How is the 2026 FPL calculated and adjusted for Alaska and Hawaii?
Executive summary
The Federal Poverty Level (FPL) is an annual income threshold set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and updated to reflect inflation and policy decisions; published guidelines distinguish the contiguous 48 states and D.C. from Alaska and Hawaii, which receive higher per‑household thresholds because of higher living costs [1] [2]. For 2026 the commonly circulated tables include estimated increases (often around 3.5% over 2025) but official HHS/ASPE poverty guidelines and the Federal Register publication are the controlling sources once released in early 2026 [1] [2].
1. How the FPL is calculated and who issues it
The FPL used for program eligibility is formally issued as the “poverty guidelines” by HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), updated each year under statutory authority and reflecting adjustments to the poverty thresholds for administrative use rather than Census Bureau statistical thresholds [2]. Reporting and policy guides explain that those guidelines are indexed annually—practically, agencies and analysts apply an inflation adjustment or other formulaic update and HHS publishes the new dollar figures in the Federal Register for the coming fiscal/coverage year [1] [2].
2. The state of the 2026 figures: estimates vs. the official release
Several industry and health‑plan resources circulated estimated 2026 FPL tables based on assumed percentage increases over 2025; these estimates explicitly note they cover the contiguous U.S. and D.C. and warn that HHS publishes the official numbers early in 2026 [1] [3]. Practical materials used by brokers and benefit managers likewise use either HHS’s prior year figures or published estimates for planning—recognizing that certain program rules (for example, Marketplace subsidy eligibility for a coverage year) can rely on the preceding year’s poverty guidelines [4] [5].
3. Why Alaska and Hawaii get different, higher FPL figures
Alaska and Hawaii have separate, higher poverty guideline figures because the poverty guidelines have historically been adjusted to account for higher regional costs of living—a practice ASPE traces to administrative practice beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s—so the poverty guidelines, unlike the Census poverty thresholds, include explicit separate lines for Alaska and Hawaii [2]. Public guidance and calculators consistently emphasize that Alaska and Hawaii thresholds are higher than the contiguous‑U.S/D.C. numbers and that many eligibility formulas (Medicaid/CHIP, ACA subsidies, LIHEAP, etc.) therefore translate to different dollar cutoffs in those states [1] [6].
4. How the household‑size adjustments work in dollar terms
The poverty guidelines are tabulated by household size, and for large households HHS specifies add‑on amounts per additional member; the practical tables used by LIHEAP and program manuals instruct that for more than eight members, specific dollar increments are added to the eight‑person figure (examples in public tables show add‑on amounts such as $4,540 or $5,380/$5,500 in different documentation depending on the source table and year being cited) and benefit administrators use those per‑person adders to compute 100% of FPL for larger households [7] [4]. Because some third‑party charts and calculators use slightly differing per‑person amounts depending on whether they reference the prior‑year coverage‑year guidance, practitioners should check the HHS/ASPE Federal Register entry or agency tables for the authoritative add‑on amount for the precise year in question [4] [7].
5. What this means for eligibility in Alaska and Hawaii and current practical guidance
Because Alaska and Hawaii have higher dollar FPLs, any program that uses a percentage of FPL (for example, Medicaid/CHIP cutoffs, premium tax credit eligibility or “affordability” safe harbors for employer coverage) will translate to higher income thresholds in those states—meaning the same percentage of FPL corresponds to a larger dollar amount in Alaska or Hawaii than in the continental U.S. [5] [6]. Industry guidance and online calculators routinely offer checkboxes or separate state selectors for Alaska and Hawaii because using the contiguous‑U.S number would understate eligible incomes in those states, and authoritative confirmation requires consulting the HHS/ASPE poverty guidelines when the official 2026 tables are posted [8] [1].