Which U.S. territories have different 2025 FPL guidelines and how do their amounts compare to the states?

1. What the HHS 2025 guidelines actually say: three sets of numbers

The Department of Health and Human Services issues annual poverty guidelines that in 2025 provide one baseline for the contiguous 48 states plus D.C. ($15,650 for one person) and maintain higher, separate guidelines for Alaska ($19,550) and Hawaii ($17,990) to reflect higher living costs ^{[1] [2] [3]}. This three‑tier structure (lower 48/D.C., Alaska, Hawaii) is the explicit geographic differentiation found in the HHS guidelines and in multiple explainers ^{[2] [6] [7]}.

2. What about Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories? Program rules, not a new FPL

HHS’s published 2025 poverty guidelines do not list distinct FPL numbers for Puerto Rico or other territories in the same way they do for Alaska and Hawaii; several explainers note that HHS sets guidelines for the contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii and that territories are treated differently in program implementation ^{[3] [8]}. Independent sources and program administrators report that territories often use local poverty measures or program‑specific eligibility standards rather than the standard HHS FPL — for example, some assistance funds and programs refer to Puerto Rico’s or other territories’ local thresholds or impose their own percentage caps ^{[4] [5]}.

3. How program-by-program rules produce different outcomes

Eligibility thresholds tied to “percent of FPL” can diverge across programs because each program decides which guideline to use, how to count household members, and which geographic FPL applies; Medicaid, Marketplace subsidies, SSI and charity funds can all apply different rules or prior‑year figures ^{[9] [10] [3]}. For instance, marketplace subsidy calculations typically use the prior year’s HHS guidelines, and states can adopt different effective dates for switching to new guidelines ^{[11] [10]}. Charitable funds may cap eligibility at specific multiples of the FPL for territories or use local income tests ^[4].

4. Practical comparisons: mainland vs. Alaska/Hawaii — and the gap this creates

Concretely, the single‑person guideline in 2025 is $15,650 in the lower 48/D.C., $17,990 in Hawaii and $19,550 in Alaska — that’s 15% higher in Hawaii and 25% higher in Alaska versus the contiguous baseline for a single person ^{[2] [1]}. For larger households the guidelines scale up (roughly +$5,500 per additional person for the lower 48), so the dollar gaps grow with household size ^{[7] [12]}.

5. Why territories sometimes appear to have “different” FPLs in practice

Reporting that territories have different FPLs often reflects program policy rather than HHS issuing separate national guidelines: Puerto Rico and some other territories run Medicaid and assistance under different federal rules and may apply local poverty measures or distinct eligibility limits ^{[5] [4]}. Charity programs or non‑federal funds may also limit eligibility for territory residents to specific multiples of whichever baseline they choose to use ^[4].

6. Competing perspectives and key caveats

Official HHS guidance and the ASPE data/API show the three explicit HHS categories (lower 48/D.C., Alaska, Hawaii) for 2025 ^{[3] [9]}. Other sources and program operators emphasize that territories are handled differently in implementation — some say Puerto Rico uses local poverty thresholds for Medicaid eligibility, while charity programs may cap assistance using fixed multiples ^{[5] [4]}. Available sources do not provide an HHS‑issued 2025 FPL table that lists unique numeric FPLs for Puerto Rico or other territories comparable to Alaska/Hawaii ^{[3] [5]}.

7. Bottom line for readers seeking comparisons or eligibility

If you need to compare 2025 dollar thresholds across U.S. geographies: use HHS’s published tables for the lower 48/D.C., Alaska and Hawaii (e.g., $15,650; $19,550; $17,990 for a one‑person household) as the authoritative splits ^{[1] [2] [3]}. For Puerto Rico or other territories, check the specific program’s eligibility rules or local poverty measures because many programs do not apply the HHS three‑tier guideline to territories in the same way ^{[4] [5]}.

If you want, I can extract the 2025 HHS guideline table by household size for the lower 48, Alaska and Hawaii from the ASPE document ^{[9] [3]} so you can see exact dollar amounts for families of 1–8 people.