Where can I find an official table or calculator to convert 2026 FPL into monthly or weekly income limits for program eligibility?
Executive summary
If you want an “official” source to convert 2026 Federal Poverty Level (FPL) annual figures into monthly or weekly income limits, the authoritative starting points are the HHS/ASPE poverty guidelines and program-specific tables used by marketplaces or states; the ASPE poverty-guidelines page and HealthCare.gov explain how the guidelines are published and used, and many state and program sites publish ready-made charts (for example, a reference PDF used for 2026 program calculations) [1] [2] [3]. Covered California and other state marketplaces also publish FPL-based eligibility charts you can download and use to compute monthly/weekly thresholds [4] [3].
1. Where "official" FPL numbers come from — and where to get them
The federal poverty guidelines that most programs call the FPL are published by HHS/ASPE; ASPE explains the guidelines’ role and how they differ from Census poverty thresholds (use these for precise program rules) [1]. HealthCare.gov reiterates that Marketplace calculations and many eligibility rules are based on those published guidelines and shows how to map tax-year income concepts (modified AGI) to program use [2]. Those are the primary federal sources to treat as “official” [1] [2].
2. Ready-made conversion charts and calculators — who publishes them
States, marketplaces and program administrators commonly publish conversion charts and calculators that transform the annual FPL figures into monthly or weekly limits. Covered California provides a downloadable FPL/program-eligibility PDF for 2026 that organizations and applicants use directly [4]. Advocacy and technical groups (for example a practitioner-focused “Yearly Guidelines & Thresholds” reference) also produce consolidated 2026 tables showing 100% FPL and add-on rules for larger households; those PDFs are suitable for converting to monthly or weekly by dividing by 12 or 52—or using their precomputed columns when available [3] [3].
3. Marketplace calculators versus official tables — pros and cons
Nonprofit and news organizations publish interactive subsidy calculators (KFF, healthinsurance.org, others) that estimate monthly premiums and subsidy eligibility using FPL inputs; they are practical for consumers but rely on the official FPL inputs and policy assumptions [5] [6]. For strict program eligibility—for Medicaid, CHIP or employer safe-harbor tests—use the HHS/ASPE poverty guidelines or a state’s official eligibility chart. Calculators are user-friendly but sometimes apply policy interpretations (e.g., whether 2026 Marketplace uses 2025 guidelines) that you should verify against the issuing agency [6] [5].
4. Special rules and timing you must know for 2026 conversions
Eligibility for many 2026 marketplace subsidies is based on the 2025 poverty guidelines (meaning published 2025 FPL numbers are used for 2026 coverage calculations), so check whether a calculator or table is using the 2025 or 2026 guideline set for the specific program year [3] [7]. Employer-affordability safe-harbor calculations for 2026 explicitly use an FPL-derived monthly dollar limit (e.g., the 2026 FPL safety test produces a $129.89/month ceiling using the applicable FPL and the 9.96% affordability percentage) — that demonstrates programs sometimes convert annual FPL to monthly limits internally and publish the result [8] [9].
5. How to convert annual FPL to monthly or weekly, and where sources already do it
The simplest arithmetic is to divide the annual FPL amount by 12 for a monthly threshold or by 52 for a weekly threshold; many program PDFs and employer guides perform that step and publish the monthly figure (the IRS/affordability materials and Mercer commentary show monthly-calculation examples leading to the $129.89/month figure for 2026) [9] [8]. If you need a precomputed chart, download state or marketplace PDFs (Covered California’s FPL chart, HHS/ASPE listings, or the “Yearly Guidelines & Thresholds” PDF) and use their published monthly columns when present [4] [3] [1].
6. Conflicting presentations and hidden agendas to watch for
Commercial subsidy calculators and consumer sites sometimes present slightly different “2026” rules because they pick either the 2025 guidelines used for 2026 coverage or a forward-looking 2026 guideline; always confirm which guideline year is being applied [3] [6]. Also note advocacy sites may emphasize policy changes (for example the return of the 400% subsidy cap in 2026) to press for legislative action; those interpretations are accurate summaries of the law unless Congress acts, but they reflect policy framing as well as raw numbers [6] [10].
7. Practical next steps — what to download and where
For an authoritative table: start at ASPE’s poverty-guidelines page and HealthCare.gov for definitions and the published guideline values [1] [2]. For ready-made program conversion charts: download the Covered California FPL/program eligibility PDF and the "Yearly Guidelines & Thresholds" reference PDF that consolidates monthly figures and add-ons per household member [4] [3]. Use those official or quasi-official PDFs for immediate monthly/weekly conversions rather than relying only on third-party calculators [4] [3].
Limitations: available sources do not mention a single centralized federal “FPL-to-monthly/weekly” calculator maintained for all programs; instead you must rely on ASPE/HHS published guidelines and program- or state-level tables and calculators that apply them [1] [4].