HUD Income Limits 2026 Table: Does Your Tenant Qualify?

Section 8 income limits determine who is eligible for a voucher in the first place — but as a landlord, you're rarely the one applying them. Here's what the limits actually mean, who checks them, and where they matter for you.

The Three Income Limit Categories

HUD sets income limits every year for each metro area and county, based on that area's Median Family Income (AMI). For the Housing Choice Voucher program, three categories matter:

• Extremely Low Income (ELI): 30% of AMI or below. By law, PHAs must give at least 75% of new vouchers each year to ELI households (24 CFR § 982.201(b)(2)).
• Very Low Income (VLI): 50% of AMI or below. This is the standard eligibility ceiling for a new voucher.
• Low Income (LI): 80% of AMI or below. PHAs may issue a limited share of vouchers to this tier, but most new vouchers go to ELI/VLI applicants.

How Household Size Changes the Number

Income limits aren't a single dollar figure — they scale with household size off a 4-person "base" limit:

• 1 person: 70% of the 4-person limit
• 2 people: 80%
• 3 people: 90%
• 4 people: 100% (the base figure)
• 5 people: 108%
• 6 people: 116%
• 7 people: 124%
• 8 people: 132%

That's why a family of six can earn considerably more than a single applicant and still qualify at the same AMI percentage.

Why the Dollar Amount Varies So Much by Location

Because limits are pegged to local AMI, the actual dollar cutoffs swing widely — a 4-person Very Low Income limit can be well over $70,000 in a high-cost metro and under $35,000 in a lower-cost county, for the same 50%-of-AMI category. There's no single national table that applies everywhere.

Check the exact current-year limits for your property's county using our free Income Limits Lookup Tool — it pulls directly from HUD's published FY2026 dataset by ZIP/county and breaks it out by household size.

What This Actually Means for You as a Landlord

A few practical points worth being clear on:

• You don't verify voucher-holder income yourself. The PHA already determined and verified the applicant's eligibility before issuing the voucher, and re-verifies it at each annual recertification. A valid voucher in hand means that step is already done.
• Don't build your own income screen around these limits. Screening a voucher applicant against income limits the PHA has already applied is redundant, and in jurisdictions with source-of-income protections, treating voucher applicants differently from other applicants because of their income source can expose you to a fair housing complaint. Screen on the criteria you'd apply to any applicant — credit, rental history, criminal background where legally permitted — not on the fact that a portion of their rent is paid by a voucher.
• Where the limits do affect you directly: a tenant's income (as verified by the PHA) determines their Total Tenant Payment — generally about 30% of adjusted monthly income — which is the portion they pay you directly, with the PHA covering the rest via the HAP contract. Use our Tenant Rent Calculator to see how a given income translates into TTP and the resulting HAP payment.

Frequently Asked Questions