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Federal poverty level calculator
See the poverty line for a home your size, and what percent of it your income is. That one number unlocks most benefit cut-offs.
What the federal poverty level is
Every year the government publishes poverty guidelines — a dollar line for each household size. People call it the FPL. It is not a judgment about you. It is a yardstick programs use to set their income cut-offs.
This tool pulls the current guideline for your household size, then divides your income by it. The answer is your FPL percentage. At the line you are at 100%. Earning half again more puts you at 150%.
Why the percentage matters
Most programs write their rules as a share of the FPL. A few common ones:
- 130% — SNAP's usual gross income test
- 135–150% — Lifeline, LIHEAP, and Medicare Extra Help
- 138% — Medicaid for adults, in states that expanded it
- 185% — WIC and reduced-price school meals
So one number lets you scan many doors at once. If you are at 120%, several of those cut-offs are still above you — worth a look.
The honest caveats
Alaska and Hawaii have their own, higher guidelines, and the tool accounts for your state. Programs also decide for themselves what "income" means — some count gross pay, some subtract costs first. A cut-off is a screening line, not a decision. For the full picture, run the Benefits Estimator — it checks several programs against your number in one pass.
Please read this part
These results are numbers, not decisions. We compare what you typed against published figures. That is all a calculator can do.
Only the agency that runs each program can say yes or no. They look at things we did not ask about, so your real answer can differ either way.
It is always free to apply. No real program charges a fee, and nobody can promise you will be approved.
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Keep going: try the SNAP calculator or the Medicaid calculator to see specific programs. All calculators →