The Department of Health and Human Services has released the federal poverty level (FPL) guidelines for 2025. These poverty guidelines are important for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the Affordable Care Act.
- The FPL guidelines are used to determine eligibility for premium assistance and cost-sharing.
- Further, for employer shared responsibility purposes, use of the FPL guidelines is one of three safe harbor methods available to determine an individual’s household earnings for purposes of satisfying the ACA’s affordability standard. Coverage under an employer-sponsored plan is deemed affordable to a particular employee if the employee’s required contribution to the plan does not exceed 9.02% (indexed for 2025) of the employee’s household income for the taxable year, based on the cost of single coverage in the employer’s least expensive plan. If the FPL guidelines safe harbor is used, the maximum individual contribution is $117.64 (9.02% x $15,650/12) (indexed for 2025). As background, employers subject to the ACA’s employer shared responsibility provisions who fail to offer minimum essential coverage to their full-time employees or fail to offer adequate and affordable coverage may be subject to an excise tax if at least one of its employees qualifies for premium assistance through a marketplace. If an employer is using the FPL as its affordability standard, it is allowed to use the FPL guidelines in effect six months prior to beginning of the plan year. Note: a calendar year plan must use the 2024 FPL guidelines since the 2025 FPL guidelines were not issued when the offer of coverage was made (9.02% x $15,060/12 = $113.20).
- In addition, these FPL guidelines are used to determine eligibility for other federal entitlement programs such as the Children’s Health Insurance Program, certain parts of Medicaid, and subsidies for Medicare Part D prescription benefits.
The 2025 FPL guidelines became applicable on January 15, 2025 (unless an office administering a program using the guidelines specifies a different effective date for that particular program). Below is a chart reflecting the 2025 and 2024 levels.
2025 and 2024 FPL Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and District of Columbia
Note: The FPL limits vary slightly in Alaska and Hawaii
| Persons in family/household | 2025 Poverty Guidelines | 2024 Poverty Guidelines |
| 1 | $15,650 | $15,060 |
| 2 | $21,150 | $20,440 |
| 3 | $26,650 | $25,820 |
| 4 | $32,150 | $31,200 |
| 5 | $37,650 | $36,580 |
| 6 | $43,150 | $41,960 |
| 7 | $48,650 | $47,340 |
| 8 | $54,150 | $52,720 |
| More than 8 persons: | Add $5,500 for each
additional person |
Add $5,380 for each
additional person |
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