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Colorado Rental Assistance Income Limits

The complete Colorado income-limit table — every household size from 1 to 8 persons, at the three AMI tiers HUD uses for federal rental assistance. The state's 4-person Area Median Income is $104,300; the Section 8 voucher ceiling for a family of four is $52,150.

The full income-limit grid

The numbers below are the maximum annual gross household income at each AMI tier in Colorado. Read across to see how the ceiling rises with household size; read down to compare the three tiers most federal programs use. The 50% AMI column is the operative ceiling for Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers and most project-based Section 8 buildings. The 30% AMI column is what most priority programs use — Emergency Housing Vouchers, Continuum of Care permanent supportive housing, Section 811 disability housing, and the 75% set-aside HUD requires for new Section 8 admissions. The 80% AMI column is the broadest ceiling, used by Public Housing, HOME-funded programs, and most state-funded down-payment assistance.

Annual gross income limits, Colorado, by household size
Household size Extremely Low
30% AMI		 Very Low
50% AMI		 Low
80% AMI		 Family-size detail
1-person (an individual renter) $21,900 $36,500 $58,400 Family of 1 in Colorado →
2-person (a couple or two-person household) $25,050 $41,700 $66,750 Family of 2 in Colorado →
3-person (a family of three) $28,150 $46,950 $75,100 Family of 3 in Colorado →
4-person (a family of four) $31,300 $52,150 $83,450 Family of 4 in Colorado →
5-person (a family of five) $33,800 $56,300 $90,100 Family of 5 in Colorado →
6-person (a family of six) $36,300 $60,500 $96,800 Family of 6 in Colorado →
7-person (a family of seven) $38,800 $64,650 $103,450 Family of 7 in Colorado →
8-person (a family of eight) $41,300 $68,850 $110,150 Family of 8 in Colorado →

Limits shown are statewide approximations derived from HUD's published state-level Area Median Income and HUD's standard family-size adjustment factors (70/80/90/100/108/116/124/132% for 1- through 8-person households). Actual HUD income limits are published per metro / non-metro county and can be 10–25% higher in high-cost coastal areas. The source is HUD User's Income Limits dataset.

How Colorado compares

Colorado's 4-person Area Median Income — the anchor figure HUD uses for every other family-size calculation — is $104,300. That puts Colorado in the upper tier of state AMIs, similar to the high-cost Northeast and the Pacific coast. The income ceilings are correspondingly higher, but so is the cost of housing in most of the state, so the practical "headroom" between income and rent is often narrower than in lower-AMI states.

HUD adjusts the 4-person figure for other household sizes using fixed factors. A 1-person household qualifies at 70% of the 4-person limit; a 2-person at 80%; a 3-person at 90%; a 5-person at 108%; a 6-person at 116%; a 7-person at 124%; an 8-person at 132%. For households larger than 8, HUD adds 8 percentage points per additional person.

Fair Market Rent in Colorado's largest metros

Fair Market Rent (FMR) is HUD's estimate of the 40th-percentile gross rent in each metro and is the cap on what a Section 8 voucher will cover unless the local PHA has set a higher Payment Standard. Compare these to the income limits above: a Section 8 household pays roughly 30% of adjusted income toward rent, so the affordable rent for a 50%-AMI family of four is in the range of $1,304/month — well below the 2BR FMR in most major Colorado metros, which is why the voucher matters.

MetroStudio1BR2BR3BR4BR
Denver $1,280 $1,611 $2,065 $2,685 $3,201
Colorado Springs $995 $1,252 $1,605 $2,087 $2,488
Aurora $1,051 $1,322 $1,695 $2,204 $2,627

What counts as "income" in Colorado

HUD's definition of "annual income" is broad. It counts wages and salaries, self-employment net income, Social Security benefits (including SSI and SSDI), pensions, regular gifts received, child support and alimony actually received, and asset income (interest, dividends, rental income, the imputed return on assets above $50,000). It does not count one-time payments like tax refunds or insurance settlements, the income of household members under 18, the earnings of a live-in aide, food stamps (SNAP), or the first $480 of any earned income from a household member who is a full-time student over 18.

HUD then deducts a standard $480 per dependent and a $525 elderly/disabled household deduction (plus actual childcare and medical expenses above 3% of income for elderly/disabled households) to arrive at "adjusted income" — the figure used to calculate your monthly tenant share of rent (typically 30% of adjusted income).

Programs available in Colorado

Where to apply in Colorado

The application process runs at the Public Housing Agency level. Colorado has 55 PHAs, each with its own waiting list, application window, and local preferences. The largest agencies are listed below. If you don't see your city, try the nearest larger one — many PHAs administer vouchers for surrounding counties under cooperation agreements.

For the complete Colorado rental assistance overview — including a step-by-step application walkthrough — see Rental Assistance in Colorado.