Ashfield town, MA
The two-bedroom Fair Market Rent here, $1,866, is also published by 19 Connecticut town records whose area median family income is higher than this one's. Their four-person Low Income limit is $99,600, against $105,200 here — the smaller threshold belongs to the larger area income.
HUD county subdivision in Franklin County (county).
Key HUD figures for Ashfield town, MA
HUD area: Franklin County, MA
- Fair Market Rent (2BR)
- $1,866
- HUD Median Family Income
- $109,900
- Very Low Income (50%) — 4-person
- $65,750
- Low Income (80%) — 4-person
- $105,200
- HUD Year
- 2026
- FMR Year
- 2026
per month
area median family income, per year
annual household limit
annual household limit
income limits
fair market rents
Fair Market Rents by bedroom
| Unit size | Monthly FMR | Annualized FMR |
|---|---|---|
| Studio / efficiency | $1,287 | $15,444 |
| 1 bedroom | $1,422 | $17,064 |
| 2 bedrooms(reference benchmark) | $1,866 | $22,392 |
| 3 bedrooms | $2,237 | $26,844 |
| 4 bedrooms | $2,471 | $29,652 |
Compare 2BR Fair Market Rent
- Lower 2BR FMR: Westminster town, MA $1,749/month
- Higher 2BR FMR: Easthampton city, MA $2,004/month
A higher area income next door, and lower limits
| Income limit category | 1 person | 2 persons | 3 persons | 4 persons | 5 persons | 6 persons | 7 persons | 8 persons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extremely Low Income | $27,650 | $31,600 | $35,550 | $39,450 | $42,650 | $45,800 | $50,040 | $55,720 |
| Very Low Income (50%) | $46,000 | $52,550 | $59,200 | $65,750 | $71,050 | $76,300 | $81,550 | $86,800 |
| Low Income (80%) | $73,650 | $84,200 | $94,700 | $105,200 | $113,650 | $122,050 | $130,450 | $138,900 |
These are HUD income limits for the Franklin County, MA area. They are thresholds published by HUD, not an eligibility determination: individual programs apply their own rules, and adjusted-income definitions (deductions, allowances, and which household members count) can change whether a given household qualifies.
The larger area income carries the smaller thresholds
The same two-bedroom Fair Market Rent, $1,866, appears on 45 records. 26 are Massachusetts town records, all of them in this county's HUD area, and 19 are Connecticut town records. The rent is identical across both groups; the area median family income is not, and neither are the income limits.
Take Bozrah town, Connecticut, as the comparison. Its area median family income of $111,900 is 1.8% above the $109,900 on this page. Its four-person Very Low Income limit is $62,250 against $65,750 here, and its four-person Low Income limit is $99,600 against $105,200 here — this page's figure is 5.6% above it. The same ordering holds at every household size listed, in both rows.
This site reports the published figures and does not reproduce the calculation behind them, so it cannot say what produces that ordering. What the pairing does establish is that the direction of an area income does not settle the direction of the thresholds. A household close to a limit needs the figure printed for its own record, and reading a neighbouring record with a similar area income can point the wrong way.
A rank shared with every other town in the county
- Applicable HUD 2BR FMR
- $1,866
- Median 2BR FMR across HUD county-subdivision records in MA
- $2,166
- Difference
- -$300
- Difference (%)
- -13.9%
- Rank in state
- Tied at 242 of 351
The two-bedroom Fair Market Rent applicable to Ashfield town is below the state median for MA. It is tied at rank 242 of 351 county-subdivision records by 2BR FMR, sharing that rank with 25 other county-subdivision records at the same rent.
The other 25 records in this HUD area use the same 2BR FMR and therefore share this rank.
Rank 1 is the highest 2BR FMR in the state, and county-subdivision records with an identical rent share a rank. “Approximately at the state median” means within 2% of it. The median is taken across the 351 county-subdivision records published for MA — it is a median across entity records, not weighted by households or population, and not a median over unique HUD areas, so a HUD area covering several entities counts once per entity record. County subdivisions are only ever compared with other county subdivisions, never with counties.
Rent benchmark vs HUD Median Family Income
- Annualized 2BR FMR
- $22,392
- HUD Median Family Income (annual)
- $109,900
- Annualized 2BR FMR as a share of HUD Median Family Income
- 20.4%
12 × $1,866
This is a ratio between two HUD benchmarks for the Franklin County, MA area: the annualized two-bedroom Fair Market Rent divided by HUD Median Family Income. It is not a measured rent burden, not the share of income any particular family spends on housing, and not an affordability or eligibility determination.
HUD area for this county subdivision
- HUD area name
- Franklin County, MA
- HUD area code
- NCNTY25011N25011
- Income limits fiscal year
- FY2026
- Fair Market Rent fiscal year
- FY2026
HUD income limits and Fair Market Rents apply to HUD-defined areas that can cover multiple geographic entities. The values on this page are those assigned to this HUD entity record; entities sharing the same HUD area can have identical figures.
Other county subdivisions in this HUD area
25 other county-subdivision records are assigned to this HUD area.
- Bernardston town, MA
- Buckland town, MA
- Charlemont town, MA
- Colrain town, MA
- Conway town, MA
- Deerfield town, MA
+ 19 more in this HUD area.
National economic context
The figures below are federal and national. They are not specific to Ashfield town and do not vary between county subdivisions.
Inflation (official BLS CPI-U national series)
Loading chart…
Fonte Dati: bls.gov — BLS CPI-U CUUR0000SA0
Mostra Dati in Tabella
| Date (YYYY-MM) | Year | Period | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-07 | 2023 | M07 | 305.691 |
| 2023-08 | 2023 | M08 | 307.026 |
| 2023-09 | 2023 | M09 | 307.789 |
| 2023-10 | 2023 | M10 | 307.671 |
| 2023-11 | 2023 | M11 | 307.051 |
| 2023-12 | 2023 | M12 | 306.746 |
| 2024-01 | 2024 | M01 | 308.417 |
| 2024-02 | 2024 | M02 | 310.326 |
| 2024-03 | 2024 | M03 | 312.332 |
| 2024-04 | 2024 | M04 | 313.548 |
| 2024-05 | 2024 | M05 | 314.069 |
| 2024-06 | 2024 | M06 | 314.175 |
| 2024-07 | 2024 | M07 | 314.54 |
| 2024-08 | 2024 | M08 | 314.796 |
| 2024-09 | 2024 | M09 | 315.301 |
| 2024-10 | 2024 | M10 | 315.664 |
| 2024-11 | 2024 | M11 | 315.493 |
| 2024-12 | 2024 | M12 | 315.605 |
| 2025-01 | 2025 | M01 | 317.671 |
| 2025-02 | 2025 | M02 | 319.082 |
| 2025-03 | 2025 | M03 | 319.799 |
| 2025-04 | 2025 | M04 | 320.795 |
| 2025-05 | 2025 | M05 | 321.465 |
| 2025-06 | 2025 | M06 | 322.561 |
| 2025-07 | 2025 | M07 | 323.048 |
| 2025-08 | 2025 | M08 | 323.976 |
| 2025-09 | 2025 | M09 | 324.8 |
| 2025-11 | 2025 | M11 | 324.122 |
| 2025-12 | 2025 | M12 | 324.054 |
| 2026-01 | 2026 | M01 | 325.252 |
| 2026-02 | 2026 | M02 | 326.785 |
| 2026-03 | 2026 | M03 | 330.213 |
| 2026-04 | 2026 | M04 | 333.02 |
| 2026-05 | 2026 | M05 | 335.123 |
| 2026-06 | 2026 | M06 | 333.952 |
| 2026-07 | 2026 | M07 | 333.918 |
Purchasing power decision engine
Decision snapshot (server-rendered)
Baseline: HUD Median Family Income adjusted from 2025-07 to 2026-07 using embedded CPI-U monthly series.
- Adjusted income is near the local median and/or purchasing power decreased materially.
- This suggests moderate affordability risk under CPI-U adjustment assumptions.
Purchasing power decision tool (CPI-U monthly)
This module converts an annual income from 2025-07 into its 2026-07 equivalent using the CPI-U series, then compares it to the HUD Median Family Income for Ashfield town, MA.
The baseline is HUD's Median Family Income for the HUD area, not a Census median household income. The CPI-U series is the official BLS CUUR0000SA0 index, unadjusted; months BLS did not publish are left out rather than interpolated.
HUD Median Family Income (annual): $109,900
Decision output
- Adjusted income is near the local median and/or purchasing power decreased materially.
- This suggests moderate affordability risk under CPI-U adjustment assumptions.
Methodology & assumptions (v1.0)
Adjusted income is computed as Income × CPI(to) / CPI(from) using CPI-U monthly index values embedded in this page.
- CPI-U is an aggregate price index for urban consumers; individual consumption patterns may differ.
- No interpolation is applied; both selected months must exist in the dataset.
- HUD Median Family Income is treated as the annual reference benchmark for the applicable HUD area, compared to adjusted annual income.
- This module performs a historical transformation, not a forecast.
IRS reference
Publication 15-T (2026) — Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods. Official IRS publication →
Reference only. GovCalculator does not compute federal income tax withholding. The publication's withholding methods and tables are not ingested or modelled here.
Sources & methodology
HUD income limits and Fair Market Rents are taken from the fiscal-year tables HUD publishes per HUD-defined area — which can include more than one county subdivision — and joined to this county-subdivision record. State comparisons are computed across the 2BR Fair Market Rents of the county-subdivision records in the same state; county subdivisions are never ranked against counties. The median uses the middle value and is not weighted by households or population, rank 1 is the highest rent in the state, and county-subdivision records with identical rents share a rank.
The income figure used throughout this page is HUD's Median Family Income for the HUD area above. It is not a Census median household income and the two are not interchangeable.
The purchasing power module applies a historical CPI ratio: Adjusted = Nominal × CPI(to) / CPI(from). No interpolation is applied and missing months are not imputed; CPI-U is a historical index, not a forecast. The “STABLE” target adds a fixed +10% buffer over the local HUD Median Family Income — that buffer is a GovCalculator heuristic, not a HUD, BLS or IRS determination.
The CPI-U series is the official BLS CUUR0000SA0 index, not seasonally adjusted, taken from the published BLS series: 36 published monthly observations. Months BLS did not publish are not interpolated. IRS Publication 15-T is cited as an official reference only — no federal withholding is calculated anywhere on this site.
Verify eligibility requirements with local program administrators: household size, deductions, and program-specific definitions can materially change outcomes.
FAQ
Which HUD area do the figures for Ashfield town, MA come from?
HUD assigns this county subdivision to the Franklin County, MA area (code NCNTY25011N25011). A HUD area can cover more than one county subdivision, so the area name is not always identical to the county subdivision name.
Which fiscal years are shown on this page?
Income limits are FY2026 and Fair Market Rents are FY2026.
What is the Fair Market Rent (2BR) here?
The two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is $1,866 per month. Fair Market Rents for studio through four-bedroom units are listed in the bedroom table above.
Do the income limits on this page decide whether I qualify?
No. They are the thresholds HUD publishes for this area. Programs apply their own rules, and adjusted-income definitions — deductions, allowances, and which household members count — can change the outcome for a given household.
What does the FMR-to-median-family-income share mean?
It is the annualized two-bedroom Fair Market Rent divided by HUD Median Family Income for the same area, here 20.4%. Both inputs are HUD area benchmarks, so it is not a measured rent burden and not an affordability determination.
How does Ashfield town rank within MA?
Its applicable two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is tied at rank 242 of 351 county-subdivision records in MA, shared with 25 other county-subdivision records at the same rent. Rank 1 is the highest rent in the state, county-subdivision records with identical rents share a rank, and county subdivisions are never ranked against counties. That places it below the state median.
Why is Ashfield town a HUD county subdivision rather than a county?
HUD publishes FY2026 income limits and Fair Market Rents for the six New England states at town/city (county subdivision) level, not county level — there is no county-equivalent HUD record for MA. Ashfield town sits in Franklin County, a county.
Is the CPI-based purchasing power module a forecast?
No. It is a historical adjustment using CPI-U monthly index values: Adjusted = Income × CPI(to) / CPI(from). It does not predict future inflation.
Does this page calculate federal income tax withholding?
No. GovCalculator does not compute federal withholding anywhere. IRS Publication 15-T is cited as an official reference only; its withholding methods and tables are not ingested or modelled here.
A nearby area has a higher median income. Will its income limits be higher too?
Not necessarily, and this page is a worked counter-example. Bozrah town, Connecticut publishes the same $1,866 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent as Ashfield town and an area median family income of $111,900 against $109,900 here — 1.8% higher. Its four-person Low Income limit is $99,600 against $105,200 here, and its four-person Very Low limit is $62,250 against $65,750. The lower thresholds sit with the higher area income, at every household size in both rows. This page does not model HUD's calculation and cannot say why.
Disclaimer: Estimates are informational and may not reflect every program rule or household adjustment. Always consult official guidance for Ashfield town, MA.