LIHEAP Eligibility Calculator

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps low-income households cover heating and cooling bills, a federal lifeline that keeps the lights and heat on when budgets run short. This tool checks whether you're likely to qualify for the 2026 program year and gives you an estimated benefit amount. Having that picture in hand makes it easier to plan your household budget and tap into the support you may be entitled to.

Federal law caps LIHEAP eligibility at 150% of the poverty level or 60% of your state's median income, whichever is greater, and bars states from turning away a household below 110% of the poverty level on income alone, so your state's own limit may sit above or below the one used here. The calculator applies a single test: your gross annual household income against 150% of the 2026 federal poverty guideline for your household size. That guideline is $15,960 a year for one person, rising $5,680 for each additional person, so the line is $23,940 for one person and $49,500 for a family of four. The benefit it shows is not a state schedule: it is a $500 base adjusted for your main heating fuel, giving $400 for electric heat, $500 for natural gas, $600 for propane and $650 for heating oil.

Final eligibility and benefit amounts rest with your state's LIHEAP agency, which may factor in local energy costs or specific household vulnerabilities, so treat this as an estimate rather than a decision. Leaving out household members or underreporting income tends to throw the assessment off, so double-check every entry. Be aware, too, that individual state programs can impose extra requirements or set their own income thresholds.