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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 11 (Friday, January 17, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5917-5918]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-01377]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary

Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines

AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice provides an update of the Department of Health and 
Human Services (HHS) poverty guidelines to account for last calendar 
year's increase in prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

DATES: January 15, 2025 unless an office administering a program using 
the guidelines specifies a different effective date for that particular 
program.

ADDRESSES: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and 
Evaluation, Room 404E, Humphrey Building, Department of Health and 
Human Services, Washington, DC 20201.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about how the 
guidelines are used or how income is defined in a particular program, 
contact the Federal, State, or local office that is responsible for 
that program. For information about poverty figures for immigration 
forms, the Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services Program, and the number 
of people in poverty, use the specific telephone numbers and addresses 
given below.
    For general questions about the poverty guidelines themselves, 
contact Kendall Swenson, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning 
and Evaluation, Room 404E.3, Humphrey Building, Department of Health 
and Human Services, Washington, DC 20201--telephone: (202) 795-7309--or 
visit http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/.
    For general questions about the poverty guidelines themselves, 
visit https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/.
    For information about the percentage multiple of the poverty 
guidelines to be used on immigration forms such as USCIS Form I-864, 
Affidavit of Support, contact U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 
at 1-800-375-5283. You also may visit https://www.uscis.gov/i-864.
    For information about the Hill-Burton Uncompensated Services 
Program (free or reduced-fee health care services at certain hospitals 
and other facilities for persons meeting eligibility criteria involving 
the poverty guidelines), visit https://www.hrsa.gov/get-health-care/affordable/hill-burton/index.html.
    For information about the number of people in poverty, visit the 
Poverty section of the Census Bureau's website at https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/poverty.html or contact the Census 
Bureau's Customer Service Center at 1-800-923-8282 (toll-free) or visit 
https://ask.census.gov for further information.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    Section 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant (42 U.S.C. 
9902(2)) requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human 
Services to update the poverty guidelines at least annually, adjusting 
them on the basis of the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers 
(CPI-U). The poverty guidelines are used by Medicaid and a number of 
other Federal programs as a criterion for some or all eligibility 
determinations. The poverty guidelines issued here are a simplified 
version of the poverty thresholds that the Census Bureau uses to 
prepare its estimates of the number of individuals and families in 
poverty.
    As required by law, this update is accomplished by increasing the 
latest published Census Bureau poverty thresholds by the applicable 
percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers 
(CPI-U). The guidelines in this 2025 notice reflect the 2.9 percent 
price increase between calendar years 2023 and 2024. After updating for 
inflation, the guidelines are rounded and standardized to establish the 
same interval between each family size. In rare circumstances, rounding 
and standardizing in the formula result in small decreases in the 
poverty guidelines for some household sizes even when the inflation 
factor is not negative. In cases where the year-to-year change in 
inflation is not negative and rounding and standardizing in the formula 
result in reductions to the guidelines from the previous year for some 
household sizes, the guidelines for the affected household sizes are 
fixed at the prior year's guidelines. As in prior years, these 2025 
guidelines are roughly equal to the poverty thresholds for calendar 
year 2024, which the Census Bureau expects to publish in final form in 
September 2025.
    The poverty guidelines continue to be derived from the Census 
Bureau's current official poverty thresholds; they are not derived from 
the Census Bureau's Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM).
    The following guideline figures represent annual income.

2025 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of
                                Columbia
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                                                              Poverty
               Persons in family/household                   guideline
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1.......................................................         $15,650
2.......................................................          21,150
3.......................................................          26,650
4.......................................................          32,150
5.......................................................          37,650
6.......................................................          43,150
7.......................................................          48,650
8.......................................................          54,150
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    For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $5,500 for 
each additional person.

                   2025 Poverty Guidelines for Alaska
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                                                              Poverty
               Persons in family/household                   guideline
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.......................................................         $19,550
2.......................................................          26,430
3.......................................................          33,310
4.......................................................          40,190
5.......................................................          47,070
6.......................................................          53,950
7.......................................................          60,830
8.......................................................          67,710
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    For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $6,880 for 
each additional person.

                   2025 Poverty Guidelines for Hawaii
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                                                              Poverty
               Persons in family/household                   guideline
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.......................................................         $17,990
2.......................................................          24,320
3.......................................................          30,650
4.......................................................          36,980
5.......................................................          43,310
6.......................................................          49,640
7.......................................................          55,970
8.......................................................          62,300
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $6,330 for 
each additional person.
    Separate poverty guideline figures for Alaska and Hawaii reflect 
Office of Economic Opportunity administrative practice beginning in the 
1966-1970 period. (Note that the Census Bureau poverty thresholds--the 
version of the poverty measure used for statistical purposes--have 
never had separate figures for Alaska and Hawaii.) The

[[Page 5918]]

poverty guidelines are not defined for Puerto Rico or other outlying 
jurisdictions. In cases in which a Federal program using the poverty 
guidelines serves any of those jurisdictions, the Federal office that 
administers the program is generally responsible for deciding whether 
to use the contiguous-states-and-DC guidelines for those jurisdictions 
or to follow some other procedure.
    Due to confusing legislative language dating back to 1972, the 
poverty guidelines sometimes have been mistakenly referred to as the 
``OMB'' (Office of Management and Budget) poverty guidelines or poverty 
line. In fact, OMB has never issued the guidelines; the guidelines are 
issued each year by the Department of Health and Human Services. The 
poverty guidelines may be formally referenced as ``the poverty 
guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. 
Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 
U.S.C. 9902(2).''
    Some Federal programs use a percentage multiple of the guidelines 
(for example, 125 percent or 185 percent of the guidelines), as noted 
in relevant authorizing legislation or program regulations. Non-Federal 
organizations that use the poverty guidelines under their own authority 
in non-Federally-funded activities also may choose to use a percentage 
multiple of the guidelines.
    The poverty guidelines do not make a distinction between farm and 
non-farm families, or between aged and non-aged units. (Only the Census 
Bureau poverty thresholds have separate figures for aged and non-aged 
one-person and two-person units.)
    This notice does not provide definitions of such terms as 
``income'' or ``family'' as there is considerable variation of these 
terms among programs that use the poverty guidelines. The legislation 
or regulations governing each program define these terms and determine 
how the program applies the poverty guidelines. In cases where 
legislation or regulations do not establish these definitions, the 
entity that administers or funds the program is responsible to define 
such terms as ``income'' and ``family.'' Therefore, questions such as 
net or gross income, counted or excluded income, or household size 
should be directed to the entity that administers or funds the program.

Xavier Becerra,
Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. 2025-01377 Filed 1-16-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-05-P
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