Methodology
CliffCheck doesn’t guess. Behind every dollar on the chart is a published rule from a federal agency or your state. Here is each one, with the source, the citation, a link to the government page, and the date we last checked it. If a rule doesn’t trace to a government link yet, we say so plainly rather than paper over it.
These programs run on national rules, so the source is the same wherever you live. We list them once here instead of repeating them for all 8 states.
Food benefits, once called food stamps. Most supported states use broad-based categorical eligibility, or BBCE, which raises the income limit above the federal default.
USDA FNS — SNAP eligibility (FY2026)
7 CFR §273.9 + USDA COLA notice FY2026
fns.usda.govChecked Apr 25, 2026
Public health coverage. Whether a state expanded Medicaid changes who qualifies, so the expansion status is listed per state below.
CMS — Medicaid state overviews
medicaid.gov state Medicaid & CHIP profile
medicaid.govChecked Apr 25, 2026
Premium savings on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace, measured against the second-lowest-cost Silver plan, the SLCSP, the benchmark the savings are calculated from.
IRS — Form 8962 (Premium Tax Credit)
IRS Form 8962 instructions, applicable-figure table (§36B)
irs.govChecked Jul 4, 2026
A refundable tax credit for working households. It rises with earnings, then tapers, and is part of your effective take-home.
IRS — Earned Income Tax Credit tables
IRS Rev. Proc. 2024-40 (TY2025 inflation adjustments)
irs.govChecked Apr 25, 2026
The federal poverty level, or FPL, is the yearly income figure most program limits are measured against. It scales every calculation on the site.
HHS/ASPE — Federal Poverty Guidelines
HHS Poverty Guidelines 2026 (Federal Register, 2026-01-15)
aspe.hhs.govChecked Apr 25, 2026
Rental assistance through the Housing Choice Voucher program, valued from HUD's local fair market rents.
HUD — Fair Market Rents (FY2026)
HUD FY2026 FMR + Income Limits datasets
huduser.govChecked Apr 25, 2026
Two things differ from state to state: the childcare subsidy and the state income tax. Whether the state expanded Medicaid is noted too, since it changes who qualifies. Everything else uses the federal rules above.
Florida DOE — School Readiness Program
Florida Office of Early Learning — School Readiness (fldoe.org/schools/early-learning/parents/school-readiness.stml)
Reviewed C18 (task-132): Florida publishes School Readiness on fldoe.org and floridaearlylearning.com — both non-.gov hosts — so no machine-readable gov URL is exposed and the citation stays honestly source-less. If Florida ever publishes the program on a .gov host, replace this with that primary URL.
Checked Apr 25, 2026
Georgia DECAL — Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS)
Bright from the Start / DECAL — CAPS
decal.ga.govChecked Apr 25, 2026
Georgia DOR — flat income tax (HB 1437, 2026)
Georgia Dept. of Revenue — important tax updates
dor.georgia.govChecked Apr 25, 2026
Michigan MDHHS — Child Development and Care (CDC)
MDHHS Child Development and Care scholarship
michigan.govChecked Apr 25, 2026
Michigan Dept. of Treasury — individual income tax
MI Treasury — 2026 flat rate 4.25%; ~$5,800/exemption (2025 est.)
michigan.govChecked Jul 7, 2026
NY OCFS — Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP)
NY OCFS — CCAP eligibility; 26-OCFS-INF-06 (2026 income levels, 85% SMI)
ocfs.ny.govChecked Jul 6, 2026
NY Dept. of Taxation and Finance — income tax rates
NY DTF — 2026 MFJ progressive rate schedule (Tax Law §601: 4%/4.5%/5.25%/5.5% within the $0–$120k range; NYC city tax excluded)
tax.ny.govChecked Jul 7, 2026
NC DHHS DCDEE — Subsidized Child Care Assistance (SCCAP)
NC DCDEE — financial assistance for families
ncchildcare.ncdhhs.govChecked Apr 25, 2026
NC Dept. of Revenue — individual income tax
NCDOR — 2026 flat rate 3.99%; $25,500 MFJ standard deduction
ncdor.govChecked Jul 7, 2026
Ohio DCY — Publicly Funded Child Care (PFCC)
Ohio Dept. of Children & Youth — PFCC provider resources
childrenandyouth.ohio.govChecked Apr 25, 2026
Ohio flat income tax (HB 96, 2025)
Policy Matters Ohio "The Great Ohio Tax Shift, 2026"; Tax Foundation 2026 State Tax Changes
No primary .gov source transcribed — the state-file citations are third-party policy analyses (Policy Matters Ohio, Tax Foundation). A tax.ohio.gov primary source should replace these before this program is presented as gov-sourced.
Checked Apr 27, 2026
Pennsylvania DHS — Child Care Works (CCW)
PA DHS — Child Care Works (via ELRCs)
pa.govChecked Apr 25, 2026
Pennsylvania DOR — flat income tax (3.07%)
PA Dept. of Revenue (Schedule SP Tax Forgiveness)
revenue.pa.govChecked Apr 25, 2026
Texas Workforce Commission — Child Care Services (CCS)
TWC Child Care Services program page
twc.texas.govChecked Apr 25, 2026
SNAP, Medicaid coverage rules, ACA marketplace savings, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the poverty guidelines, and Section 8 all run on national rules, so they read the same in every state. The childcare subsidy and the state income tax are set by each state, so those are the two we list per state. Whether a state expanded Medicaid also shifts who qualifies, so we track that alongside them.
A benefit rarely switches off the moment you cross a line. Most fall away gradually as income rises, so the chart models each one as a continuous slope rather than a single on/off step. That is what lets the cliff show up where the combined drop actually bites, instead of at one artificial line.
Two rules are transcribed from sources that aren’t on a government (.gov) site: Ohio’s flat income tax, which we read from independent policy analyses, and Florida’s childcare program, documented on a .org site rather than .gov. In both cases the number is still in the model and disclosed above, but we mark it “no gov link yet” rather than invent one. When a government page becomes available, it replaces the note.