Area Median Income (AMI)

What Is Area Median Income?

Area median income (AMI) is the family income in the exact middle of a region’s distribution. Half of families earn more and half earn less. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) calculates it every year for every metropolitan area and non-metropolitan county. HUD’s own term is median family income (MFI). Practitioners, developers, and most state housing agencies say “AMI.”

AMI matters because almost every affordable housing program defines who it serves as a percentage of it. A building “for households at 60% of AMI” means something different in a high-income metro area than in a rural county, and that is the point. AMI scales eligibility to local incomes rather than to a single national number.

How AMI Works

HUD starts from Census Bureau American Community Survey data on family income, projects it forward to the current year, and publishes a set of income limits for each area. The FY 2026 figures start from 2024 survey data and took effect on May 1, 2026. Each set includes:

• Extremely low income — 30% of AMI, or the federal poverty guideline if that is higher, but never more than the very low-income limit
• Very low income — 50% of AMI
• Low income — 80% of AMI

HUD treats the area median as the figure for a four-person household and adjusts it for other sizes. A one-person household’s limit is 70% of the four-person figure, a two-person household’s is 80%, and a three-person household’s is 90%. Each person beyond four adds 8 percentage points, so a five-person household’s limit is 108%.

The percentages are starting points. HUD raises limits where rents are unusually high relative to incomes, applies a floor based on each state’s non-metro median, and caps how much a limit can rise or fall in one year. As a result, a published limit often does not equal the simple percentage of the area’s median. Use HUD’s published tables rather than doing the arithmetic yourself.

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit uses a closely related set of figures that HUD publishes separately, the Multifamily Tax Subsidy Project income limits.

Example

Suppose a county’s AMI were $100,000. A four-person family earning $50,000 would sit at 50% of AMI, the very low-income threshold. A single person earning that same $50,000 would be measured against 70% of the four-person figure, or $70,000, which puts them at about 71%. That illustrates why household size always has to be part of the calculation. These numbers are invented, and they ignore the adjustments described above.

AMI and Workforce Housing

Most federally subsidized rental housing serves households at or below 80% of AMI, and much of it is reserved for households at 60%, 50%, or less. Workforce housing usually means homes for households earning somewhat more. State and local workforce housing programs commonly cap eligibility at 120% of AMI, and many set a floor of 60% or 80%. That band can include teachers, nurses, first responders, and service workers who earn too much for most subsidies but struggle to afford homes near their jobs. No federal statute or regulation defines workforce housing, so always check which AMI band a specific program or property uses.

To find the AMI for your own area, use HUD’s income limits lookup (opens in a new tab) on the HUD User website.