Lifeline Program 2026: Income Limits, Who Qualifies and the $9.25 Phone or Internet Discount

Lifeline takes up to $9.25 a month off one phone or internet plan, one discount per household. You qualify if your household’s income is at or under 135% of the federal poverty guidelines, or if anyone in your household gets Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, Federal Public Housing Assistance or a Veterans or Survivors Pension.

How much is the Lifeline discount?

Lifeline is worth up to $9.25 a month, taken off the price of a phone or internet plan. The amount is set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in its rule, 47 CFR 54.403. It is a credit on your bill, not cash.

If you live on Tribal lands, the same rule adds more, for a total of up to $34.25 a month. The section on Tribal lands below says which places count.

The calculator counts Lifeline as $9.25 a month in your budget, as if you have a phone or internet plan for it to come off. It does not count the extra support on Tribal lands.

Who qualifies for Lifeline?

You qualify in one of two ways, under 47 CFR 54.409: by income, or through a program.

• By income: your household’s yearly income before taxes is at or under 135% of the federal poverty guidelines for its size.
• Through a program: you, your child or other dependent, or anyone in your household gets Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, Federal Public Housing Assistance, or a Veterans Pension or Survivors Pension.

Either way, only one person in your household can have Lifeline, and you cannot already have a Lifeline service. People who live on Tribal lands can also qualify through four Tribal programs, listed below.

What is the Lifeline income limit?

The limit is 135% of the federal poverty guidelines for your household’s size, counted as a year’s income before taxes. The poverty guidelines are the yearly income lines the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sets for each household size. The table works out Lifeline’s limit from the 2026 guidelines.

Or no income test at all: getting SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, federal housing help or a Veterans Pension qualifies.

Sources: 47 CFR 54.403 Lifeline support amount (eCFR, up to date as of 2026-10-29) (eCFR / National Archives (FCC rule)); 47 CFR 54.409 Consumer qualification for Lifeline (eCFR, as of 2026-10-29) (eCFR / National Archives (FCC rule)); Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines (91 FR 1797-1798, FR Doc. 2026-00755, 15 Jan 2026) (Federal Register / HHS Office of the Secretary). Checked October 31, 2026.

Lifeline counts your household’s gross income. Its rule, 47 CFR 54.400, counts all income actually received from any source by everyone in the household, unless the tax code specifically leaves it out. Nothing is taken off first: there are no deductions for rent, child care or bills.

Lifeline compares a whole year of income with the yearly limit. The table also shows a month’s share of it, to compare with a monthly paycheck. The limits follow the poverty guidelines, which change each year. The Lifeline application form of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), the FCC’s administrator for Lifeline, says the guidelines are typically updated at the end of January.

Alaska and Hawaii have their own, higher limits. DC and the territories use the same limits as the 48 states.

Or no income test at all: getting SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, federal housing help or a Veterans Pension qualifies.

Sources: 47 CFR 54.403 Lifeline support amount (eCFR, up to date as of 2026-10-29) (eCFR / National Archives (FCC rule)); 47 CFR 54.409 Consumer qualification for Lifeline (eCFR, as of 2026-10-29) (eCFR / National Archives (FCC rule)); Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines (91 FR 1797-1798, FR Doc. 2026-00755, 15 Jan 2026) (Federal Register / HHS Office of the Secretary). Checked October 31, 2026.

Or no income test at all: getting SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, federal housing help or a Veterans Pension qualifies.

Sources: 47 CFR 54.403 Lifeline support amount (eCFR, up to date as of 2026-10-29) (eCFR / National Archives (FCC rule)); 47 CFR 54.409 Consumer qualification for Lifeline (eCFR, as of 2026-10-29) (eCFR / National Archives (FCC rule)); Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines (91 FR 1797-1798, FR Doc. 2026-00755, 15 Jan 2026) (Federal Register / HHS Office of the Secretary). Checked October 31, 2026.

Which programs qualify you for Lifeline?

Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, Federal Public Housing Assistance and a Veterans or Survivors Pension qualify you whatever your income, if anyone in your household gets one (47 CFR 54.409):

• Medicaid;
• SNAP (food stamps), and in Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands their own nutrition programs, which USAC also accepts;
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI);
• Federal Public Housing Assistance;
• a Veterans Pension or Survivors Pension.

If you live on Tribal lands, four more programs qualify you: Bureau of Indian Affairs general assistance, Tribal TANF (cash help run by a tribe), Head Start (only for households that meet its income standard) and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations.

Other programs do not qualify you on their own. WIC, free or reduced-price school meals, CHIP and a state’s TANF are not on the list. With them, you qualify only if your income does, or if you are a survivor of abuse who needs emergency support (below).

In the calculator, a “Likely” for SNAP, Medicaid or SSI, or a housing voucher or public housing ticked under “What you have now”, counts as qualifying through a program. The calculator does not ask about a Veterans or Survivors Pension. If anyone in your household gets one, you qualify whatever the calculator says about your income.

What counts as a household for Lifeline?

Your household is everyone who lives at your address and shares income and expenses with you, and only one Lifeline discount is allowed per household (47 CFR 54.400). The rule’s words are “one economic unit”: all the adults who contribute to and share in the household’s income and expenses.

• An adult is anyone 18 or older.
• An adult with no income, or very little, who is supported by someone in the home is in that person’s household.
• Children under 18 count in their parents’ or guardians’ household.

So two families, or roommates, who share an address but keep their money apart can be separate households, and each can have Lifeline. USAC needs a Lifeline Household Worksheet when more than one person at one address has Lifeline.

Do you need a Social Security number for Lifeline?

Yes. The FCC says every applicant must give the last four digits of their Social Security number. It says this limits Lifeline to U.S. citizens and “qualified aliens” (the law’s term for some immigrants) who have valid numbers. It said so in its 2026 proposal in the Federal Register, described below.

Give those digits only on the Lifeline application itself, at nv.fcc.gov or with the phone or internet company you apply through. This site never asks for your Social Security number or any other personal details, and the calculator sends nothing anywhere.

How do you apply for Lifeline?

You apply through the National Verifier at nv.fcc.gov, or through a phone or internet company that offers Lifeline. The National Verifier is the system that checks whether you qualify. It is run by USAC, the Universal Service Administrative Company, which is the FCC’s administrator for Lifeline.

Phone and internet companies must use the National Verifier to check applicants, except in Oregon and Texas. If you live in one of those two states, ask a Lifeline company there how it checks. Once you qualify, the discount comes off the plan of the company you sign up with. Applying is free.

Have the last four digits of your Social Security number ready. If you qualify through a program, the check is about that program, not your income.

This site is not part of Lifeline and takes no applications. Only Lifeline’s own check decides whether you qualify.

Is the Lifeline discount bigger on Tribal lands?

Yes. If you live on Tribal lands, the FCC’s rule adds more on top of the basic $9.25, for a total of up to $34.25 (47 CFR 54.403).

Tribal lands, under 47 CFR 54.400, are federally recognized reservations, pueblos and colonies (including former reservations in Oklahoma), Alaska Native regions under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Indian allotments, Hawaiian Home Lands, and other lands the FCC names.

People living there can qualify through the four Tribal programs listed above as well as the usual ones. The calculator does not ask whether you live on Tribal lands, so it shows only the basic discount.

Can survivors of domestic violence get Lifeline?

Yes. A survivor of domestic violence, or of another kind of abuse that the Safe Connections Act covers, can get emergency Lifeline support for up to six months (47 CFR 54.403). It is for survivors who separate their phone line from an abuser’s. The support is up to the same $9.25 a month, with extra support on Tribal lands.

Survivors can also qualify more easily. Besides the usual routes, a survivor qualifies with “financial hardship”. That means household income at or under 200% of the poverty guidelines, or a household that gets free or reduced-price school meals, a Pell Grant or WIC (47 CFR 54.400).

Is the FCC changing who can get Lifeline?

Not yet. In April 2026 the FCC proposed changes to who can get Lifeline (FCC 26-8, in the Federal Register), but as of late October 2026 it had not adopted them. The rules on this page are the ones in force.

In the proposal, the FCC said it tentatively concludes that Lifeline is a “federal public benefit” that only U.S. citizens and “qualified aliens” may get. It asked whether qualified aliens should have to wait five years, and whether Lifeline should follow the limits on noncitizens that the 2025 budget law set for Medicaid. It also asked about checking eligibility, the minimum service a Lifeline plan must include, and ending the phase-down of support for voice service.

If the FCC adopts a final rule, some noncitizens could lose Lifeline. The calculator works from the rule in force today and leaves the proposal out.

What happens to Lifeline when your pay goes up?

If you qualify by income, Lifeline ends at the first dollar over the limit for your household size. If you qualify through a program, it goes on as long as the program does, whatever your income.

The loss is the discount itself, $9.25 a month, so on its own it is a small cliff. It matters most when it ends at the same time as a bigger benefit. If SNAP is what qualifies you and your income is over Lifeline’s limit, losing SNAP ends Lifeline too, as the couple in the second example below shows.

The calculator works out your own household at every level of pay and marks each point where your total falls, with the programs that end there. The guide to the benefits cliff explains which programs have cliffs and how to find yours.

How does Lifeline work out for a family of four?

A family of four with income under the limit qualifies on income alone and gets one discount for the whole household. Take a married couple in Pennsylvania with two children aged 7 and 10, one parent earning $3,600 a month, paying $1,250 rent with heating.

Their income is the parent’s pay, $3,600 a month, which is under Lifeline’s limit for four people in the table above. So they qualify on income alone, whatever other help they get. Lifeline gives them $9.25 a month off one plan, and only one of the two parents can sign up.

If the parent’s pay rose past the limit for four, Lifeline would end, unless someone in the family got Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, Federal Public Housing Assistance or a Veterans or Survivors Pension.

Can a household over the income limit still get Lifeline?

Yes, through a program. Take a married couple aged 72 and 70 in Florida, living on $2,600 a month from Social Security, with $600 a month of medical bills and $1,000 rent with heating.

In the calculator, their income is over Lifeline’s limit for two people. But SNAP lets people who are 60 or older, or have a disability, count their medical bills above a small amount each month against their income (7 CFR 273.9). That brings this couple under SNAP‘s limit, and the calculator finds SNAP of $177 a month. Once they get SNAP, they qualify for Lifeline through it.

The same link makes a cliff. If one of them took a job paying $1,008 a month, their SNAP would end, and Lifeline with it, because their income is over Lifeline’s own limit. The calculator shows their month $33.33 lower at that pay than at one dollar less.

Figures checked October 31, 2026.

Questions people ask

Is Lifeline a free phone?

Lifeline itself is a discount, not a phone: up to $9.25 a month off the price of a phone or internet plan. What you pay after the discount depends on the plan and the company you choose.

Can I get Lifeline on both my phone and my internet?

No. Lifeline allows one discount per household, on one phone or internet plan.

Can two people at the same address both get Lifeline?

Only if they are separate households: they do not share income and expenses. USAC needs a Lifeline Household Worksheet when more than one person at an address has Lifeline.

Does getting WIC or school meals qualify me for Lifeline?

Not on their own. WIC and school meals are not on Lifeline’s list of programs, except for survivors of abuse who need emergency support. Your income may still qualify you: check the table for your household size.

Do I have to be a U.S. citizen to get Lifeline?

The FCC says the rule that every applicant give the last four digits of a Social Security number limits Lifeline to U.S. citizens and “qualified aliens” with valid numbers. It has also proposed stricter limits for noncitizens, which it had not adopted as of late October 2026.

Does a Veterans Pension qualify me for Lifeline?

Yes. A Veterans Pension or Survivors Pension for anyone in your household qualifies you, whatever your income. The calculator does not ask about it, so name it as your program when you apply.

Does the calculator decide whether I get Lifeline?

No. It gives an estimate from the published rules and what you type. Only Lifeline’s own check, through the National Verifier in every state but Oregon and Texas, decides.

Updated November 1, 2026