Lifeline knocks up to $9.25 a month off a phone, internet or bundled bill, or up to $34.25 for households on qualifying Tribal lands. You qualify for Lifeline if your household income is at or below 135% of the federal poverty guidelines, which works out to $44,550 a year for a family of four in 2026, or if anyone in your household gets SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, federal public housing assistance, or a Veterans Pension or Survivors Benefit.
The FCC runs the program and the Universal Service Administrative Company, USAC, handles the paperwork. You don’t get a check. The discount shows up on your bill from a participating phone or internet company.
Lifeline income limits for 2026
USAC’s How to Qualify page publishes the limits, and they’re 135% of the 2026 HHS poverty guidelines. For a family of four the guideline is $33,000, and $33,000 times 1.35 is $44,550. Alaska and Hawaii have their own, higher guidelines, so their limits are higher too.
Monthly numbers are easier to check against a pay stub. A single person at the $21,546 limit makes $1,795.50 a month. A couple’s $29,214 is $2,434.50 a month. Someone working 30 hours a week at $13 an hour earns about $20,280 a year, under the one-person line with room to spare. The guidelines are usually updated at the end of January, so these figures hold until the 2027 guidelines come out and USAC republishes the table.
Households close to the line should do the math before giving up. A single mother with two kids who earns $3,000 a month brings in $36,000 a year, which is $882 under the three-person limit of $36,882. A raise of $75 a month would push her over, and at that point she’d need a qualifying program to stay in. Income here means the household’s, so a partner who lives with her and shares the bills counts toward the total.
Qualifying through SNAP, Medicaid or another program
Most people get in this way, and you don’t have to pass the income test at all if you do. The qualifying programs are Medicaid, SNAP, Supplemental Security Income, Federal Public Housing Assistance (which covers Section 8 vouchers, project-based rental assistance, public housing and the housing programs for American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians), and the Veterans Pension and Survivors Benefit.
It only takes one person. If your child is on Medicaid, the whole household can qualify through that child, and the paper form has a section for applying through a dependent. On qualifying Tribal lands the list adds Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Tribal TANF, the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, and Head Start for households that meet its income standard.
WIC, free school lunch and Pell Grants are missing from the regular list. They appear on the application only for survivors of domestic violence, who can get an emergency Lifeline benefit for six months under the Safe Connections Act with income up to 200% of the poverty guidelines. A family that only gets WIC has to qualify on income.
What does the $9.25 discount cover?
Over a year, $9.25 a month is $111. The Tribal amount of $34.25 comes to $411. You pick one service for it: a mobile phone or a home phone, a mobile or a home internet connection, or a bundle on one of those. You can’t split the benefit across a cell plan and home broadband, and a household can’t have Lifeline with two companies at once.
On Tribal lands there’s also Link Up, which takes up to $100 off the setup fee for phone service at your home, once per address. If setup costs more than that, the company can offer a no-interest payment plan of up to $200 over a year. Moving to a new primary residence lets you use Link Up again.
Qualifying Tribal lands reach further than many people expect. Under Lifeline rules they include reservations, pueblos and colonies of federally recognized tribes, former reservations in Oklahoma, Alaska Native regions, Indian allotments and Hawaiian Home Lands. USAC has a Tribal lands map, but it’s for information only, and the address check during the application is what decides.
One Lifeline per household, and what counts as a household
The limit is one benefit per household, not per person. A household, in the program’s words, is a group of people who live together and share income and expenses, related or not. Four roommates who split nothing but the address are four households and can each get Lifeline. A married couple is one household even with two phones.
If someone at your address already has Lifeline, USAC’s household worksheet walks you through whether you count separately. The paper application instructions also say plainly that two benefits in one household means losing it.
How to apply through the National Verifier
Every application goes through the National Verifier, USAC’s central system for deciding who is eligible. It checks state and federal databases automatically, so a SNAP or Medicaid enrollee is often approved without sending anything. If the database can’t find you, you upload proof for manual review. Oregon and Texas residents apply through their own state systems instead.
You can apply online from LifelineSupport.org, which is the fastest route. You can mail the paper form, FCC Form 5629, to USAC Lifeline Support Center, PO Box 1000, Horseheads, NY 14845, or ask a participating phone company to help you file. Approval doesn’t turn the discount on. You still have to sign up with a company that offers Lifeline in your area, and USAC’s Companies Near Me search lists them.
The paper form gets sent back for small things. Every agreement statement on page 6 has to be initialed, or USAC treats the application as incomplete. Your home address can’t be a P.O. Box, though there’s a separate line for a mailing address. Send copies of your proof, never originals, and include them with the form instead of waiting to be asked, since that speeds up the review.
The supporting documents rules trip up a lot of applications. A program document needs your name or your dependent’s, the program name, the agency that issued it, and a date within the last 12 months or a future expiration date. A screenshot of an online benefits portal counts. For income, the usual proof is last year’s tax return, a current annual income statement from your employer, or three consecutive months of pay stubs dated within the last year.
Keeping Lifeline once you have it
USAC rechecks eligibility every year, and in Oregon and Texas the state does it. If you miss the recertification deadline, the benefit stops and your bill goes up or the service is cut off. You also have 30 days to tell your phone company if you move or stop qualifying.
Next steps
- Find a recent award letter for SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, housing assistance or a VA pension for anyone in your home. If there isn’t one, compare your yearly income with the table above.
- Apply online at LifelineSupport.org and upload the document right away if the system asks for it.
- After approval, choose a participating company and tell it which single service the discount should go on.
- Put the recertification month on your calendar and open any mail or texts from USAC.
- Questions about an application go to the Lifeline Support Center at (800) 234-9473, open every day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern.
Related reading
- How Much SNAP Does a Family of 4 Get?
- How Much Does LIHEAP Pay Toward a Heating Bill This Winter?
- Government Money Programs for Low-Income Households
The $9.25 and the program list come from FCC rules, and the income table resets every year with the poverty guidelines. Phone companies also show the discount on bills in different ways, so ask yours where it will appear.
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