What are Federal Poverty Levels Used for?

Federal Poverty Levels (which are also called Federal Poverty Guidelines, Federal Poverty Line, or simply FPL) are used to see if you qualify for cost assistance when buying insurance through the State or Federal Health Insurance Marketplace.

Federal Poverty Levels are also used to help determine Medicaid and CHIP eligibility and to help determine eligibility for a number of other non-healthcare related assistance programs (see full list and more details on the guidelines below).

• The poverty level is based on household income and household size (details below).
• If you (or your family) make between 100% – 400% of the Federal Poverty Level you may qualify for premium tax credits on the Health Insurance Marketplace.
• If you (or your family) make less than 138% of the Federal Poverty Level and your state expanded Medicaid, you may qualify for Medicaid or CHIP. (Note: Medicaid eligibility is effectively 138%, not 133%. Also, CHIP eligibility may be considerably higher for children and parents, usually scaling down as children get older.)
• If you (or your family) make under 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (you are below “the poverty line”), and your state didn’t expand Medicaid, you may fall in the Medicaid Gap and have limited coverage options.
• If you (or your family) make between 100% – 250% of the Federal Poverty Level you may qualify for out-of-pocket cost assistance on Silver plans sold through the Marketplace. The closer to 100%, the more it caps your out-of-pocket costs.
• Other assistance programs have unique eligibility guidelines. For instance the Life-line program (the one where you can get a free or low cost “Obama phone” or broadband) uses 135% of the poverty level as a guideline.
• Cost assistance for the Affordable Care Act is based on household income (family income). Household or family income for the purposes of the ACA uses the equation of Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) of the head of household (and spouse if filing jointly) plus the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), of anyone claimed as a dependent. If you are filing as single, you only count Modified Adjusted Gross Income.
• Tax credits can be taken in advance, based on of the Federal Poverty Level, and are adjusted on form 8962 at the end of the year.

A Quick Look at the Federal Poverty Level Guidelines Used for 2022 and 2023

The tables below are simplified versions of the Federal Poverty Guidelines for 2022 and 2023 coverage. You will find more detailed guidelines that show different percentages of the poverty level, monthly guidelines, and state-specific guidelines for Hawaii and Alaska further down the page.

TIP: The latest updated guidelines for 2022 are in, make sure to use the correct year’s guidelines based on what form you are filing out.

Simplified 2022 FPL Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and DC (not Alaska and Hawaii). You’ll use these guidelines for 2022 cost assistance, and taxes filed April 15, 2023

NOTE: If your family contained more than 8 people, add $4,180 for each additional person. Note that Hawaii and Alaska use different guidelines. 

Simplified 2023 Medicaid Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and DC (not Alaska and Hawaii). You’ll use these for 2023 Medicaid and CHIP.

NOTE: If your family contained more than 8 people, add $4,480 for each additional person. Note that Hawaii and Alaska use different guidelines.

Quick Reference For Assistance Program Thresholds

Each assistance program may use different percentages of the Federal poverty level as thresholds. here is a quick overview of which programs use what.

100% = Baseline Eligibility for Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) funded Programs

125% = Maximum Eligibility for Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) funded Programs

138% = Maximum Eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP in states that expanded Medicaid

150% = Maximum Eligibility for United Way Rent and Utility Assistance programs, and the Employee Profit Sharing Plan (EPSP) and Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) programs.

100% – 250% = Eligibility for cost sharing reduction subsidies on Silver plans bought on the Marketplace. (see 2020 guidelines further down the page).

100% – 400% = Eligibility for Premium tax credits on Health Insurance Marketplace plans (see 2020 guidelines further down the page).

How to Find a Percentage of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL)

The 100% Federal Poverty Threshold Guidelines above are a quick and easy way to look at what dollar amount each year’s poverty level is by family size. If you want to see what 400% of the poverty level is, you can multiply The Federal Poverty Level figures by 4 (300% FPL multiply by 3, 250% FPL multiply by 2.5, 138% FPL multiply by 1.38 etc. TIP: Always round up to the nearest dollar for poverty levels and taxes).

If you are looking for the monthly poverty levels – for determining Medicaid eligibility for instance – divide the annual number by the number of months you are trying to calculate (or see our 6 month and monthly charts below). (ie. for 2013 100% of the FPL for one person was $11,490. If you divide this number by 12 you get a figure of $957.50 per month)

If you want more details, or the want to use a pre-calculated table instead of doing the math yourself, we suggest using additional FPL Guidelines found further down the page. The more detailed Federal Poverty Level Guidelines below will be helpful for calculating assistance amounts for the Premium Tax Credit Form 8962 (NOTE: Alaska and Hawaii use different guidelines which are also provided below).

How to Use the Guidelines for Different Assistance Programs

Medicaid and CHIP use the current years guidelines, or technically the guidelines that are current at the “time of application” (ie. use 2020 guidelines for 2021, use 2020 guidelines when the new ones are released somewhere between January and February and are printed in the Federal register, typically around January 20th).

TIP: If you are applying for Medicaid or CHIP during or around the change over date, and are close to an eligibility threshold, take extra care of how you are reporting your income. Notice that poverty level dollar amounts increase every year.

For ACA subsidies you should use the guidelines from the year before (ie. use 2020 guidelines for coverage starting in 2021; use 2020 guidelines for coverage starting after January 1st).

TIP: If your state expanded Medicaid, and you make between 100% – 138% FPL, you may have to take Medicaid or CHIP. Keep this in mind if your goal is to get a private plan with subsidies rather than public state insurance.

Depending upon what assistance program you are applying for, you may need to look at income for a full 12 month year (like ObamaCare) or, in some cases monthly income, (like Medicaid and CHIP). The guidelines on this page show dollars amounts for 12 months. Either divide any dollar amount in the charts by the number of months you are looking for or see our monthly guidelines below.

Lastly, some assistance programs like the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) and Medicaid use Modified Adjusted Gross Income, while others use Adjusted Gross Income, or simply Gross Income. Make sure to understand specifics for any program you are applying for.