What are the 2025 federal poverty level income thresholds by household size?
This fact-check may be outdated. Consider refreshing it to get the most current information.
Executive summary
The 2025 HHS poverty guidelines set the annual Federal Poverty Level (FPL) for the 48 contiguous states at $15,650 for a single-person household and $54,150 for an eight-person household, with per‑person increases of roughly $5,500 thereafter; Alaska and Hawaii have higher separate figures (Alaska $19,550; Hawaii $17,990) [1] [2]. The guidelines are published by HHS/ASPE and are used administratively by programs that specify how to apply them (rounding, household definition and which income counts vary by program) [3] [4].
1. What the 2025 numbers are — the headline figures
The official 2025 HHS poverty guidelines list an annual FPL of $15,650 for one person in the 48 contiguous states, rising to $54,150 for an eight‑person household; programs and state agencies commonly present these as annual, monthly and weekly thresholds for income eligibility calculations [1] [2] [5]. Alaska and Hawaii have higher base levels — reporting shows Alaska at $19,550 and Hawaii at $17,990 for a single person in 2025 [1] [2].
2. How the guideline increases work for larger households
After the base amount, the guideline increases by roughly a fixed increment per additional household member; public summaries and guides show an approximate per‑person step of about $5,500 (different documents list slightly different rounding rules for “add for each additional person”), and official paperwork instructs programs to follow the guidance and, where applicable, add a fixed amount for households with more than eight members [6] [7] [2].
3. Who issues the figures and how they’re derived
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE/HHS) issues the poverty guidelines annually. ASPE states the January 2025 guidelines are derived from Census Bureau poverty thresholds (calendar year 2024 thresholds) adjusted using the CPI‑U, and emphasizes that the “poverty guidelines” are an administrative simplification distinct from the Census Bureau’s statistical poverty thresholds [4] [3].
4. How agencies and programs actually use the FPL — variability matters
The guidelines are not a one‑size‑fits‑all eligibility rule. Each federal or state program (e.g., Medicaid, SNAP, premium tax credits) decides how to apply the guidelines — whether to use 100%, 138%, 400% of FPL, how to round multiples, what income counts, and how to define household size. ASPE explicitly warns programs they must follow their own statutory or regulatory rules when applying the guidelines [3] [4]. HealthCare.gov highlights that premium tax credit eligibility typically uses 100–400% of FPL and Medicaid expansion uses the 138% threshold in expansion states [8].
5. Where people see the numbers in practice — state and program tables
States, legal‑aid groups and local offices commonly reformat ASPE’s tables into monthly and weekly amounts and into percentage‑of‑FPL thresholds for program rules; for example, Mass Legal Services and state human services pages publish the annual, monthly and weekly 100%, 115%, 125%, 185%, 200% and 300% values drawn from HHS guidance [5] [9] [10]. These practical tables are how applicants and caseworkers typically check eligibility.
6. Points of confusion and competing presentations in reporting
Public summaries sometimes differ in the per‑person increment language and in the “add for households over eight” figure. The Federal Register text and some secondary tables include different incremental numbers (sources show $5,500, $5,380, $6,330 or other add‑ons noted in various documents), illustrating that derivative guides and program‑specific tables can vary in phrasing and rounding — users must consult the original ASPE/ HHS tables or the Federal Register notice their program references to resolve small discrepancies [7] [6] [11].
7. What I did not find in current reporting
Available sources do not mention a single consolidated chart in these search results listing every household size (1–8) with each annual, monthly and weekly dollar amount directly in one place within these snippets; instead, they point to ASPE’s detailed PDF and state/local reproductions for the full tables [3] [5]. If you want the exact dollar amounts for every household size (annual and monthly) copied verbatim, consult the ASPE detailed guidelines PDF or the Federal Register notice referenced above [3] [7].
Limitations: this summary relies only on the provided documents and reproductions of the HHS/ASPE guidance; program rules and rounding practices differ by agency and state and can change how these figures are applied [3] [4].