WIC income eligibility chart 2026-27.

How the WIC income limit is set

WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, uses one federal income yardstick: the income limit for reduced-price school meals, which is 185% of the federal poverty guidelines. USDA multiplies each poverty guideline by 1.85 and rounds the result up to the next whole dollar. The chart on this page is the notice USDA published in the Federal Register on April 29, 2026, and it applies from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027.

States do not have to use the school-meal figure exactly. Under 7 CFR 246.7(d)(1) a state agency may instead use the same guidelines it uses for free or reduced-price health care, as long as those guidelines are never higher than the reduced-price school meal limit and never lower than 100% of the poverty guidelines. A state can switch to the new chart earlier than July 1 to line up with Medicaid, but not later. That is why your state agency's own chart is the final word, and why this page is a lookup for the federal ceiling rather than a decision.

The WIC income chart, 185% of poverty, July 2026 to June 2027

Gross income before taxes and other deductions is compared with the row for your household size. The first table shows the 48 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and the other U.S. territories by pay period, then Alaska and Hawaii per year. Weekly, biweekly and twice-monthly columns are USDA's own rounded figures, so compare income in the same period as the column.

For each person beyond eight, add $10,508 a year ($876 a month) in the 48 states and D.C., $13,135 in Alaska and $12,081 in Hawaii. USDA publishes the larger households too, so there is no need to add them up by hand:

Reading the chart, variable by variable

• Household size. Count the family as your state agency defines it, then find that row. Eligibility is figured on the whole household, not on the applicant alone.
• Region. There are three charts. Alaska and Hawaii each have higher dollar limits; Guam and the territories use the same figures as the 48 states.
• Gross income. Federal rules define income as gross cash income before deductions for income tax, employee Social Security tax and insurance premiums. It includes wages, net self-employment income, Social Security benefits, unemployment compensation, pensions, veterans' payments, alimony and child support, and regular contributions from people outside the household (7 CFR 246.7(d)(2)(ii)).
• Pay period. Pick the column that matches how your income arrives. A biweekly paycheck is compared with the biweekly column, not the monthly one.
• Timeframe. A state may look at the last 12 months of income or the current rate, whichever better reflects the family's situation. Families with an unemployed adult can qualify on income during the period of unemployment if the loss of income puts them under the guideline (7 CFR 246.7(d)(2)(i)).

Worked example with real numbers

This is a hypothetical household, built only from the chart above. A family of 3 in Ohio earns $3,900 a month before taxes. The monthly limit for 3 people in the 48 states is $4,212, so the household is under the limit by $312. Paid every two weeks, the same household's biweekly gross of $1,800 is compared with the biweekly limit of $1,944, which leaves $144 of room.

Move the same three people to Hawaii and the yearly limit becomes $58,127 instead of $50,542, a difference of $7,585. That gap is the entire reason Alaska and Hawaii have their own charts: the poverty guidelines they are built on are higher there.

Common mistakes and edge cases

• Using take-home pay. The test is on gross income, so a $3,900 paycheck that nets $3,200 still counts as $3,900.
• Comparing monthly income with the weekly column, or the reverse. Match the period first.
• Stopping at the income test. Applicants who are certified on SNAP, TANF or Medicaid, or who belong to a family in which a pregnant woman or infant is on Medicaid or a member is on TANF, must be accepted as income-eligible by the state (7 CFR 246.7(d)(2)(vi)). A household over the chart can therefore still qualify.
• Forgetting that WIC uses income together with nutritional risk criteria. Meeting the income limit is one part of eligibility, and your state agency applies the rest.
• Reading last year's chart. The limits changed on July 1, 2026, and a chart from a 2025-26 flyer will understate every row.

Who this is for and what it does not cover

This page is for families, caseworkers and community organizations that need the federal WIC income ceiling for 2026-27 quickly, in the pay period they actually have. It does not tell you whether you qualify, because your state agency also decides nutritional risk and checks your documents. It does not show food packages, clinic locations or application steps, and it does not reproduce the earlier 2025-26 chart.