HUD income limits and AMI calculator by county
Every county and town gets a new area median income (AMI) from HUD each year, and most home-buying programs set their income ceiling as a share of it.
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Count everyone who will live in the home, children included.
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Add up the pay and other income of every adult in the household.
- Low-income limit
- 80% of AMI
- Very low-income limit
- 50% of AMI
- Household sizes
- 1 to 8 people
- HUD's 2026 limits
- Out May 1, 2026
2,635 places: counties, cities with their suburbs, and some towns. Download every limit as a spreadsheet (CSV, 4,764 rows)
If the income checker doesn't load, the spreadsheet has the same limits for every place, and you can find each state's programs on that state's page.
HUD income limits by county, explained
The median family income is the income in the middle: half the families in an area earn more and half earn less. People also call it the area median income, or AMI. Each year HUD works it out for every city and its suburbs (HUD calls these metro areas) and for every county outside them.
HUD also sets two income limits from it. The low-income limit is about 80% of the middle income, and the very low-income limit is about 50%. Each limit starts with a family of four, then goes up for bigger households and down for smaller ones. Many programs use one of these limits to decide who can get help. Where incomes or housing costs are unusually high or low, HUD moves the low-income limit up or down a little, so it is not always exactly 80%.
Why can one county have more than one limit?
In the six New England states, HUD sets limits by town instead of by county, and a few counties elsewhere are split between two of HUD's areas. Connecticut no longer uses counties at all; it uses planning regions, which are groups of towns. If your county is split, the income checker asks which town you live in.
What to do with your area median income
Find your state's programs and look at each one's income limit, then compare it with the number the income checker showed you. Most programs set their limit as a share of the middle income, often 80% or 120% of it, and a few set a dollar amount instead. If a program's own income chart gives a different number, follow the program's chart.
You apply through a lender, which is the bank or company that lends you the money for the home. Most state programs accept only lenders the state housing agency has approved.
- Your state's help for first-time home buyers: what each program offers, its rules, and how to reach a lender.
- State-by-state down payment assistance programs: help with the money you pay up front, from every state agency, in one table.
Where these numbers come from
The low-income and very low-income limits the income checker shows come straight from HUD's 2026 data. HUD doesn't publish the other limits, so we work them out from HUD's middle income; our about page shows how.
The numbers come from HUD User, HUD's own data website (huduser.gov), which updates them every year. You can download every place's limits as one spreadsheet.