Federal Poverty Level - FPL

The Federal Poverty Level, or FPL, is the official “poverty line”: the income level for individuals and families as determined by the U.S. government.

These levels are updated annually to keep up with inflation. The amount is considered the minimum amount of income needed for life’s basics: food, clothes, housing, and transport, among other things.

If you’re below the Federal Poverty Level, in the poverty zone, you can qualify for certain federal benefits and programs. The Federal Poverty Level is also used in other ways. For instance, Americans trying to bring in foreign family members through certain visas must prove that they have income over the poverty level, assuring the U.S. Government that they can pay for the people they want to bring in (so they don’t come in and just start “mooching” off the system).

Not just people, but also agencies use Federal Poverty Levels. For instance, the Department of Health and Human Services uses the FPL and information from the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report on poverty levels to help them determine who should be eligible for what benefits. Qualifying for Food Stamps, Medicaid, and other federal programs all start with the basics. And tons of wiggle room exists in these determinations. Think about how expensive "life" costs in Silicon Valley or Manhattan versus Des Moines. Yet here we are setting a vague national number for what poverty level actually means.

So we take all of the data with a grain or three of salt, potentially buy-able with food stamps.