Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers are open to households earning no more than 50% of the area median income, and at least 75% of the families a housing agency admits each year must be at or below 30% of median or the federal poverty guideline, whichever is higher. For a family of three in Cleveland, that’s $47,250 a year to qualify and $28,350 to be in the priority group.
Once you have a voucher, you generally pay 30% of your adjusted income toward rent and utilities, and the program covers the rest up to a local limit. The dollar figures come from HUD’s fiscal year 2026 income limits, which took effect May 1, 2026. They arrived a month later than usual because the Census Bureau delayed the survey data HUD builds them from.
Section 8 income limits for FY2026
HUD sets three lines for every metro area and rural county. Very low income is roughly 50% of the local median family income, and that’s the ceiling for most voucher applicants. Extremely low income is 30% of median or the poverty guideline, whichever is higher. Low income, about 80%, only matters for a few groups the rules let in, such as families already receiving assistance in another HUD program.
The limits are adjusted by household size. Starting from the four-person figure, a single person’s limit is 70% of it, two people 80%, three people 90%, and each size above four adds 8 points, per HUD’s FY2026 income limits notice. The national median family income HUD used for 2026 is $106,800.
Look at San Antonio. Its extremely low limit for three people, $27,320, is exactly the 2026 poverty guideline for a family of three. HUD’s 30% calculation, scaled for three people, comes to about $27,180, so the poverty guideline wins, and the same thing happens for larger households in many areas.
Income here means gross annual income for everyone in the household, counted forward for the next 12 months. Wages, Social Security, SSI, child support and unemployment all count. Deductions come later, when your rent is set, and they don’t help you get under the eligibility limit.
Finding the limit for your county
Go to the HUD USER income limits page, open the 2026 tab and choose the query tool for individual income limit areas. Pick your state, then your county (or town, in New England). The result is a small table with the 30%, 50% and 80% limits for one to eight people.
Search by county, not city. Metro areas often span several counties that all share one set of limits; the Cleveland area, for instance, covers Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties. If you’re applying to more than one housing agency, look up each one’s county, because the numbers can change across a county line.
How much rent does a voucher holder pay?
Federal rules call your share the total tenant payment. Under 24 CFR 5.628 it’s the highest of 30% of monthly adjusted income, 10% of monthly gross income, a welfare rent in the few states that still have one, or the agency’s minimum rent, which can be up to $50. Adjusted income is gross income minus deductions for each dependent, for an elderly or disabled household, and for some child care and medical costs.
The housing agency’s payment standard caps the subsidy. Agencies set it between 90% and 110% of HUD’s fair market rent for each bedroom size. The voucher pays the payment standard minus your share, or the actual gross rent minus your share, whichever is lower. Gross rent means the landlord’s rent plus the agency’s allowance for any utilities you pay yourself.
Take a single adult in Cleveland earning $22,000 a year, under 62 and without a disability, so no deductions apply. That income is just under the area’s $22,050 extremely low limit for one person. $22,000 a year is $1,833.33 a month, and 30% of that is $550. Ten percent of gross is only $183, so $550 is the tenant payment. I worked the table below with a one-bedroom payment standard of $1,300, which is an example figure; the agency publishes the real one.
At $1,200 she pays $550 and the voucher covers $650. At $1,400 the voucher stops at $750, so she pays the extra $100 on top of her $550.
The $1,500 unit is where people get stuck. A rule in 24 CFR 982.508 says that when a family first moves into a unit priced above the payment standard, its share can’t exceed 40% of adjusted monthly income. Forty percent of $1,833.33 is $733.33, and her share at $1,500 would be $750, so the agency can’t approve that lease even if she’s willing to pay. The cap applies only at move-in; after that, a rent increase can push her share higher.
Waiting lists and lotteries
Vouchers are funded by Congress each year, not guaranteed to everyone who qualifies, so most agencies have far more eligible families than vouchers. When the list holds enough names, the agency closes it. Under 24 CFR 982.206, reopening requires public notice in a local newspaper and other media saying where and when to apply.
Many large agencies now open for a few days, take online pre-applications, and then draw a set number at random to place on the list. Others go by date and time of application. The agency’s administrative plan spells out which method it uses, along with local preferences such as homeless families, veterans, people displaced by disaster or residents of the county. An agency can prefer local residents, but it can’t refuse to take your application because you live elsewhere.
Waits of several years are normal in big cities.
Nothing stops you from being on several lists at once, and that’s usually the fastest route. The most common way people lose their spot is a missed letter. Agencies purge their lists by mailing update requests, and if yours goes to an old address and you don’t answer by the deadline, you’re dropped.
Applying through a public housing agency
You don’t apply to HUD. Vouchers are run by local public housing agencies, usually a city or county housing authority, and sometimes a state agency that covers rural counties. When your name comes up, expect an eligibility interview and requests for Social Security numbers, birth certificates, photo ID, recent pay stubs or benefit letters, and immigration documents for anyone who isn’t a citizen. A household with some members who lack eligible status can still be assisted, at a reduced amount.
The agency checks your income again shortly before admission, as the eligibility and targeting rule requires, so a raise while you waited can change the outcome. After you’re approved, you attend a briefing and receive the voucher, which must give you at least 60 days to find a unit. The landlord has to accept the voucher, the unit has to pass an inspection, and the rent has to be reasonable for the area before the agency signs a contract with the owner.
If you didn’t live in the agency’s area when you applied, it can require you to rent there for the first 12 months before moving the voucher elsewhere.
This week
- Look up the FY2026 limits for your county and household size on HUD USER, and compare them with your expected income for the next 12 months.
- Find every housing agency that serves your area, including the county and state ones, and ask each whether its voucher list is open or when it plans to reopen.
- Give each agency a mailing address and phone number you’ll still have in two years, and report any move in writing.
Related reading
- Rental Assistance for the Unemployed and How to Apply
- How Much SNAP Does a Family of 4 Get?
- Does Paying Rent Build Credit? What Rent Reporting Actually Does
HUD publishes new income limits each spring, and every housing agency writes its own payment standards, preferences and waiting-list rules. The administrative plan of the agency you apply to, a public document, decides your rent and your place in line.
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