Income Limits by County

HUD's Area Median Income (AMI) is the household income at which half of an area's households earn more and half earn less, calculated separately for every metro area and non-metro county. From that county-level figure, HUD derives income limits at 30% (extremely low), 50% (very low), and 80% (low) of median, adjusted for household size from 1 to 8 people — a larger household gets a higher dollar threshold than a smaller one, reflecting that it takes more income to reach the same relative standard of living.

AMI starts from Census Bureau American Community Survey median family income estimates for each area, trended forward with more recent income-growth data, then adjusted using formulas set in HUD's annual income limits methodology — which also applies statutory floors and caps so limits don't swing sharply year to year in any one county. HUD publishes new income limits each spring, typically April, for the federal fiscal year already underway, so figures on this hub and its county pages update on that same annual cycle.

HUD calculates AMI at the metro level for counties inside a designated metropolitan statistical area, and at the county level everywhere else — which is why two adjoining counties can show different limits even when local rents look similar; one may anchor to a metro-wide income figure, the other to its own county-only estimate. For household size, a 4-person household's 80% AMI limit is typically 25-30% higher than a 1-person household's, since HUD scales limits up for larger households and down for smaller ones relative to a family-of-four baseline. HUD also applies a hold-harmless policy in most years, so a county's income limit generally can't fall from one year to the next even if the underlying survey data would otherwise justify a decrease — one reason the year-over-year change on this page is sometimes flat even in areas with softening incomes.

For 2026, averaging each state's highest-income county, the median income comes to $133,852, up from $131,160 the prior year— a proxy for the top end of what HUD is pricing nationally, not a straight national average. Actual county AMI varies enormously by local cost of living — coastal metro counties often clear $120,000-$150,000, while many rural counties sit well under $70,000, which is why the 30/50/80% bands (not a single national number) are what actually drive eligibility.

Federal housing programs peg eligibility directly to these bands: Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers are reserved for households at or below 50% AMI, with agencies required to direct most new vouchers to households at or below 30% AMI (extremely low income). Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) properties set aside units for households at 50% or 60% AMI depending on which credit election the property took, and some newer LIHTC deals use an “average income” test blending set-asides up to 80% AMI. If you manage income-restricted units, the county page for your property gives the exact dollar ceiling for every household size and program tier.

For existing income-restricted tenants whose income later rises above the qualifying limit, most programs use graduated rules rather than an abrupt move-out — LIHTC's 140% rule and Section 8's income recertification process both give tenants a grace period or a rent step-up instead of immediate loss of eligibility. The current limit for your county is the first input into any of those calculations, which is why we keep this page and its county pages aligned with HUD's latest release rather than a cached prior-year figure.

AMI and Fair Market Rent are calculated independently but often move together — see Fair Market Rent by ZIP Code for the companion figure HUD uses to set voucher payment standards, which combined with these income bands determines both who qualifies for a voucher and how much of the rent it covers.