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Where can I find the official 2025 FPL tables and methodology for each U.S. territory and states?
Executive summary
The official 2025 federal poverty guidelines (often called “FPL” in practice) and their methodology are published by HHS/ASPE and appeared in the Federal Register notice on January 17, 2025; the guidelines list different dollar amounts for the 48 contiguous states/D.C., Alaska, and Hawaii and are used by many programs (e.g., Medicaid/CHIP) with effective dates commonly in late January–March 2025 [1] [2] [3]. For territory‑specific uses (Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands) federal agencies like USCIS reference the HHS guidelines for program rules such as affidavits of support and benefit eligibility [4].
1. Where to get the official 2025 tables — the single authoritative sources
The Department of Health and Human Services (ASPE) publishes the poverty guidelines and posts the detailed 2025 tables, and HHS’s Federal Register notice (Jan. 17, 2025) is the formal publication of the methodology and numbers; ASPE’s poverty‑guidelines web page and the Federal Register notice should be treated as the canonical sources for the 48 contiguous states/D.C., Alaska and Hawaii [2] [1]. The Federal Register notice explains the CPI‑U inflation adjustment used to derive the new guidelines [1].
2. What the tables show — state/territory breakdowns and dollar levels
The 2025 guidelines publish one set of base amounts for the 48 contiguous states and D.C., with separate higher guidelines for Alaska and for Hawaii; commonly cited 2025 figures are $15,650 for a single person in the 48 states/D.C., $19,550 for Alaska, and $17,990 for Hawaii (as summarized by multiple secondary sources referencing HHS/ASPE) [5] [6]. For territories beyond the states, agencies often apply the HHS figures or refer to them when setting program‑specific rules; USCIS guidance lists the guidelines’ applicability to Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands for affidavit‑of‑support purposes effective March 1, 2025 [4].
3. How the 2025 numbers were calculated — the official methodology
HHS/ASPE calculates the poverty guidelines by taking the latest published Census Bureau poverty thresholds and increasing them by the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI‑U) over the relevant period; the Federal Register notice states the 2025 guidelines reflect a 2.9% price increase between calendar years 2023 and 2024 [2] [1]. The Federal Register provides the legal/technical description of the formula and notes rounding and standardization rules that can produce small exceptions in specific household sizes [1].
4. How federal agencies and programs use the tables — timing and lags
Different programs use HHS’s guidelines in different ways and with timing lags: Medicaid/CHIP eligibility and other program rules often adopt the new guidelines in late January through March 2025, while Marketplace subsidy eligibility typically uses the prior year’s guideline set (coverage year rules) — a distinction restated across guidance documents and explainers [7] [8] [3]. ASPE also notes that the “poverty guidelines” are distinct from Census poverty thresholds — an important technical caveat for analysts [2].
5. Where to find machine‑readable and program‑oriented formats
ASPE announced a Poverty Guidelines API with 2025 data and the Federal Register posting is the legal notice; program offices (e.g., USCIS, state DHS, courts) republish annual tables in tailored formats (monthly/annual/percent‑of‑FPL tables) — for instance, USCIS posted its affidavit‑of‑support figures and some courts publish 150% tables derived from HHS numbers [2] [9] [4].
6. What to watch out for — common points of confusion and alternative presentations
Commentators and state pages may display tables labeled “FPL” for convenience, but ASPE recommends the term “poverty guidelines” to avoid confusion with Census thresholds; program guidance often applies MAGI or other definitions that interact with the poverty figures and can differ by state or program [2] [3]. Also, secondary aggregators and calculators repost the HHS numbers and sometimes compute percent‑of‑FPL thresholds (e.g., 138%, 150%), so verify against ASPE or the Federal Register when precision matters [10] [11].
7. Quick practical next steps — direct links to consult now
For the official tables and the methodology text, consult ASPE’s poverty‑guidelines page and the Federal Register notice (the HHS/ASPE pages contain the PDF tables and the API reference); for program‑specific applications, consult the relevant agency republishing the figures (for example, USCIS for affidavit‑of‑support guidance or your state DHS for Medicaid/CHIP effective dates) [2] [1] [4].
Limitations: this summary relies on HHS/ASPE and federal postings and on secondary republishers that cite them; available sources do not mention a single consolidated HHS page that lists separate, distinct “FPL tables for each U.S. territory” beyond the references showing applicability to territories such as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands [4].