Income limits
FY 2026 USDA Guaranteed income limits are now in effect
USDA Rural Development published its FY 2026 Guaranteed Housing income-limit appendix on July 13, 2026. Buyers should use the county-and-household-size table in that appendix—not an undated national number—to screen household income.
Dylan Vigliotti · Founder and editorial reviewer, USDA.properties
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What changed
The current Guaranteed Housing appendix is labeled FY 2026 and dated July 13, 2026. In lower-cost areas, its standard limits begin at $122,800 for households of one to four people and $162,100 for households of five to eight people. Higher-cost counties can have higher limits.
Those figures are screening limits for annual household income under the Guaranteed program. They are not a promise that a borrower qualifies, a maximum purchase price, or the income a lender uses by itself to calculate repayment ability.
What a buyer should do
Find the state and county in USDA's current appendix, select the correct household-size column, and inventory income for every household member whose income USDA requires in the annual-income calculation. Then ask an approved lender to review deductions and the separate repayment-income calculation.
If an older article, calculator, or lender handout shows a lower nationwide figure without a fiscal-year label, treat it as stale until it is reconciled to the current appendix.