HHS Updates Federal Poverty Limits

Reflecting the 1.5 percent price increase in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) between calendar years 2012 and 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released updated federal poverty guidelines for calendar year 2014.

HHS calculates the increase by multiplying the latest published Census Bureau poverty thresholds by the CPI-U. After adjusting for inflation, HHS rounds and adjusts the guidelines to standardize the differences between family sizes. The 2014 guidelines should roughly equal the poverty thresholds for calendar year 2013, which the Census Bureau expects to publish in final form in September 2014.

The poverty guidelines, unlike the poverty thresholds, are designated by the year in which they are issued. For example, the guidelines issued in January 2014 are designated for 2014. However, the 2014 HHS poverty guidelines only reflect price changes through calendar year 2013; therefore, the guidelines for 2014 approximate the Census Bureau poverty thresholds for calendar year 2013.

The following table lists the current guidelines. These guidelines are used by a variety of federal and state programs to deterimine eligibility for various programs.

For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $4,060 for each additional person.

Contact: Patrick Cucinelli, pcucinelli@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8827