[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 10 (Thursday, January 15, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1797-1798]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-00755]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Office of the Secretary
Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines
AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This notice provides an update of the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) poverty guidelines to account for last calendar
year's increase in prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index.
DATES: Effective Date: January 13, 2026 unless an office administering
a program using the guidelines specifies a different effective date for
that particular program.
ADDRESSES: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and
Evaluation, Room 404E, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and
Human Services, Washington, DC 20201.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about how the
guidelines are used or how income is defined in a particular program,
contact the Federal, state, or local office that is responsible for
that program. For information about poverty figures for immigration
forms, the Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services Program, and the number
of people in poverty, use the specific telephone numbers and addresses
given below.
For general questions about the poverty guidelines themselves,
visit http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/ or contact Jennifer Burnszynski in
the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
at [email protected] or (202) 690-7858.
For information about the percentage multiple of the poverty
guidelines to be used on immigration forms such as USCIS Form I-864,
Affidavit of Support, contact U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
at 1-800-375-5283. You also may visit https://www.uscis.gov/i-864.
For information about the Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services
Program (free or reduced-fee health care services at certain hospitals
and other facilities for persons meeting eligibility criteria involving
the poverty guidelines), visit https://www.hrsa.gov/get-health-care/affordable/hill-burton/index.html.
For information about the number of people in poverty, visit the
Poverty section of the Census Bureau's website at https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/poverty.html or contact the Census
Bureau's Customer Service Center at 1-800-923-8282 (toll-free) or visit
https://ask.census.gov for further information.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of
1981 (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)) requires the Secretary of the Department of
Health and Human Services to update the poverty guidelines at least
annually, adjusting them on the basis of the Consumer Price Index for
All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). The poverty guidelines are used by
Medicaid and a number of other Federal programs as a criterion for some
or all eligibility determinations. The poverty guidelines issued here
are a simplified version of the poverty thresholds that the Census
Bureau uses to prepare its estimates of the number of individuals and
families in poverty.
As required by law, this update is accomplished by increasing the
latest published Census Bureau poverty thresholds by the applicable
percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers
(CPI-U). The guidelines in this 2026 notice reflect the 2.63 percent
price increase between calendar years 2024 and 2025. After updating for
inflation, the guidelines are rounded and standardized to establish the
same interval between each family size. In rare circumstances, rounding
and standardizing in the formula result in small decreases in the
poverty guidelines for some household sizes even when the inflation
factor is not negative. In cases where the year-to-year change in
inflation is not negative and rounding and standardizing in the formula
result in reductions to the guidelines from the previous year for some
household sizes, the guidelines for
[[Page 1798]]
the affected household sizes are fixed at the prior year's guidelines.
As in prior years, these 2026 guidelines are roughly equal to the
poverty thresholds for calendar year 2025, which the Census Bureau
expects to publish in final form in September 2026.
The poverty guidelines continue to be derived from the Census
Bureau's current official poverty thresholds; they are not derived from
the Census Bureau's Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM).
The following guideline figures represent annual income.
2026 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of
Columbia
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poverty
Persons in family/household guideline
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1........................................................... $15,960
2........................................................... 21,640
3........................................................... 27,320
4........................................................... 33,000
5........................................................... 38,680
6........................................................... 44,360
7........................................................... 50,040
8........................................................... 55,720
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $5,680 for
each additional person.
2026 Poverty Guidelines for Alaska
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poverty
Persons in family/household guideline
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1........................................................... $19,950
2........................................................... 27,050
3........................................................... 34,150
4........................................................... 41,250
5........................................................... 48,350
6........................................................... 55,450
7........................................................... 62,550
8........................................................... 69,650
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $7,100 for
each additional person.
2026 Poverty Guidelines for Hawaii
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poverty
Persons in family/household guideline
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1........................................................... $18,360
2........................................................... 24,890
3........................................................... 31,420
4........................................................... 37,950
5........................................................... 44,480
6........................................................... 51,010
7........................................................... 57,540
8........................................................... 64,070
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $6,530 for
each additional person.
Separate poverty guideline figures for Alaska and Hawaii reflect
Office of Economic Opportunity administrative practice beginning in the
1966-1970 period. (Note that the Census Bureau poverty thresholds--the
version of the poverty measure used for statistical purposes--have
never had separate figures for Alaska and Hawaii.) The poverty
guidelines are not defined for Puerto Rico or other outlying
jurisdictions. In cases in which a Federal program using the poverty
guidelines serves any of those jurisdictions, the Federal office that
administers the program is generally responsible for deciding whether
to use the contiguous-states-and-DC guidelines for those jurisdictions
or to follow some other procedure.
Due to confusing legislative language dating back to 1972, the
poverty guidelines sometimes have been mistakenly referred to as the
``OMB'' (Office of Management and Budget) poverty guidelines or poverty
line. In fact, OMB has never issued the guidelines; the guidelines are
issued each year by the Department of Health and Human Services. The
poverty guidelines may be formally referenced as ``the poverty
guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42
U.S.C. 9902(2).''
Some federal programs use a percentage multiple of the guidelines
(for example, 125 percent or 185 percent of the guidelines), as noted
in relevant authorizing legislation or program regulations. Non-Federal
organizations that use the poverty guidelines under their own authority
in non-Federally-funded activities also may choose to use a percentage
multiple of the guidelines.
The poverty guidelines do not make a distinction between farm and
non-farm families, or between aged and non-aged units. (Only the Census
Bureau poverty thresholds have separate figures for aged and non-aged
one-person and two-person units.)
This notice does not provide definitions of such terms as
``income'' or ``family'' as there is considerable variation of these
terms among programs that use the poverty guidelines. The legislation
or regulations governing each program define these terms and determine
how the program applies the poverty guidelines. In cases where
legislation or regulations do not establish these definitions, the
entity that administers or funds the program is responsible to define
such terms as ``income'' and ``family.'' Therefore, questions such as
net or gross income, counted or excluded income, or household size
should be directed to the entity that administers or funds the program.
Date: January 13, 2026.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,
Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. 2026-00755 Filed 1-14-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-05-P