2013 HHS Poverty Guidelines
The Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines was published in the Federal Register on January 24, 2013.
This information is also available on http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/13poverty.cfm. The following guideline figures represent annual income.
| 2013 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia | |
| Persons in family/household | Poverty guideline |
| 1 | $11,490 |
| 2 | 15,510 |
| 3 | 19,530 |
| 4 | 23,550 |
| 5 | 27,570 |
| 6 | 31,590 |
| 7 | 35,610 |
| 8 | 39,630 |
| For families/households with more than eight persons, add $4,020 for each additional person. | |
| 2013 Poverty Guidelines for Alaska | |
| Persons in family/household | Poverty guideline |
| 1 | $14,350 |
| 2 | 19,380 |
| 3 | 24,410 |
| 4 | 29,440 |
| 5 | 34,470 |
| 6 | 39,500 |
| 7 | 44,530 |
| 8 | 49,560 |
| For families/households with more than eight persons, add $5,030 for each additional person. | |
| 2013 Poverty Guidelines for Hawaii | |
| Persons in family/household | Poverty guideline |
| 1 | $13,230 |
| 2 | 17,850 |
| 3 | 22,470 |
| 4 | 27,090 |
| 5 | 31,710 |
| 6 | 36,330 |
| 7 | 40,950 |
| 8 | 45,570 |
| For families/households with more than eight persons, add $4,620 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 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.
Full Text: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-01-24/html/2013-01422.htm
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. Section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1981 (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 as an eligibility criterion by the Community Services Block Grant program and a number of other federal programs. 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 relevant percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). The guidelines in this 2013 notice reflect the 2.1 percent price increase between calendar years 2011 and 2012. After this inflation adjustment, the guidelines are rounded and adjusted to standardize the differences between family sizes. The same calculation procedure was used this year as in previous years. (Note that these 2013 guidelines are roughly equal to the poverty thresholds for calendar year 2012 which the Census Bureau expects to publish in final form in September 2013.)
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 new Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM).