USDA is an equal opportunity lender, provider, and employer.

Rural Development

Rural Business–Cooperative 

Service

Office of the Administrator 

1400 Independence Ave, SW 

Room 5803-S 

Washington, D.C. 20250 

Telephone: (202) 720-6165 

TO: State Directors, Rural Development

ATTN: Business Programs Directors

SUBJECT: Intermediary Relending Program

Rural Business Development Grant 

Unemployment Rate, Poverty Line Figures, 

and Loan Program Priorities 

Purpose

The purpose of this unnumbered letter (UL) is to provide the overall national 

unemployment rate for fiscal year 2024 and provide guidance to Business Programs’ 

officials in calculating Intermediary Relending Program (IRP) application priority 

scores. 

Unemployment Rate

RD Instruction 4274-D, section 4274.341(b)(6) of the newly promulgated IRP 

regulation on December 21, 2021, and RD Instruction 4274-D, section 

4274.344(c)(2)(iii) of the prior IRP regulation, provides for the awarding of priority 

points to IRP applications based on unemployment rates. The overall national 

unemployment rate for January 2024 was 3.7 percent. This unemployment rate will 

be used to compute the unemployment rate points until updated by the National 

Office. This supersedes the figure announced in an UL issued on March 27, 2023. 

Poverty Line Figures

Effective immediately and continuing until further notice, the poverty line referred to 

in RD Instruction 4274-D, section 4274.341(b)(5) of the newly promulgated IRP 

regulation on December 21, 2021, RD Instruction 4274-D, section 

4274.344(c)(2)(iv) of the prior IRP regulation and RD Instruction 4280-E, section 

4280.435(e), is $31,200 for all States except Alaska and Hawaii. The applicable 

poverty line is $39,000 for Alaska and $35,880 for Hawaii. These guidelines are 

unchanged and will remain in effect until March 31, 2025. 

EXPIRATION DATE: FILING INSTRUCTIONS: 

March 31, 2025 Community/Business Programs 
Intermediary Relending Program 2 

Loan Program Priorities 

RD Instruction 4274-D, section 4274.341(b) of the newly promulgated IRP regulation on 

December 21, 2021, and RD Instruction 4274-D, section 4274.344(c) of the prior IRP regulation, 

contain a priority scoring system. Sections 4274.341(b)(5) and 4274.344(c)(2) provide guidance 

for using the latest decennial Census income data updated according to changes in the consumer 

price index to have a current income figure. For 2024, the index factor to be used is 1.1916. That 

figure will be multiplied by the 2020 census median household income data for the service area to 

determine the median household income, which is then compared to the poverty line. 

On October 1, 2023, RD implemented new Census data across all RD programs, transitioning from 

2010 to 2020 decennial data and from 2006-2010 to 2017-2021 American Community Survey 

(ACS data Please see RD AN 4897 issued on September 27, 2023, which provides guidance to all 

RD staff regarding the October 1, 2023, transition.

As a part of Agency outreach activities and receipt of inquiries from potential 

applicants, please keep in mind Rural Development’s key priorities:

The Agency encourages applications that will advance the following key priorities (more 

details at https://www.rd.usda.gov/priority-points):

• Addressing Climate Change and Environmental Justice; Reducing climate pollution 

and increasing resilience to the impacts of climate change through economic support 

to rural communities 

• Advancing Racial Justice, Place-Based Equity, and Opportunity; Ensuring all rural 

residents have equitable access to RD programs and benefits from RD funded 

projects. 

• Creating More and Better Market Opportunities; Assisting rural communities recover 

economically through more and better market opportunities and through improved 

infrastructure. 

To focus investments to areas for the largest opportunity for growth in prosperity, the Agency 

encourages applications that serve the smallest communities with the lowest incomes, with an 

emphasis on areas where at least 20 percent of the population is living in poverty, according to the 

American Community Survey data by census tracts. 

When addressing the above priorities, continue to take a close look at statutory and regulatory 

requirements regarding rurality, project eligibility, borrower eligibility, financial feasibility, and 

security for each loan application. Compliance with these requirements and guidelines are 

necessary to protect the integrity of the IRP and ensure consistency in 

its implementation.
Intermediary Relending Program 3 

If you have questions or need additional guidance, please contact the appropriate program lead(s) 

as identified on the respective program Beacon page. 

NOTES TO FILE: 

Current unemployment rate obtained from The Employment Situation, published February 2, 

2024, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. 

Poverty line updated information was issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human 

Services in the Federal Register notice for the 2024 Poverty Guidelines published on January 17, 

2024. 

Additional information may be located at the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics 

home page on the internet: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf, and obtained the 

consumer price index required by RD Instruction 4274-D, section 4274.341(b)(5), the current 

CPIU is divided by the now available 2020 CPIU. The new index should be 1.1916 (308.4/258.8 

= 1.1916.) 

Sincerely,

Betsy Dirksen Londrigan 

Administrator

Rural Business-Cooperative Service