The poverty line in San Francisco is not a single number. The federal poverty guideline for a single person in 2026 is $15,960, and $33,000 for a family of four, but those figures are set the same way for every county in the contiguous United States and bear almost no relation to what it costs to live in the Bay Area. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development uses a separate local measure for the San Francisco metro: a single person earning under $40,600 counts as extremely low income, and a family of four earning under $154,700 still qualifies as low income. Which figure applies to you depends entirely on which program you’re trying to use.
The Federal Poverty Guidelines for 2026
The Department of Health and Human Services publishes the poverty guidelines each January, and the 2026 figures for the 48 contiguous states 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
These amounts are identical whether you live in rural Mississippi or downtown San Francisco.1HHS ASPE. 2026 Poverty Guidelines Computations The formula does not adjust for housing, childcare, or transportation. In a city where a one-bedroom apartment often costs more per month than the annual poverty threshold for a single person, this is the number that matters for national programs and little else.
HUD Income Limits for the San Francisco Metro Area
HUD calculates its own income limits for each metropolitan area based on local median family income. For the San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco metro, HUD publishes three tiers that drive eligibility for subsidized housing, Section 8 vouchers, and tax-credit apartments.2HUD USER. Income Limits The tiers correspond to roughly 30%, 50%, and 80% of area median income. The most recent published figures are for fiscal year 2025; FY2026 figures had not been released at the time of writing.
Extremely Low Income (30% of Median)
- 1 person: $40,600
- 2 people: $46,400
- 3 people: $52,200
- 4 people: $58,000
- 5 people: $62,650
- 6 people: $67,300
Very Low Income (50% of Median)
- 1 person: $67,700
- 2 people: $77,400
- 3 people: $87,050
- 4 people: $96,700
- 5 people: $104,450
- 6 people: $112,200
Low Income (80% of Median)
- 1 person: $108,300
- 2 people: $123,800
- 3 people: $139,250
- 4 people: $154,700
- 5 people: $167,100
- 6 people: $179,500
Read those numbers twice. A family of four earning $154,700 still counts as low income in San Francisco for housing purposes.3U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. FY2025 Adjusted HOME Income Limits The same family would need to earn under $33,000 to fall below the federal poverty line. Someone earning $50,000 in the city is well above the federal threshold but falls into HUD’s extremely low income category.
Which Threshold Applies to Which Program
Medi-Cal
California’s Medicaid program uses the federal poverty guidelines, not the HUD limits. Most adults qualify at up to 138% of the federal poverty level, which in 2026 means a single person earning up to $22,025 or a family of four earning up to $45,540. Children qualify up to 266% of FPL, and pregnant individuals up to 213% of FPL.4Covered California. Program Eligibility by Federal Poverty Level for 2026 Because Medi-Cal uses the flat federal numbers, you can earn too much for Medi-Cal and still qualify as extremely low income under HUD.
CalFresh
CalFresh, California’s version of SNAP, also uses the federal poverty guidelines. Gross monthly income generally cannot exceed 130% of the poverty level. For October 2025 through September 2026, that works out to roughly $1,696 per month for a single-person household and about $3,483 per month for a four-person household. California applies broad-based categorical eligibility, which can raise the effective ceiling depending on circumstances. Countable resources such as cash and bank accounts generally cannot exceed $3,000, or $4,500 if someone in the household is 60 or older or has a disability.5Food and Nutrition Service. SNAP Eligibility
Below Market Rate Housing
San Francisco’s Below Market Rate program, run by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, uses HUD’s area median income percentages. BMR rental and ownership units are priced at various AMI tiers, and your household income has to fall under the posted AMI threshold for the specific unit.6SF Planning. Inclusionary Affordable Housing Program The program covers low-income, moderate-income, and middle-income tiers, so households across a wide income range can qualify depending on the unit. Applications are run as a lottery, and demand far outstrips supply.
What It Actually Costs to Live Here
Neither the federal line nor the HUD limits are meant to describe what a household needs to cover its bills without help. The Self-Sufficiency Standard, developed by researchers at the Center for Women’s Welfare at the University of Washington, calculates what a household in a given county needs for housing, childcare, food, transportation, healthcare, taxes, and tax credits with no public or private assistance.
The most recent published figures for San Francisco County come from a 2018 study. A single adult with one teenager needed roughly $68,750 annually. A single parent with one infant needed about $110,780. Two adults with one infant needed around $108,540. Those numbers have almost certainly risen since 2018, especially given full-time infant care alone runs roughly $20,000 to $30,000 per year in the city. The Self-Sufficiency Standard does not determine eligibility for any program, but it gives a clearer picture of what independence actually costs.
San Francisco sets its own minimum wage above the state rate and adjusts it annually for inflation. As of mid-2026, a full-time minimum-wage worker (2,080 hours) earns roughly $38,000 to $41,000 gross. That puts a single earner comfortably above the federal poverty line but squarely inside HUD’s extremely low income category. Two full-time minimum-wage workers bring in roughly $76,000 to $82,000 combined, still under HUD’s very low income limit for a family of four ($96,700). Once childcare is paid, much of that income is gone before rent.
So the poverty line in San Francisco depends on what you need from it. The federal number governs Medi-Cal and CalFresh. The HUD number governs housing assistance. The Self-Sufficiency Standard describes what it actually takes to live here without any help. The three numbers tell three different stories, and the gap between them is the point.