Poverty level · threshold
130% of the federal poverty level: the SNAP gross income line
The percentage written into the Food and Nutrition Act, and the real ceiling for food stamps in the states that never raised it.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
130% of the 2026 federal poverty level is $20,748 a year for one person and $42,900 for a family of four in the 48 states and DC. Its main use is SNAP: a household without an elderly or disabled member must have gross monthly income at or below 130% of the guideline. USDA's limits for fiscal year 2027, in force from October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027, are $1,729 a month for one person, $2,960 for three and $3,575 for four, with higher figures in Alaska and Hawaii. The test counts income before taxes and before any SNAP deduction. 34 states and DC use broad-based categorical eligibility to raise the line for every household; 130% stays the effective ceiling in states that kept it, such as Alabama, Georgia and Idaho, and in the 7 states with no such option. Passing it is not the end: net income, after deductions, must also stay under 100% of the guideline in those states.
130% of the 2026 poverty guideline for your household
130% of poverty, per year
$35,516
| Per month | $2,960 |
| Per week | $683 |
| 100% guideline (2026) | $27,320 |
What the 130% test measures
The gross income test is the first gate of SNAP, set out in 7 CFR 273.9: add the monthly income of everyone who buys and prepares food together, before taxes and before any deduction, and compare it with 130% of the poverty guideline for that household size. Wages, Social Security, SSI, unemployment and most other cash count. If the total is above the line, the household is out, whatever its rent or child care costs. That is what sets 130% apart from the net income test, which comes after the deductions and stops at 100%.
USDA publishes the dollar figures once a year in its cost-of-living memo, based on the HHS guidelines of the same calendar year, $15,960 for one person in 2026. The monthly limit is the guideline times 1.3, divided by 12 and rounded up to the next dollar.
The fiscal year 2027 limits at 130%
| Household size | SNAP gross limit, 48 states and DC (month) | Alaska (month) | Hawaii (month) | 130% per year, 48 states |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,729 | $2,162 | $1,989 | $20,748 |
| 2 | $2,345 | $2,931 | $2,697 | $28,132 |
| 3 | $2,960 | $3,700 | $3,404 | $35,516 |
| 4 | $3,575 | $4,469 | $4,112 | $42,900 |
| 5 | $4,191 | $5,238 | $4,819 | $50,284 |
| 6 | $4,806 | $6,008 | $5,527 | $57,668 |
| 7 | $5,421 | $6,777 | $6,234 | $65,052 |
| 8 | $6,037 | $7,546 | $6,941 | $72,436 |
| Each additional person | +$616 | +$770 | +$708 | +$7,384 |
A raise that costs food stamps in one state and not in the next
A family of three with $3,000 of monthly earnings and $1,000 of rent shows what the line does. In Ohio, which keeps the gross test at 130%, the family is $40 above the $2,960 limit and gets nothing, even though its net income after deductions would be modest. In California, where the state's broad-based categorical eligibility raises the gross line to $4,554, the same family is eligible for an estimated $324 a month while the Ohio family is refused. Nothing about the household differs except the state.
That is the reason the 130% figure matters most in the states that never adopted a higher option. The 7 states listed by USDA without broad-based categorical eligibility, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming, apply 130% gross, 100% net and an asset limit of $3,000, or $4,750 when a member is elderly or disabled. Another group adopted the option but kept the gross line at 130%: Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Carolina. There, the option changes the asset rule rather than the income line: no asset limit at all in most of them, $5,000 in Idaho and $5,000 in Indiana.
Households that do not face the 130% line
Households with someone aged 60 or more or with a disability skip the gross test entirely, as USDA's broad-based categorical eligibility page reminds states, and go straight to the net test. Everyone else at the edge of 130% should check two things: whether the state uses a higher line, shown on each state page, and whether the income really counts, since some payments are excluded. The SNAP income limits page lists the line of every state, and the SNAP calculator applies the tests in order. For the poverty guidelines themselves, see the federal poverty level.