ACA marketplace subsidy calculator

How do I calculate my ACA marketplace subsidy?

Enter your household size, your annual household income (modified adjusted gross income, or MAGI), and your area's benchmark plan premium, the second-lowest-cost Silver plan on your county's marketplace. The calculator runs the same math as IRS Form 8962: your income as a percent of FPL, the applicable percentage that maps to, your expected contribution, and the credit that fills the gap up to the benchmark premium.

This is an estimate, not an eligibility determination. Only a healthcare.gov or state exchange application, using your actual county's benchmark premium and verified income, sets your real credit. Get your exact benchmark premium at healthcare.gov's plan preview tool.

What is the 2026 applicable percentage table?

The applicable percentage is the share of income the IRS expects you to spend on the benchmark plan before any credit applies. It rises in steps as income climbs relative to FPL, then goes flat at 9.96% from 300% to 400% FPL, then drops to zero above 400% FPL. For 2026, the schedule reverts to the original ACA structure Congress wrote into the law, since the temporary enhanced credits expired December 31, 2025.

Source: IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-25 (Section 36B applicable percentage table for 2026).

Within each band, the percentage increases smoothly, not in a single jump, from the low end to the high end of the range. A household at exactly 175% FPL, for example, sits halfway through the 150% to 200% band, so its applicable percentage is halfway between 4.19% and 6.60%, about 5.40%. That is the interpolation the calculator above runs automatically.

What is the 2026 subsidy cliff at 400% FPL?

It is the point where the premium tax credit stops entirely, not gradually. From 2021 through 2025, temporary "enhanced" credits removed this cutoff and capped everyone's contribution at 8.5% of income no matter how high their earnings. That enhancement expired on schedule at the end of 2025, and no extension has passed as of this writing, so the original ACA rule is back: one dollar of income over 400% of FPL and the credit drops from whatever it was to zero, all at once. A household right at the edge can lose a subsidy worth thousands of dollars a year over a small raise or a bit of extra freelance income, which is why checking this number before year-end matters if your income is close to the line.

How do I know my benchmark plan's premium?

The benchmark is the second-lowest-cost Silver plan available in your specific county, for your age and household, not an average or a national figure. It changes by location because insurer participation and negotiated provider rates vary by county, and it changes by age because ACA plans are allowed to price older enrollees higher (up to three times a 21-year-old's rate) under the ACA's age-rating bands. The default benchmark used above, $600 a month, is an illustrative placeholder, not an IRS or CMS number. Look up your actual benchmark premium at healthcare.gov before relying on any dollar figure from this page.

Worked example: household of 2, $50,000 income

Take the calculator's own default. A household of 2 sits at 100% of FPL at $21,150 a year (2025 HHS guidelines, used for 2026 marketplace eligibility). Divide income by that figure: $50,000 / $21,150 = 236.4%, which falls in the 200% to 250% FPL band. Interpolating within that band gives an applicable percentage of 7.94%. Multiply that against income: $50,000 x 7.94% = $3,970 a year, or $331 a month, the expected contribution. The benchmark plan costs $7,200 a year ($600 a month); subtract the expected contribution and the premium tax credit is $3,230 a year, or $269 a month. That credit applies dollar for dollar to any metal tier, not just the benchmark Silver plan, so a cheaper Bronze plan can bring the net premium close to zero while a pricier Gold plan still costs more out of pocket after the same credit.

What if my income is under 138% of FPL?

In the 40 states plus DC that expanded Medicaid, an income under 138% of FPL usually means Medicaid eligibility, not a marketplace credit, since Medicaid is free or near-free and the ACA was built to route lower incomes there first. Marketplace premium tax credits are still technically available down to 100% of FPL (and, in some cases, below it for lawfully present immigrants who cannot get Medicaid), but if your state expanded Medicaid and your income is under 138% of FPL, check Medicaid first. See Medicaid eligibility 2026 for the income limits by household size and which states expanded, or run your own numbers on the Medicaid eligibility calculator.

Who actually uses this calculator?

Anyone shopping the ACA Marketplace without an employer plan: the self-employed, independent contractors, part-time workers, and people between jobs. See health insurance for the self-employed for how the credit interacts with the self-employed health insurance deduction, and how ACA marketplace health insurance works for the metal tiers, enrollment windows, and repayment rules this calculator does not cover.

The flat truth

The premium tax credit is one subtraction: your benchmark plan's annual cost minus your income times an IRS percentage. Everything else, metal tiers, cost-sharing reductions, enrollment windows, is detail layered on top of that one calculation. For 2026, that calculation has a hard ceiling: nothing above 400% of FPL, and a lower income means Medicaid is probably the better checkpoint before you ever price a Marketplace plan. Run your real numbers here, then confirm the exact benchmark premium at healthcare.gov before you assume either a subsidy or a cliff applies to you.