Medicaid income limits by state

One household, several income lines

Medicaid does not have one income limit. It has a line for each coverage group, and the same family can sit under one and over another. The groups that use MAGI are adults 19 to 64 in the expansion group, parents and caretaker relatives, pregnant women, infants under 1, children 1 to 5 and children 6 to 18. CMS publishes each state's level for each group in percent of the poverty guideline in its table of eligibility levels; the calculator above converts them into 2026 dollars for your household size. People 65 and older, and people who qualify through blindness or disability, are tested under other rules, often with an asset test, and are not in this table.

The 5% disregard is added to every MAGI line. The income rules of 42 CFR 435.603 tell the agency to subtract an amount equal to 5% of the guideline from household income when that makes the difference for a person. The effect is the same as raising the line by five points, which is how the figures below are built. The longer story of the expansion line is on the page about 138% of the poverty level.

The limits in every state

Reading the table

The single-adult column splits the country in two. Where the state expanded, the limit is $1,835 in the 48 contiguous states. DC, which long covered adults far above that line, lowered adults without children and parents to the same 138% on January 1, 2026, $1,835 a month for one person. Wisconsin did not adopt the expansion, but a section 1115 waiver covers adults up to 95% of poverty, $1,330 a month. Everywhere else marked "not expanded", income does not matter for an adult without children: there is no group to join. The details, state by state, are in Medicaid expansion states.

The parent column shows the widest gaps. In expansion states a parent can always use the adult group, so the line never drops below 138% of poverty, $3,141 for three. In non-expansion states parents are held to the state's parent and caretaker standard, which many of them express in dollars rather than percentages. CMS converts those dollars into a percentage and shows the highest one, so treat the figure as an upper bound and check the state's chart.

For children and pregnancy, every state is above the federal floor, and most by a wide margin. Where the child column says CHIP, the coverage comes from the state's separate CHIP program, a program with its own name in many states, listed on each state page. New York reaches $9,220 a month for a child in a family of three.

Alaska, Hawaii and the Basic Health Programs

Alaska and Hawaii use their own poverty guidelines, so the same percentage buys a higher dollar line: $2,294 for a single adult in Alaska and $2,111 in Hawaii, against $1,835 in the other states.

Minnesota, New York and Oregon add a step above Medicaid. Adults with income above the expansion line and up to 200% of poverty are covered through a Basic Health Program, which the calculator shows separately: up to $2,726 a month for one person in Minnesota and $2,726 in New York with the disregard. Minnesota calls it MinnesotaCare, and Oregon's version, OHP Bridge, started in July 2024. In these states, an adult who earns a little too much for Medicaid does not go straight to the Marketplace.

What counts as income

MAGI is the adjusted gross income on the federal tax return plus three items: untaxed foreign income, non-taxable Social Security benefits and tax-exempt interest (HealthCare.gov). SSI is left out. Medicaid looks at current monthly income, unlike the Marketplace, which works with a yearly estimate. A seasonal worker can therefore qualify in a slow month and lose eligibility in a busy one, and should report changes. The household follows tax filing: who files a return and who is claimed as a dependent decide whose income is added, rules explained in Medicaid eligibility.

Above the line, the next stop for most adults is the premium tax credit, estimated in the ACA subsidy calculator. Below 100% of poverty in a non-expansion state, the credit is not available either, the gap described in the expansion guide.