# 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)
**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: [email protected].*
**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 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.
| States | Estimated State median income for four-person | 60 percent of estimated State median income for four-person |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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 |
| 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 |