and Types of Income to Include on a Marketplace Application
4
HealthCare.gov. What’s Included as Income
5
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8962
6
HealthCare.gov. Medicaid Expansion and What It Means for You
7
Internal Revenue Service. Questions and Answers on the Premium Tax Credit
8
USDA Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Eligibility
9
USDA Food and Nutrition Service. WIC Income Eligibility Guidelines 2026-2027
10
Federal Communications Commission. Lifeline Support for Affordable Communications
11
Medicare.gov. Medicare Savings Programs
12
HealthCare.gov. How to Report Income and Household Changes to the Marketplace