What is the difference between the 2026 Federal Poverty Level and the Supplemental Poverty Measure for a 2-person household?
Executive summary
The Federal Poverty Level (FPL) is a fixed, annually published income guideline used by HHS to set eligibility cutoffs; the 2025/2026 guidelines are published by ASPE and drive many program rules (ASPE publishes the official poverty guidelines) [1]. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) is not mentioned in the supplied results, so available sources do not mention the SPM or its 2026 values; therefore this report compares what the available sources say about the FPL and notes that the SPM is not covered in the provided material [1].
1. What the FPL is and how it’s used — the government’s simple yardstick
The Federal Poverty Level (often called the poverty guidelines) is a single, annually updated set of dollar amounts published by HHS/ASPE that programs and states use to determine eligibility for things like Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP multiples and certain ACA subsidy rules; ASPE hosts the official guidelines and related documentation [1]. HealthCare.gov and related guidance explain the FPL basis for Marketplace subsidy calculations and note that FPL amounts vary by household size and by state (higher in Alaska and Hawaii) and are expressed as simple thresholds or percentages (for example, 100% FPL, 138% FPL) used by programs [2] [1].
2. The most relevant 2025/2026 FPL reporting in available sources
The provided documents show active tracking and publication of FPL numbers for the 2025 and 2026 coverage periods: ASPE’s poverty-guidelines pages and related PDFs list the official figures and note that the 2025 guidelines were posted and that 2026 guidance appears in program reference charts used for coverage year 2026 determinations [1] [3]. Third‑party summaries (e.g., Independent Health Agents and other sites) publish tabular FPL dollar amounts for household sizes and note per‑person add‑ons for households above eight for 2026 calculations [4] [3].
3. How the FPL is applied to a two‑person household in practice
Multiple sources indicate that program rules compare a household’s income to the FPL for the relevant coverage year; for example, Marketplace subsidy eligibility for coverage year 2026 is calculated using the 2026 poverty guidelines (or, per some administrative practices, prior‑year numbers for timing of determinations) and Medicaid/CHIP use current‑year FPL numbers for eligibility determinations [5] [4]. The exact dollar amount for a two‑person household for 2026 is reported in third‑party tables summarized on private sites (see their 2‑person rows), but the authoritative numeric table is maintained by ASPE’s published guidelines [4] [1].
4. What the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) is — not found in current reporting
The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) is a different poverty metric used by the Census Bureau that adjusts for taxes, non‑cash benefits, geographic housing costs and necessary expenses, but available sources supplied in your search do not mention the SPM or its 2026 values; therefore this analysis cannot provide SPM‑to‑FPL numeric comparisons from the current set of documents (available sources do not mention the SPM) [1] [6].
5. Why FPL and SPM can diverge — conceptual context (sources limited)
Official guidance shows that the FPL is a simple income guideline used for eligibility rules, while other poverty measures (like the SPM) incorporate expenses, tax credits and in‑kind benefits and will therefore produce different poverty rates and dollar thresholds in practice. The ASPE and Census resources included explain that different programs choose different measures or multiples of the guidelines, and that “poverty thresholds” and “poverty guidelines” are distinct constructs used by different agencies [1] [7] [6]. Specific numeric divergence for a two‑person household in 2026 is not in the supplied results (available sources do not mention numeric SPM comparisons) [1].
6. Practical advice for readers seeking a numeric comparison
To get a precise, authoritative numeric difference between the 2026 FPL for a two‑person household and the 2026 SPM value for that same household, consult two primary sources: ASPE’s official 2026 poverty guidelines (for FPL dollar amounts) and the Census Bureau’s SPM tables for 2026 (for SPM thresholds and methodology). The supplied materials point you to ASPE for the FPL numbers [1] and the Census site for poverty‑measure guidance [6]; neither supply a direct SPM figure for 2026 in the documents you provided [1] [6].
Limitations and transparency: this report relies only on the search results you supplied. Those results include authoritative FPL documentation (ASPE) and program guidance (HealthCare.gov) but do not include Census SPM figures or a direct 2026 SPM vs. FPL table; any numeric comparison beyond what these sources publish cannot be drawn from the provided material (available sources do not mention SPM numeric values for 2026) [1] [6].