Alexander County, NC
FY2026 HUD income limits and FY2026 Fair Market Rents for the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC MSA area. 2BR FMR: $1,095/month · HUD Median Family Income: $85,200/year.
Key HUD figures for Alexander County, NC
HUD area: Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC MSA
- Fair Market Rent (2BR)
- $1,095
- HUD Median Family Income
- $85,200
- Very Low Income (50%) — 4-person
- $42,600
- Low Income (80%) — 4-person
- $68,150
- 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
Compare HUD Median Family Income
- Lower HUD MFI: Pasquotank County, NC $84,300/year
- Higher HUD MFI: Yancey County, NC $85,300/year
Fair Market Rents by bedroom
| Unit size | Monthly FMR | Annualized FMR |
|---|---|---|
| Studio / efficiency | $858 | $10,296 |
| 1 bedroom | $908 | $10,896 |
| 2 bedrooms(reference benchmark) | $1,095 | $13,140 |
| 3 bedrooms | $1,372 | $16,464 |
| 4 bedrooms | $1,660 | $19,920 |
Compare 2BR Fair Market Rent
- Lower 2BR FMR: Pamlico County, NC $1,077/month
- Higher 2BR FMR: Lee County, NC $1,136/month
HUD income limits by household size
| Income limit category | 1 person | 2 persons | 3 persons | 4 persons | 5 persons | 6 persons | 7 persons | 8 persons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extremely Low Income | $17,900 | $21,640 | $27,320 | $33,000 | $38,680 | $44,360 | $50,040 | $55,720 |
| Very Low Income (50%) | $29,850 | $34,100 | $38,350 | $42,600 | $46,050 | $49,450 | $52,850 | $56,250 |
| Low Income (80%) | $47,750 | $54,550 | $61,350 | $68,150 | $73,650 | $79,100 | $84,550 | $90,000 |
These are HUD income limits for the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC MSA 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.
How Alexander County compares within NC
- Applicable HUD 2BR FMR
- $1,095
- Median 2BR FMR across county records in NC
- $1,086
- Difference
- +$9
- Difference (%)
- +0.8%
- Rank in state
- Tied at 46 of 100
The two-bedroom Fair Market Rent applicable to Alexander County is approximately at the state median for NC. It is tied at rank 46 of 100 county records by 2BR FMR, sharing that rank with 4 other county records at the same rent.
The other 3 records in this HUD area use the same 2BR FMR and therefore share this rank. The statewide tie also includes records from other HUD areas.
Rank 1 is the highest 2BR FMR in the state, and county records with an identical rent share a rank. “Approximately at the state median” means within 2% of it. The median is taken across the 100 county records published for NC — it is not weighted by households or population, and it is not a median over unique HUD areas, so a HUD area covering several counties counts once per county record.
Rent benchmark vs HUD Median Family Income
- Annualized 2BR FMR
- $13,140
- HUD Median Family Income (annual)
- $85,200
- Annualized 2BR FMR as a share of HUD Median Family Income
- 15.4%
12 × $1,095
This is a ratio between two HUD benchmarks for the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC MSA 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.
Compare FMR-to-MFI benchmark
- Lower benchmark: Hoke County, NC 15.4%
HUD area for this county
- HUD area name
- Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC MSA
- HUD area code
- METRO25860M25860
- 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 counties in this HUD area
3 other county records are assigned to this HUD area.
National economic context
The figures below are federal and national. They are not specific to Alexander County and do not vary between counties.
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 Alexander County, NC.
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): $85,200
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 — and joined to this county record. State comparisons are computed across the 2BR Fair Market Rents of the county records in the same state; 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 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 Alexander County, NC come from?
HUD assigns this county to the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC MSA area (code METRO25860M25860). A HUD area can cover more than one county, so the area name is not always identical to the county 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 $1,095 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 15.4%. Both inputs are HUD area benchmarks, so it is not a measured rent burden and not an affordability determination.
How does Alexander County rank within NC?
Its applicable two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is tied at rank 46 of 100 county records in NC, shared with 4 other county records at the same rent. Rank 1 is the highest rent in the state and county records with identical rents share a rank. That places it approximately at the state median.
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.
Disclaimer: Estimates are informational and may not reflect every program rule or household adjustment. Always consult official guidance for Alexander County, NC.