A Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher does not come with a set dollar amount. The monthly subsidy paid to your landlord is the gap between your local housing agency’s payment standard for a unit of your size and roughly 30 percent of your adjusted monthly income. In practice, how much a Section 8 voucher is worth ranges from a few hundred dollars a month in low-cost areas to well over a thousand in expensive metros, depending on your income, family size, and where you rent.
The Two Numbers That Decide Your Subsidy
Every voucher calculation starts with two figures: the payment standard set by your Public Housing Agency, and your Total Tenant Payment.
The payment standard is the ceiling your PHA uses to calculate the subsidy. HUD publishes Fair Market Rents each year for every metro area and county, estimating what a unit at the 40th percentile of local rents would cost.1U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Calculation of HUD Fair Market Rents Your PHA then sets its own payment standard for each bedroom size, and federal rules require that standard to sit between 90 and 110 percent of the FMR.2eCFR. 24 CFR 982.503 – Payment Standard Areas, Schedule, and Amounts If the two-bedroom FMR in your area is $1,500, the payment standard will land somewhere between $1,350 and $1,650. Agencies in tight rental markets often push toward the top of the range.
Some metro areas use Small Area Fair Market Rents instead of a single metro figure. SAFMRs are calculated by ZIP code, so a payment standard in a higher-rent neighborhood will be higher than one across town.3HUD USER. Small Area Fair Market Rents Where SAFMRs apply, two families with identical vouchers can have very different payment standards depending on the neighborhood they choose.
How Your Share of the Rent Is Calculated
Your Total Tenant Payment, or TTP, is what the program expects you to contribute. Under federal rules, TTP is the highest of four figures: 30 percent of adjusted monthly income, 10 percent of gross monthly income, a welfare rent set by a public agency, or the PHA’s minimum rent.4eCFR. 24 CFR 5.628 – Total Tenant Payment For most working households, the 30-percent-of-adjusted-income figure wins.
Adjusted income is not gross earnings. HUD requires several deductions first. In 2026, the deduction per dependent is $500.5HUD USER. 2026 HUD Inflation-Adjusted Values Households headed by someone who is elderly or has a disability get a separate $525 deduction. Both amounts adjust with inflation each year. Additional deductions apply for childcare that enables work or school, and for unreimbursed medical expenses in elderly or disabled households that exceed 10 percent of annual income.6eCFR. 24 CFR 5.611 – Adjusted Income
These deductions matter. A family earning $30,000 with two children and $3,000 in annual childcare costs can trim several thousand dollars off the income figure the PHA uses, which translates directly into a larger monthly subsidy.
The Minimum Rent Floor
Even if your income drops to zero, the PHA can require a minimum rent of up to $50 per month. You can request a hardship exemption if paying it would cause real financial harm, such as losing eligibility for a government benefit, a sudden income drop, a death in the family, or facing eviction because you cannot cover the payment.7eCFR. 24 CFR 5.630 – Minimum Rent
The Housing Assistance Payment Formula
The dollar amount sent to your landlord each month is called the Housing Assistance Payment. The PHA runs two subtractions and pays the smaller result:8eCFR. 24 CFR 982.505 – How to Calculate Housing Assistance Payment
- The payment standard minus your TTP.
- The gross rent for the unit (rent plus any tenant-paid utilities) minus your TTP.
A worked example: suppose the payment standard for your voucher size is $1,800, your TTP is $600, and the unit’s gross rent is $1,700. The first subtraction gives $1,200. The second gives $1,100. The PHA pays the smaller figure, $1,100, and you pay $600 to the landlord. The lower-of rule keeps the government from subsidizing more than the unit actually costs. Rent a place below the payment standard and the subsidy shrinks to match the real rent; your TTP stays the same.
When the Rent Is Higher Than the Payment Standard
You can rent a unit that costs more than the payment standard, but the extra comes out of your pocket. Using the same family, imagine a $2,000 gross rent. The HAP would be $1,200 (the payment-standard side now wins), and you would owe the landlord $800.
Federal rules cap this exposure at move-in. Your total housing cost cannot exceed 40 percent of your adjusted monthly income when you first sign a lease or move to a new unit.9eCFR. 24 CFR 982.508 – Maximum Family Share at Initial Occupancy If the $800 payment would push you past that limit, the PHA will not approve the lease. Once you are living in the unit, the cap no longer blocks approval if rent rises at renewal, though the agency will flag situations where your share is becoming unsustainable.
Bedroom Size and Utility Allowances Shift the Math
Your voucher is issued for a specific bedroom size based on household composition. A single person usually gets a one-bedroom voucher; a couple with two children might get a two- or three-bedroom voucher depending on the children’s ages and the PHA’s occupancy rules. You can rent a unit with a different number of bedrooms, but the payment standard tied to your voucher size does not change. Renting a three-bedroom apartment on a two-bedroom voucher means the subsidy is still calculated against the two-bedroom payment standard.
Utilities factor in directly. When you pay for electricity, gas, water, or other services, the PHA sets a utility allowance based on estimated costs for your unit type and local rates.10U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Utility Allowances and Resources That allowance is subtracted from your TTP to reduce what you pay the landlord. If the formula puts your TTP at $500 but your utility allowance is $120, you pay the landlord $380 and cover the utility bills yourself. Occasionally the allowance exceeds the TTP, and the PHA sends you a small monthly check for the difference.
Moving Your Voucher to Another Area
Vouchers are portable. Once you hold one, you can lease a unit anywhere in the country where a PHA runs a tenant-based voucher program.11eCFR. 24 CFR 982.353 – Where Family Can Lease a Unit With Tenant-Based Assistance The dollar amount of your subsidy will change when you do. The receiving PHA’s payment standard and utility allowance apply in the new location, so a move from a low-cost county to an expensive metro can raise what you pay out of pocket, and vice versa. The process takes roughly 30 to 45 days.
A Note on Project-Based Vouchers
Everything above describes tenant-based vouchers, which you carry from unit to unit. A separate category, project-based vouchers, attaches the subsidy to a specific apartment in a specific building rather than to you.12U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Fact Sheet 4 – Difference Between PBV and PBRA Your share is still roughly 30 percent of adjusted income, but if you move out, the subsidy stays with the unit for the next eligible family rather than traveling with you.