What Is Considered Poverty Level in California?

The poverty level in California for 2026 is $15,960 a year for a single person, with $5,680 added for each additional household member, under the federal poverty guidelines that California uses for most benefit programs.¹ California also tracks a second, higher threshold called the California Poverty Measure, which averaged about $43,990 a year for a family of two adults and two children in 2023 because it accounts for the state’s housing costs.² Which number matters for you depends on what you’re trying to figure out.

The 2026 Federal Poverty Guidelines in California

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services publishes the guidelines each January, and California uses the same figures as every other state in the contiguous U.S.³ For 2026, the annual gross income thresholds are:

1 person: $15,960
2 people: $21,640
3 people: $27,320
4 people: $33,000
5 people: $38,680
6 people: $44,360
7 people: $50,040
8 people: $55,720
Each additional person: add $5,680

These are annual gross income figures.⁴ Alaska and Hawaii have their own higher numbers; California does not.

What Income Counts

The federal measure looks at gross cash income before taxes. That includes wages, salaries, Social Security, unemployment compensation, pensions, and child support. It does not include CalFresh benefits, housing subsidies, or energy assistance, and it does not count tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit, even though those can add thousands of dollars to what a family actually has to spend.

This narrow definition is one reason a household receiving substantial non-cash benefits can still show up as poor on paper, while a household earning just above the line but paying high rent and medical bills may be in worse shape than the number suggests.

Why California Uses a Second Poverty Measure

The federal poverty line was built around 1960s food costs and has only been adjusted for inflation since. It doesn’t bend for the fact that rent in California is far higher than in most of the country. The California Poverty Measure, produced jointly by the Public Policy Institute of California and the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, was designed to fix that.⁵

The CPM adds the value of non-cash benefits and refundable tax credits to a family’s income, then subtracts unavoidable costs like childcare, out-of-pocket medical bills, and work-related transportation. In 2023, the CPM threshold averaged roughly $43,990 for a family of two adults and two children, varying by region.² By that measure, about 6.4 million Californians, or 16.9% of the state’s population, were below the poverty line in 2023, up from 15.2% in 2022.

The CPM is a research and policy tool. It is not what Medi-Cal or CalFresh use to decide whether you qualify. For eligibility, the federal guidelines are the ones that matter.

Poverty Rates by Region

A single statewide figure hides large differences across California. Under the CPM, coastal regions with high housing costs tend to have higher poverty rates than inland areas, even though average incomes are higher on the coast. The 2023 rates:

Los Angeles County: 19.9%
Central Coast: 19.3%
Orange County: 17.7%
San Diego County: 16.7%
Bay Area: 16.1%
Inland Empire: 15.5%
Central Valley and Sierra: 14.0%
Sacramento Area: 13.0%

In the Central Valley and Sierra region, safety-net programs reduce poverty by roughly 12 percentage points because more residents qualify for and receive benefits. In the Bay Area, higher incomes disqualify many households from those same programs, while rent still pushes a sizable share below the CPM threshold.²

What Qualifying Below the Poverty Level Gets You

Most California benefit programs don’t cut off eligibility at 100% of the federal poverty level. They set it higher, typically at 130%, 138%, or 200%. Because each program updates its tables on its own schedule, the dollar figures in a program’s eligibility chart may not line up exactly with the newest HHS numbers at any given moment.

Medi-Cal

Most adults qualify for Medi-Cal with household income at or below 138% of the federal poverty level. Children qualify up to 266% and pregnant individuals up to 213%.⁶ The current annual income limits at 138% of the federal poverty level, as published by the Department of Health Care Services:⁷

1 person: $21,597
2 people: $29,187
3 people: $36,777
4 people: $44,367
5 people: $51,957
6 people: $59,547
Each additional person: add $7,590

If your income is too high for Medi-Cal, you may still qualify for subsidized coverage through Covered California.

CalFresh

CalFresh uses two income tests. Gross monthly income (before deductions) generally can’t exceed 130% of the poverty level, and net monthly income (after deductions for housing, childcare, and other costs) can’t exceed 100%. Households with an elderly or disabled member only need to pass the net test.⁸ For a single-person household, the current gross limit is $1,696 a month and the net limit is $1,305. A four-person household faces a gross limit of $3,483 and a net limit of $2,680 a month.

Other Programs

Several other programs peg eligibility to the federal poverty level, each at its own level:

Section 8 subsidized housing uses area median income rather than the poverty level directly, though HUD defines “extremely low income” as the greater of 30% of area median income or the federal poverty guideline.
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps with utility costs for households at or below 200% of the poverty level or 60% of state median income, depending on the program year.
Supplemental Security Income has its own income test and also caps countable resources at $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple.⁹

Two federal tax credits are also worth knowing about if your income is near the poverty line. The Earned Income Tax Credit is refundable, meaning you can collect it even if you owe no federal income tax. The Child Tax Credit provides up to $2,000 per qualifying child, with up to $1,700 per child refundable through the Additional Child Tax Credit for families with earned income of at least $2,500.¹⁰

When the Numbers Change

HHS updates the poverty guidelines every January, adjusting them for inflation using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers. Benefit programs then roll the new figures into their eligibility tables, but not all at once. If you apply early in the year, you may encounter a program still using the prior year’s figures while it transitions. That lag doesn’t affect your right to apply, and the agency will process your application under whichever guidelines are in effect when you file.

1
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. 2026 Poverty Guidelines – 48 Contiguous States
2
Public Policy Institute of California. Poverty in California
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 9902 – Definitions
4
Federal Register. Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines
5
Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality. California Poverty Measure Data
6
Covered California. Program Eligibility by Federal Poverty Level for 2026
7
DHCS – CA.gov. Eligibility by Federal Poverty Level
8
Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Eligibility
9
Social Security Administration. 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Fact Sheet
10
Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit