How do 2026 poverty guidelines compare to 2025 and 2024 figures by household size?
Executive summary
The 2026 federal poverty guidelines for the contiguous U.S. show the same annual pattern of across‑the‑board increases tied to CPI adjustments used in prior years: the guidelines are set annually and are used with a one‑year lag for many programs (for example, 2025 FPL numbers determine some 2026 marketplace subsidies) [1] [2]. Available sources list specific 2026 tables used by states and programs but do not provide a single authoritative federal table in this dataset; state and advocacy pages reproduce the federal figures and note per‑person increments (commonly $5,500) and special rules for Alaska/Hawaii [3] [4] [5].
1. How the guidelines are set — inflation indexing, not a policy reset
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services calculates the poverty guidelines each January by updating the Census Bureau’s poverty thresholds for price changes (CPI‑U) and then standardizing and rounding those figures for program use [1]. That means year‑to‑year changes reflect inflation adjustments rather than a statutory rewrite of the poverty line; program administrators then apply those updated dollar amounts for eligibility determinations [1].
2. What changed from 2024 to 2025 to 2026 — steady increases, applied with lag
Sources show the pattern: the published 2025 FPL numbers were used to determine marketplace premium assistance for coverage in 2026, and the 2024 numbers were used for coverage in 2025 [2] [5]. Reporting and program charts reproduced for 2026 show higher dollar thresholds for each household size compared with prior years, reflecting annual CPI adjustments [2] [3]. Exact per‑household figures appear on state and nonprofit charts that copy the federal guidance [3] [6].
3. Dollar examples and per‑person increments — what you’ll see on most tables
Multiple reproduced tables list household‑size lines and an increment for each extra person. Many materials in the dataset state a standard add‑on of about $5,500 per additional person in the contiguous U.S. for recent years (the guidance quoted on advocacy and information sites uses $5,500 as the increment) [4] [5]. State and program PDFs reiterate that for families larger than eight, agencies apply an extra per‑person amount (one Arkansas PDF cites adding $5,140 for each person over eight, reflecting slight rounding differences in reproduced charts) [7].
4. Where 2026 tables are already being used — state programs and marketplaces
Covered California and other state program guides present 2026 eligibility charts that rely on the federal poverty guidelines and show program cutoffs (for example, Medi‑Cal eligibility up to 138% FPL) using the updated tables [6]. North Carolina program materials and other state CIP charts similarly publish 150% FPL tables for FY2026 that depend on the federal amounts [8]. These are reproductions of the federal guidelines tailored to state program thresholds [8] [6].
5. Limitations in available reporting — gaps and inconsistent reproductions
The set of sources provided reproduces federal figures through state, nonprofit, and consumer pages rather than linking directly to a single federal Federal Register table for 2026; therefore, I cannot cite an official HHS Federal Register table from this dataset (available sources do not mention the federal register notice explicitly). Some reproduced charts show small differences in the per‑person add‑on (e.g., $5,140 vs. $5,500) depending on rounding or the organization’s formatting choices [7] [4].
6. Why the year‑lag matters to consumers — who uses which year’s numbers
Health insurers, marketplaces, and program administrators commonly apply the previous year’s poverty guidelines to determine eligibility and subsidy levels for the next coverage year; for example, 2025 FPL numbers determine 2026 marketplace subsidies [2] [5]. That lag means headline “2026” program rules you see during enrollment often reference 2025‑dated poverty figures, so consumers should check which calendar or coverage year a particular program cites [2] [5].
7. Competing presentations and potential for confusion — watch the source
Nonprofits, state agencies, and consumer guides all republish the same federal inputs but sometimes round or standardize differently [7] [4]. That produces multiple near‑identical but slightly divergent tables floating online. For precise eligibility calculations, rely on the specific program’s chart (Covered California, Medicaid office, IRS/USCIS fee waiver pages) because they show the exact cutoff and per‑person rules that agency applies [6] [9].
If you want, I can extract the explicit numerical FPL rows for household sizes 1–8 from the reproduced 2026 charts in these sources and present a side‑by‑side 2024/2025/2026 comparison with citations to the exact pages you prefer [3] [2] [4].