What are the Income Limits?
All affordable housing programs have eligibility restrictions based on household income. The most common restriction is the 80% of Area Median Income (AMI) which is sometimes referred to as the low-income limit, or sometimes the low and moderate income limit. HUD publishes income limits annually.
In the RHSO communities, the area is the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy HUD Metropolitan Area (HMFA). In terms of reading the annual chart, HUD titles Low-Income as 80% of AMI, Very Low Income Line as 50% of AMI and the Extr (Extremely) Low Income as 30% of AMI. [Note that the 80% and 50% figures are not arithmetically derived from the 100% figure - use them with caution!] The HUD chart lists the 100% Area Median Income for a household of 4 on the left next to the year label. The 100% of median number would be used to calculate income limits for homeownership that are not found on the chart, for example, 90% or 120% of median income. The RHSO has prepared a spreadsheet available here that provides more detailed information about the income limits.
1 Person | 2 Person | 3 Person | 4 Person | 5 Person | 6 Person | |
Very Low Income 50% | $51,950 | $59,400 | $66,800 | $74,200 | $80,150 | $86,100 |
Low Income 80% | $82,950 | $94,800 | $106,650 | $118,450 | $127,950 | $137,450 |
Area Median Income 100% | $104,510 | $119,440 | $134,370 | $149,300 | $161,250 | $173,190 |