Daycare Voucher Income Limits by State 2026 (CCDF)

If you searched “income limit for daycare vouchers,” you have probably already discovered the frustrating part: every site gives a different number, and most give none. There is a reason. The limit genuinely is different in every state — federal law only sets the ceiling. This guide gives you the federal rule, real 2026 numbers from six states whose official pages we actually read, and the trick to finding your own state’s line in about two minutes.

The Short Answer

Question	Answer
Is there one national income limit?	No. Each state sets its own, under a federal ceiling
What is the federal ceiling?	85% of your state’s median income (SMI) for your family size — 45 CFR 98.20
Do states actually use 85% of SMI?	A few do (Mississippi). Most set the entry line lower — 60% of SMI in Connecticut, 200% of the poverty level in Oregon
Real 2026 example, family of 4	Mississippi $56,641/yr · Connecticut $91,854/yr · Maryland $111,936/yr — same program, three very different lines
Where is my state’s number?	Your state’s “Financial Assistance for Families” page, linked from childcare.gov/state-resources
Who runs this?	The federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), through each state — see our child care assistance guide for how to apply

The Federal Rule: 85% of State Median Income

The voucher program’s federal rule, 45 CFR 98.20, sets the outer limit every state must respect. To be eligible, a child must:

“Reside with a family whose income does not exceed 85 percent of the State’s median income (SMI), which must be based on the most recent SMI data that is published by the Bureau of the Census, for a family of the same size.”

Three details in the same rule are worth knowing before you look up your state:

• It is a ceiling, not a promise. Your state may set its line anywhere at or below 85% of SMI, and most set it lower because funding runs out first.
• Assets barely matter. The only asset test in federal rule is that family assets not exceed $1,000,000 — “as certified by such family member.” You state it; nobody audits your savings account.
• Income is only one of three tests. The child must also be under 13 (or under 19 at state option with a disability or under court supervision), and the parents must be “working or attending a job training or educational program.” School and job training count. There is also a protective-services route where the state may waive the income test entirely, case by case.

Why Every State’s Number Looks Different: SMI% vs. FPL%

When you compare state pages, the limits are not just different amounts — they are written in different units. States express the line in one of two currencies:

• A percentage of State Median Income (SMI). SMI is different in every state, so “60% of SMI” in Connecticut is a much larger dollar figure than “85% of SMI” in Mississippi. This is the unit the federal ceiling uses.
• A percentage of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). The FPL is the same nationwide (with adjustments only for Alaska and Hawaii), so “200% of FPL” is roughly the same dollar amount in Oregon as it would be in Ohio — about $5,500 a month for a family of four on Vermont’s 2026 scale.

Neither unit is more generous by itself — what matters is the dollar figure it produces for your family size. That is why the table below shows the dollars each state actually publishes, not just the percentage.

Verified 2026 Income Limits: Six States We Actually Checked

We did not build a 50-state table, because we could not read all 50 states’ official pages — and we do not publish numbers we have not verified. (Several states’ websites, including Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and New York, blocked or failed our access; see How We Checked This.) These six are the states whose own pages we read on September 12, 2026, quoted with the effective dates the states themselves give.

State	Program	Income limit to apply (family of 4)	The unit the state uses	Effective date on the page
Maryland	Child Care Scholarship	$111,936/yr initial · $126,861/yr once enrolled	Dollar scale (initial + continuation tables)	12.15.2024 (initial scale)
Connecticut	Care 4 Kids	$91,854/yr ($7,654.55/mo)	Under 60% of SMI for new applications	October 1, 2025
Vermont	Child Care Financial Assistance	Help up to $15,813/mo gross (575% FPL); $0 copay up to $4,813/mo (175% FPL)	% of FPL, sliding scale	March 22, 2026
Oregon	ERDC	200% of FPL to apply; 250% FPL or 85% SMI (whichever is higher) to stay on	% of FPL entry, % FPL/SMI exit	March 1, 2026
South Dakota	Child Care Assistance	$5,748/mo adjusted income	209% of FPL	March 1, 2026
Mississippi	Child Care Payment Program	$56,641/yr (85% of SMI); the very-low-income priority group is capped at $33,319 (50% of SMI)	% of SMI, by priority group	The page’s poverty column is labeled 2021 — ask CCPP for current figures
North Carolina	Subsidized Child Care	No statewide table published on the consumer page — eligibility is determined when you apply through your county	Situational criteria + a 10%-of-gross-income copay	—

Three honest observations about this table:

1. The spread is enormous. A family of four earning $60,000 is over the line in Mississippi, comfortably under it in Connecticut, and roughly halfway to Maryland’s initial limit. If you moved states, your eligibility could flip with no change in your paycheck.
2. Oregon’s percentages come with a warning. The same page that lists the limits says “ERDC currently has a waitlist due to increased demand and limited funding.” Meeting the income limit gets you a place in line, not a voucher. That is true in many states.
3. North Carolina’s row is not a gap in our research — it is how the state works. Its consumer page lists situations (working, in school, protective services) rather than a statewide income chart, and applications run through county departments of social services. If your state’s page looks like that, apply and let the county do the math.

The Two-Number Trap: Entry Limits vs. Exit Limits

Here is the single most useful thing on this page if your income is near the line: most states run two limits, and the one you find first is the lower one.

Federal rule 45 CFR 98.21 requires any state whose entry limit is below 85% of SMI to run a graduated phase-out with “two-tiered eligibility thresholds” — a lower line to get in, and a higher line, used at redetermination, to stay in. At redetermination a child “shall be considered eligible… even if their income exceeds the Lead Agency’s income limit to initially qualify for assistance.”

You can see the two tiers in the state pages themselves:

• Maryland: initial scale $111,936, continuation scale $126,861 (family of 4) — a $14,925 cushion.
• Oregon: 200% of FPL to enter, but 250% of FPL or 85% of SMI, whichever is higher, to stay on. Oregon’s page says it directly: “you can start making more money and may still keep your ERDC benefits.”
• Connecticut publishes separate guideline tables for new applications, redeterminations, and active recipients.

And between annual redeterminations, the same federal rule keeps your child eligible after a raise as long as family income stays under 85% of SMI — the ceiling, not your state’s entry line. Two practical consequences:

• If you are applying: compare your income to the entry table, and if you are just over it, ask whether a pre-tax deduction (retirement, health premiums) changes your countable income under your state’s definitions.
• If you already have a voucher: a raise almost never ends it mid-year, and at renewal the higher second-tier line applies. Do not quit the program preemptively — make the state cite its rule first.

How to Find Your State’s Number in Two Minutes

1. Go to childcare.gov/state-resources — the federal government’s official directory — and select your state. (The site needs JavaScript; we confirmed the state directory loads with real content, not an empty shell.)
2. Open the “Financial Assistance for Families” page for your state. Childcare.gov’s own wording: “Eligibility requirements are different in each state. Select your state or territory and review the ‘Financial Assistance for Families’ page to find your local child care financial assistance program.”
3. On the state page, look for the income table and its effective date, and note whether it is the initial or the continuation scale.
4. If there is no table (as in North Carolina), stop hunting and apply — the county or agency computes eligibility from your documents.
5. If the numbers look stale (Mississippi’s table still references a 2021 poverty column), call the program and ask for the current figures before ruling yourself out.

For what happens after the income test — the application steps, the 12-month eligibility rule, copays, and choosing a provider — see our full child care assistance (CCDF) guide.

If You Are Over the Limit

The voucher income test is not the only door to cheaper child care:

• Head Start and Early Head Start — free early learning for children under 5, with its own eligibility rules.
• State pre-K — some states offer free or low-cost prekindergarten with different (or no) income tests; your childcare.gov state page lists it.
• A Dependent Care FSA and the child and dependent care tax credit — no voucher-style income limit; ask your employer and see IRS guidance when you file.
• 211 — one call to find local child care help, sliding-scale centers, and nonprofit programs in your area.
• If the budget squeeze is wider — SNAP and WIC have their own income tests and free up money for care.

How We Checked This

Every number and quotation above was read from a primary source on September 12, 2026.

The federal rules. We pulled the full text of 45 CFR part 98 from the eCFR versioner API (Title 45, issue date August 1, 2026) and read §§ 98.20 and 98.21 line by line — the 85%-of-SMI ceiling, the $1,000,000 self-certified asset test, the work/training/education requirement, and the two-tier graduated phase-out are all quoted from that text.

The state numbers. We read each state’s own page: Maryland’s Child Care Scholarship page (both the initial and continuation dollar scales), Connecticut’s Care 4 Kids new-application guidelines (60% SMI table effective October 1, 2025), Vermont’s CCFAP income guidelines (effective March 22, 2026, out to 575% of FPL), Oregon’s ERDC page (200% FPL initial, 250% FPL/85% SMI exit, as of March 1, 2026, plus the waitlist notice), South Dakota’s eligibility page (209% FPL scale effective March 1, 2026, with its countable-income definitions), Mississippi’s CCPP eligibility guidelines (priority groups at 50% and 85% of SMI with a dollar table), and North Carolina’s DCDEE financial assistance page (situational criteria, 10% copay, no statewide table).

What we could not verify, and therefore did not publish. We attempted to read the official child care subsidy pages of Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Washington, Georgia, Kansas, Illinois, and several other states, and could not get readable content from any of them — connections refused, 403/404 responses, or pages that require JavaScript and returned no article text to our tools. Those states are absent from the table because we will not print a number we did not read on an official page. Two more caveats on what we did publish: Mississippi’s income table carries a poverty-line column labeled 2021, so treat its dollar figures as the state’s published-but-dated numbers and confirm by phone; and Oregon publishes percentages rather than a dollar table on the page we read, so we quote only the percentages. Annual figures we state are exactly as published; where a state publishes only monthly figures (Vermont, South Dakota), we give the monthly figure rather than converting it.

Income limits change every year — most states re-set them each spring or each October. If your state’s page shows a different number than this guide, the state page wins; tell us and we will re-check.

This is general information, not legal or financial advice. Last updated: September 12, 2026.