US benefits calculator 2026: SNAP, Medicaid, ACA, EITC and more, state by state

Take three people earning $2,400 a month, paying $1,100 in rent. In California the SNAP gross test sits at 200% of poverty and the heating and cooling allowance is $663; in Kansas the test is the federal 130% with an asset limit of $3,000 and an allowance of $469. The parents in that household are close to the Medicaid line in Michigan, an expansion state, and have no adult coverage group at all in Texas. None of that shows in a national chart, which is why every result here starts from the state.

We keep each state's options in a data file built from the USDA and CMS tables and the HUD county file, so that a change in one state does not touch the others. Every state page prints those tables in full.

Programs do not count the same people. SNAP counts those who buy and cook food together; Medicaid and the premium tax credit count the tax household; WIC adds an expected baby to a pregnant woman's household; Section 8 counts everyone who will live in the unit. Income differs too: SNAP starts from gross monthly income, Medicaid and Marketplace coverage from modified adjusted gross income, the EITC from earned income and adjusted gross income, and HUD from expected annual income. The screener asks for the common ground and each calculator then asks for what its program needs.

The benefit is the maximum allotment for the household size minus 30% of net income. Net income is gross income minus a 20% deduction on earnings, the standard deduction ($217 for one to three people), dependent care, child support paid, medical costs above $35 for a member 60+ or disabled, and the part of shelter costs above half of the remaining income, capped at $769 unless someone is 60+ or disabled. Eligible one- and two-person households get at least $25. The SNAP calculator shows every line.

In an expansion state an adult qualifies for Medicaid up to 138% of the poverty guideline, about $1,835 a month for one person in 2026. Children usually go much higher through Medicaid or CHIP. Above Medicaid, the premium tax credit fills the gap between 100% and 400% of the 2025 guideline, which is $15,650 to $62,600 for a single adult. Medicaid income limits by state and the ACA subsidy calculator go further.

The earned income tax credit for 2026 reaches $8,231 with three or more children and $664 without a child; a worker with two children and $25,000 of earnings gets about $7,082. SSI pays up to $994 a month to a person who is 65 or older, blind or disabled with resources under $2,000. See the EITC calculator and the SSI payment calculator.

HUD computes a median family income for every metro area and rural county, then sets the very low income limit at half of it, with adjustments. That is why the voucher limit for a family of four can be twice as high in one county as in the next state's rural counties. The Section 8 lookup covers every county and New England town in the FY 2026 file.

It does not apply for you, store what you type or replace the agency's decision. It does not model state-funded programs that exist in only one state, nor the medically needy and long-term care rules of Medicaid. When an agency has not yet published a figure, as with the FY 2027 utility allowances that each state sets, we say so and use the latest official one. Details are on the method page.