What is the 2026 federal poverty guideline for a household of 2 in the 48 contiguous states and D.C.?

1. What number applies for a two‑person household — and why you see “2025” when you expect 2026

Federal programs and the ACA marketplace generally use the most recently published HHS poverty guidelines. For marketplace eligibility for coverage year 2026, agencies and guides rely on the 2025 poverty guidelines published by HHS (often referenced via ASPE), so the relevant 100% Federal Poverty Level (FPL) number for a household of two used in 2026 calculations is the 2025 guideline ^{[2] [1]}. Multiple consumer and state guides reiterate that “2025 FPL numbers are used to determine … 2026 coverage” ^{[3] [4]}.

2. Where the authoritative number comes from and how it’s distributed

The Secretary of HHS sets the Federal Poverty Guidelines annually and publishes them in the Federal Register; ASPE (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation) hosts the poverty‑guidelines data and an API with the 2025 figures ^[1]. State agencies and enrollment sites republish those figures in user‑friendly charts for program eligibility ^{[5] [2]}.

3. The specific 100% FPL dollar amount for household of 2 — what sources show

The set of search results provided points to HHS/ASPE as the primary source and to multiple derivative charts (health reform reference charts, Covered California, and other compilers) that reproduce the 2025 FPL numbers used for 2026 coverage ^{[2] [1] [5]}. The supplied snippets and documents indicate those reproductions exist, but none of the provided snippets explicitly print the exact dollar figure for a household of two in the contiguous U.S. in the quoted text you supplied. Therefore: available sources do not mention the exact numeric dollar amount for a two‑person household in the contiguous 48 states and D.C. in the excerpts provided ^{[2] [1] [5]}.

4. Common downstream uses — why the number matters to you

That 100% FPL figure determines eligibility thresholds across programs: Medicaid/CHIP rules, ACA premium tax credits, cost‑sharing reduction thresholds, and state programs. Many guides emphasize that marketplace subsidy rules for coverage year 2026 compare projected household income to the 2025 poverty guideline figures ^{[3] [4]}. Covered California and similar state resources map program cutoffs (e.g., 138% FPL for expansion Medicaid eligibility) to those base figures ^[5].

5. Variation and caveats — Alaska, Hawaii, and timing quirks

HHS publishes higher income guidelines for Alaska and Hawaii; the continental U.S. (the 48 contiguous states and D.C.) share one table. Some aggregators note different “add‑on” amounts for households over eight people and show occasional discrepancies between derivative sites about the per‑additional‑person increment — underscoring the importance of consulting ASPE or the Federal Register for authoritative numbers ^{[2] [4]}. Also, program years and tax years can create confusion: marketplace subsidy determinations for coverage year 2026 use 2025 FPL numbers ^[3].

6. How to get the authoritative, up‑to‑the‑dollar answer right now

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) hosts the official poverty guidelines and an API with the 2025 data; the Federal Register notice formally publishes the figures. To obtain the exact dollar amount for a two‑person household in the 48 contiguous states and D.C., consult ASPE’s poverty‑guidelines page or the Federal Register notice cited by ASPE ^{[1] [2]}.

Limitations: this article relies only on the supplied search results. The snippets and PDFs cited confirm that 2025 guidelines are the operative figures for 2026 coverage and point to ASPE as the authoritative source, but the provided extracts do not include the unambiguous, line‑item dollar amount for household size two; therefore I have not guessed that exact number here ^{[2] [1]}.