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Section 8 Utility Allowance Calculator
Pick your housing authority, tick the utilities the tenant pays, and see the allowance from the authority's own published schedule and the highest rent that fits the payment standard.
How the Calculation Works
Add the Tenant-Paid Utilities
Sum the allowances for each utility the tenant pays, for the smaller of the voucher size and the unit size (24 CFR 982.517(d)).
Get the Gross Rent
Contract rent plus the utility allowance is the gross rent the authority compares with the payment standard (24 CFR 982.505).
Find the Rent Ceiling
Payment standard minus the allowance is the highest rent that keeps the tenant at their usual share. Above it the tenant pays the difference, capped at 40% of adjusted income at move-in.
Utility Allowance Schedules We Hold
- HACLA utility allowances · the City of Los Angeles, effective December 1, 2025
- HACLB utility allowances · the City of Long Beach, effective January 1, 2026
- LACDA utility allowances · Los Angeles County, effective July 1, 2026
- OCHA utility allowances · Orange County, California, effective October 1, 2026
- San Diego County Housing Authority utility allowances · San Diego County outside the City of San Diego, effective March 1, 2026
- SFHA utility allowances · San Francisco, effective January 1, 2026
- Denver Housing Authority utility allowances · Denver, effective January 1, 2026
- DCHA utility allowances · Washington, DC, effective October 1, 2025
- Miami-Dade utility allowances · Miami-Dade County outside Hialeah and Miami Beach, effective July 1, 2026
- Atlanta Housing utility allowances · the City of Atlanta, effective July 1, 2026
- CHA utility allowances · the City of Chicago, effective November 1, 2024
- Boston Housing Authority utility allowances · Boston, effective August 1, 2026
- NYC HPD utility allowances · New York City, effective February 1, 2026
- NYCHA utility allowances · New York City, effective January 1, 2026
- Philadelphia Housing Authority utility allowances · the City of Philadelphia, effective October 1, 2023
- Dallas Housing Authority utility allowances · the City of Dallas, effective January 1, 2026
- Fort Worth Housing Solutions utility allowances · the City of Fort Worth, effective January 1, 2026
- Houston Housing Authority utility allowances · the City of Houston, effective January 1, 2026
- Opportunity Home San Antonio utility allowances · the City of San Antonio, effective January 1, 2026
- Seattle Housing Authority utility allowances · the City of Seattle, effective February 1, 2025
Housing authority not listed? Ask it for its utility allowance schedule (often published on form HUD-52667), find it in the PHA directory, and check your ZIP's HUD payment standard range with the rent limit lookup.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Section 8 utility allowance?
It is the housing authority's estimate of what utilities cost each month for an energy-conservative household in a unit of a given size and type. Each authority sets its own schedule by unit size and utility (heating, cooking, water heating, electricity, water, sewer, trash and so on) and must base it on current local utility rates (24 CFR 982.517). The schedule also covers a refrigerator or range the tenant supplies. Allowances only count for what the tenant pays; utilities the owner pays get no allowance, and nothing is allowed for telephone or cable.
How does the utility allowance change the maximum rent?
The payment standard is compared with gross rent: the rent to the owner plus the utility allowance for tenant-paid utilities. The housing assistance payment is the payment standard or the gross rent, whichever is lower, minus the family's total tenant payment (24 CFR 982.505). So the highest contract rent that stays within the payment standard is the payment standard minus the utility allowance.
Can the rent be higher than the payment standard minus the utility allowance?
Yes, but the family pays the difference on top of its normal share. When a family first leases a unit, its share cannot exceed 40% of its adjusted monthly income (24 CFR 982.508). The authority must also find the rent reasonable compared with similar unassisted units.
Which bedroom size is used for the utility allowance?
The authority uses the allowance for the smaller of the family unit size on the voucher and the actual size of the unit the family rents (24 CFR 982.517(d)). A family with a two-bedroom voucher renting a three-bedroom unit gets the two-bedroom allowance. The exception is a reasonable accommodation for a person with a disability, where the size of the unit actually leased is used.
What happens if the utility allowance is more than what I pay toward rent?
If the allowance is larger than the family's total tenant payment, the authority pays the family a utility reimbursement for the difference. It can pay it to the family or directly to the utility company, telling the family the amount (24 CFR 982.514).
How often do utility allowances change?
Each authority must review its schedule every year and revise it when a utility rate has changed by 10% or more since the last revision (24 CFR 982.517(c)). Schedules therefore change at different times in different places; check the effective date on your authority's schedule.