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2021 Poverty Guidelines Computations

Computations for the 2021 Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia

(1)
Persons in family or household
(2)
Poverty thresholds for 2019 — published Sep. 2020a
(3)
Column 2 multiplied by 1.012 price inflatorb
(4)
Difference between successive Column 3 entries
(5)
Average difference in Column 4c
(6)
Allow Decline

 

(7)
January 2020 poverty guidelines
(8)
January 2021 poverty guidelines
1 $13,011 $13,172   Rounded to nearest $20 $12,880 $12,760 $12,880
2 $16,521 $16,725 $3,553 $4,540 $17,420 $17,240 $17,420
3 $20,335 $20,586 $3,861 $4,540 $21,960 $21,720 $21,960
4 $26,172 $26,495 $5,909 $4,540 $26,500 $26,200 $26,500
5 $31,021 $31,404 $4,909 $4,540 $31,040 $30,680 $31,040
6 $35,129 $35,562 $4,159 $4,540 $35,580 $35,160 $35,580
7 $40,016 $40,510 $4,947 $4,540 $40,120 $39,640 $40,120
8 $44,461 $45,010 $4,500 $4,540 $44,660 $44,120 $44,660

Notes:

aColumn 2 entries are weighted average poverty thresholds from U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2020, Current Population Reports, Series P60-270. Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, September 2020, Appendix B Page 56.

bThe Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) for all items was 255.657 for calendar year 2019 and 258.811 for calendar year 2020, an increase of 1.2 percent.

c The arithmetic average of Column 4 entries, rounded to the nearest multiple of $20.