How to use the ACA subsidy calculator
- Pick your state and household size. Count everyone on your federal tax return, including people who don't need Marketplace coverage. The state matters only for Alaska and Hawaii, whose poverty guidelines are higher.
- Enter your expected 2027 income (MAGI). This is the household's modified adjusted gross income for the whole year. Not sure? Open Work out MAGI from your income and fill in wages, self-employment profit and pre-tax contributions.
- Enter the benchmark price. On healthcare.gov or your state's exchange, enter your ZIP code and household, list silver plans by price and take the second-cheapest monthly premium before savings. If you only have the price for one 40-year-old, choose that option and add everyone's age.
- Optionally, add the price of a plan you like to see what it would cost after the credit.
The result updates as you type. Share result gives a link with your inputs, so someone helping you can see the same numbers.
How the 2027 credit is worked out
The premium tax credit fills the gap between the benchmark plan's price and what the law expects your household to pay. That expected payment is a share of your income, the applicable percentage, which rises with income measured against the poverty line. For 2027 the IRS set it at 2.15% for incomes under 133% of the poverty line, rising to 10.22% from 300% to 400% (IRS Rev. Proc. 2026-26, July 2026). Inside each band the percentage climbs in a straight line. Like Form 8962, the tax-return form that settles the credit, the calculator drops the decimals of your income percentage (187.97% counts as 187%) and rounds the applicable percentage to the nearest hundredth.
2027 coverage uses the 2026 poverty guidelines (published January 15, 2026), because the Marketplace uses the guidelines in effect when open enrollment starts. For one person in the 48 states and DC that's $15,960, plus $5,680 for each extra person.
Example: one person expecting $30,000 is at 187% of the poverty line, so the applicable percentage is 6.14% and the expected payment is $1,842 a year, $153.50 a month. With a $500 benchmark the credit is $346.50 a month. The credit stays the same whichever plan you pick: a cheaper bronze plan can cost little or nothing after it, and a gold plan costs more than the benchmark's net price.
The 400% cliff
For tax years 2021 through 2025, Congress temporarily expanded the credit and removed the 400% upper limit (IRS). That expansion ended after 2025. For 2027, as of October 2026, there is no credit at all above 400% of the poverty line: one dollar over the line can cost the whole credit, often thousands of dollars a year for older households, whose benchmark premiums are highest. The table under the calculator shows your credit just below and just above the line, and the chart shows where the drop sits for your household.
Since tax year 2026 there is no cap on paying back advance credit if your income ends up higher than you estimated, so an estimate near the line deserves a careful look. Pre-tax retirement and HSA contributions lower MAGI; the worksheet shows by how much.
Below 138% of the poverty line
Under 100% of the poverty line the credit generally isn't available. Up to 138%, adults in states that expanded Medicaid can usually get Medicaid, and anyone eligible for Medicaid can't get the credit. In states that didn't expand Medicaid, people from 100% to 138% can get the credit, at the lowest percentages in the table. Children often qualify for Medicaid or CHIP at higher incomes than adults; the Marketplace application checks this for you. Medicaid and CHIP apply each year's poverty guidelines as HHS updates them (CMS bulletin, January 23, 2026), so once HHS publishes the 2027 guidelines in early 2027, the 138% line moves up a little, while the credit stays on the 2026 guidelines all year.
What this calculator doesn't cover
- Cost-sharing reductions: extra savings on deductibles and copays for lower incomes, available only with a silver plan.
- State subsidies: some state exchanges add their own help on top of the federal credit.
- Employer coverage: if a job offers you affordable coverage, you generally can't get the credit. For 2027 an employer plan counts as affordable for the employee when their share of self-only coverage is no more than 10.22% of household income.
- Immigration status: from plan year 2027, the 2025 budget law (Pub. L. 119-21, section 71301) limits the credit for lawfully present noncitizens to lawful permanent residents, Cuban or Haitian entrants and COFA migrants; other lawfully present immigrants lose it (CMS guidance, October 5, 2026). The Marketplace checks status and other eligibility rules when you apply.
Planning the rest of your budget? The pay period calendar helps total a year's paychecks, the time card calculator adds up hours for hourly income, and the interest calculator estimates interest income that counts toward MAGI.