Skip to Content

Notice

State Median Income Estimate for a Four-Person Family: Notice of the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2012 State Median Income Estimates for Use Under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

A Notice by the Children and Families Administration on 04/18/2011

  • PDF
  • Document Details
  • Document Dates
  • Table of Contents
  • Public Comments
  • Regulations.gov Data
  • Sharing
  • Print
  • Document Statistics
  • Other Formats
Published Document: 2011-8993 (76 FR 21750)

This document has been published in the Federal Register. Use the PDF linked in the document sidebar for the official electronic format.

Document Headings

Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following:

  1. the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document
  2. the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to
  3. the agency docket number / agency internal file number
  4. the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions

See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details.

Department of Health and Human Services
Administration for Children and Families

AGENCY:

Administration for Children and Families, Office of Community Services, Division of Energy Assistance, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice of State median income estimates for FFY 2012.

SUMMARY:

This notice announces to LIHEAP grantees the estimated median income of four-person families in each State and the District of Columbia for FFY 2012 (October 1, 2011, to September 30, 2012). LIHEAP grantees that choose to base their income eligibility criteria on these State median income (SMI) estimates may adopt these estimates (up to 60 percent) on the estimates' date of publication in the Federal Register or on a later date as discussed below. This enables these grantees to implement this notice during the period between the heating and cooling seasons. However, by October 1, 2011, or the beginning of the grantees' fiscal years, whichever is later, these grantees must adjust their income eligibility criteria so that such criteria are in accord with the FFY 2012 SMI.

This listing of 60 percent of SMI provides one of the maximum income criteria that LIHEAP grantees may use in determining a household's income eligibility for LIHEAP.

LIHEAP appropriations for FFY 2009 through FFY 2010 raised this criterion from 60 percent of SMI to 75 percent of SMI for those years. The Continuing Resolutions covering FFY 2011 through the date of this publication have maintained this criterion at 75 percent of SMI. This criterion will remain at 75 percent SMI for FFY 2011 unless Congress acts otherwise after the date of this publication. This criterion will return to 60 percent of SMI for FFY 2012 unless Congress acts otherwise in providing FFY 2012 appropriations after the publication of this notice. This is because no change to the LIHEAP authorizing statute has been made.

DATES:

Effective Date: For each LIHEAP grantee, these estimates become effective at any time between their date of publication in the Federal Register and the later of October 1, 2011, or the beginning of that grantee's fiscal year.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Peter Edelman, Office of Community Services, Division of Energy Assistance, 5th Floor West, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW., Washington, DC 20447, Telephone: (202) 401-5292, E-Mail: .

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the provisions of section 2603(11) of Title XXVI of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, Public Law (Pub. L.) 97-35, as amended, HHS announces the estimated median income of four-person families for each State, the District of Columbia, and the United States for FFY 2012 (October 1, 2011, through September 30, 2012).

Section 2605(b)(2)(B)(ii) of this Act provides that 60 percent of the median income of four-person families for each State and the District of Columbia (State median income, or SMI), as annually ( printed page 21751) established by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, is one of the income criteria that LIHEAP grantees may use in determining a household's eligibility for LIHEAP.

LIHEAP was last authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Public Law 109-58, which was enacted on August 8, 2005. This authorization expired on September 30, 2007, and reauthorization remains pending.

The SMI estimates that HHS publishes in this notice are three-year estimates derived from the American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce (Census Bureau). HHS obtained these estimates directly from the Census Bureau. For additional information about the ACS State median income estimates, see http://www.census.gov/​hhes/​www/​income/​data/​statemedian/​index.html. For additional information about the ACS in general, see http://www.census.gov/​acs/​www/​ or contact the Census Bureau's Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division at (301) 763-3243.

Under the advice of the Census Bureau, HHS switched to three-year estimates rather than single-year estimates to reduce the large year-to-year fluctuations that the single-year estimates tend to generate for certain States and the District of Columbia. HHS plans to use the Census Bureau's ACS-derived SMI three-year estimates for all fiscal years after 2010. For further information about ACS one-year and three-year estimates, see http://factfinder.census.gov/​jsp/​saff/​SAFFInfo.jsp?​_​content=​acs_​guidance.html.

The SMI estimates, like those derived from any survey, are subject to two types of errors: (1) Nonsampling Error, which consists of random errors that increase the variability of the data and non-random errors that consistently direct the data into a specific direction; and (2) Sampling Error, which consists of the error that arises from the use of probability sampling to create the sample. For additional information about the accuracy of the ACS SMI estimates, see http://www.census.gov/​acs/​www/​Downloads/​data_​documentation/​Accuracy/​MultiyearACSAccuracyofData2009.pdf.

A State-by-State listing of SMI and 60 percent of SMI for a four-person family for FFY 2012 follows. The listing describes the method for adjusting SMI for families of different sizes as specified in regulations applicable to LIHEAP, at 45 CFR 96.85(b), which were published in the Federal Register on March 3, 1988, at 53 FR 6824 and amended on October 15, 1999, at 64 FR 55858.

Dated: March 22, 2011.

Yolanda J. Butler,

Acting Director, Office of Community Services.

Estimated State Median Income for a Four-Person Family, by State, for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2012, for Use in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
States Estimated State median income for four-person families1 60 percent of estimated State median income for four-person families 2 3
Alabama $63,888 $38,333
Alaska 86,515 51,909
Arizona 69,119 41,471
Arkansas 56,219 33,731
California 78,666 47,200
Colorado 80,717 48,430
Connecticut 102,127 61,276
Delaware 83,602 50,161
District of Columbia 69,558 41,735
Florida 67,705 40,623
Georgia 68,908 41,345
Hawaii 87,463 52,478
Idaho 62,079 37,247
Illinois 80,607 48,364
Indiana 69,434 41,660
Iowa 73,413 44,048
Kansas 71,842 43,105
Kentucky 63,825 38,295
Louisiana 66,109 39,665
Maine 68,237 40,942
Maryland 101,997 61,198
Massachusetts 100,058 60,035
Michigan 73,433 44,060
Minnesota 86,099 51,659
Mississippi 55,809 33,485
Missouri 70,232 42,139
Montana 66,079 39,647
Nebraska 70,665 42,399
Nevada 71,230 42,738
New Hampshire 91,832 55,099
New Jersey 101,841 61,105
New Mexico 54,500 32,700
New York 82,531 49,519
North Carolina 67,966 40,780
North Dakota 74,177 44,506
Ohio 72,817 43,690
Oklahoma 61,881 37,129
Oregon 72,093 43,256
( printed page 21752)
Pennsylvania 78,287 46,972
Rhode Island 87,669 52,601
South Carolina 64,228 38,537
South Dakota 68,064 40,838
Tennessee 63,480 38,088
Texas 65,508 39,305
Utah 70,322 42,193
Vermont 74,877 44,926
Virginia 85,546 51,328
Washington 81,788 49,073
West Virginia 58,739 35,243
Wisconsin 77,946 46,768
Wyoming 75,998 45,599
Note: FFY 2012 covers the period of October 1, 2011, through September 30, 2012. The estimated median income for four-person families living in the United States for this period is $74,985. These estimates become effective for LIHEAP at any time between the date of this publication and October 1, 2011, or the beginning of a LIHEAP grantee's fiscal year, whichever is later.
1  Prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce (Census Bureau), from three-year estimates from the 2007, 2008 and 2009 American Community Surveys (ACSs). These estimates, like those derived from any survey, are subject to two types of errors: (1) Nonsampling Error, which consists of random errors that increase the variability of the data and non-random errors that consistently direct the data into a specific direction; and (2) Sampling Error, which consists of the error that arises from the use of probability sampling to create the sample.
2  These figures were calculated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Community Services, Division of Energy Assistance (DEA) by multiplying the estimated State median income for a four-person family for each State by 60 percent.
3  To adjust for different sizes of family, 45 CFR 96.85 calls for multiplying 60 percent of a State's estimated median income for a four-person family by the following percentages: 52 percent for one person, 68 percent for two persons, 84 percent for three persons, 100 percent for four persons, 116 percent for five persons, and 132 percent for six persons. For each additional family member above six persons, 45 CFR 96.85 calls for adding 3 percentage points to the percentage for a six-person family (132 percent) and multiply the new percentage by 60 percent of a State's estimated median income for a four-person family.

[FR Doc. 2011-8993 Filed 4-15-11; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4184-24-P

Published Document: 2011-8993 (76 FR 21750)