THE 2007 HHS POVERTY GUIDELINES

One Version of the [U.S.] Federal Poverty Measure

 

There are two slightly different versions of the federal poverty measure: 

 

The poverty guidelines are the other version of the federal poverty measure. They are issued each year in the Federal Register by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  The guidelines are a simplification of the poverty thresholds for use for administrative purposes — for instance, determining financial eligibility for certain federal programs. 

The poverty guidelines are sometimes loosely referred to as the "federal poverty level" (FPL), but that term is ambiguous and should be avoided, especially in situations (e.g., legislative or administrative) where precision is important.

2007 HHS Poverty Guidelines

Persons
in Family or Household		 48 Contiguous
States and D.C.		 Alaska Hawaii
1 $10,210 $12,770 $11,750
2 13,690 17,120 15,750
3 17,170 21,470 19,750
4 20,650 25,820 23,750
5 24,130 30,170 27,750
6 27,610 34,520 31,750
7 31,090 38,870 35,750
8 34,570 43,220 39,750
For each additional
person, add		  3,480  4,350  4,000

Important: 125% poverty-level income guideline e.g. $13,690 X 125% = $17,170/year minimum income for a family size of 2. States of Alaska and Hawaii will be more, all amounts increase by about 2% every year in March

SOURCE:  Federal Register, Vol. 66, No. 33, February 16, 2001, pp. 10695-10697.

The separate poverty guidelines for Alaska and Hawaii reflect Office of Economic Opportunity administrative practice beginning in the 1966-1970 period.  Note that the poverty thresholds — the original version of the poverty measure — have never had separate figures for Alaska and Hawaii.

The poverty guidelines apply to both aged and non-aged units.  The guidelines have never had an aged/non-aged distinction; only the Census Bureau (statistical) poverty thresholds have separate figures for aged and non-aged one-person and two-person units.

Programs using the guidelines (or percentage multiples of the guidelines — for instance, 125 percent or 185 percent of the guidelines) in determining eligibility include Head Start, the Food Stamp Program, the National School Lunch Program, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and the Children's Health Insurance Program.  Note that in general, cash public assistance programs (Aid to Families with Dependent Children and its block grant successor Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Supplemental Security Income) do NOT use the poverty guidelines in determining eligibility.  The Earned Income Tax Credit program also does NOT use the poverty guidelines to determine eligibility.

The poverty guidelines (unlike the poverty thresholds) are designated by the year in which they are issued.  For instance, the guidelines issued in February 2001 are designated the 2001 poverty guidelines.  However, the 2001 HHS poverty guidelines only reflect price changes through calendar year 2000; accordingly, they are approximately equal to the Census Bureau poverty thresholds for calendar year 2000.  (The 2000 thresholds are expected to be issued in final form in September or October 2001; a preliminary version of the 2000 thresholds is now available from the Census Bureau.)

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