State Median Income Estimate for a Four-Person Family (FFY 2005); Notice of the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2005 State Median Income Estimates for Use Under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Administered by the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Community Services, Division of Energy Assistance

AGENCY:

Office of Community Services, ACF, DHHS.

ACTION:

Notice of estimated State median income estimates for FFY 2005.

SUMMARY:

This notice announces the estimated median income for four-person families in each State and the District of Columbia for FFY 2005 (October 1, 2004 to September 30, 2005). LIHEAP grantees may adopt the State median income estimates beginning with the date of this publication of the estimates in the Federal Register or at a later date as discussed below. This means that LIHEAP grantees could choose to implement this notice during the period between the heating and cooling seasons. However, by October 1, 2004, or by the beginning of a grantee's fiscal year, whichever is later, LIHEAP grantees using State median income estimates must adjust their income eligibility criteria to be in accord with the FFY 2005 State median income estimates.

This listing of estimated State median incomes provides one of the maximum income criteria that LIHEAP grantees may use in determining a household's income eligibility for LIHEAP.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

The estimates are effective at any time between the date of this publication and October 1, 2004, or by the beginning of a LIHEAP grantee's fiscal year, whichever is later.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Leon Litow, Administration for Children and Families, DHHS, Office of Community Services, Division of Energy Assistance, 5th Floor West, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW., Washington, DC 20447, Telephone: (202) 401-5304, E-Mail: llitow@acf.hhs.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under the provisions of section 2603(7) of Title XXVI of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 (Pub. L. 97-35, as amended), we are announcing the estimated median income of a four-person family for each State, the District of Columbia, and the United States for FFY 2005 (the period of October 1, 2004, through September 30, 2005).

Section 2605(b)(2)(B)(ii) of the LIHEAP statute provides that 60 percent of the median income for each State, as annually established by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, is one of the income criteria that LIHEAP grantees may use in determining a household's eligibility for LIHEAP.

LIHEAP is currently authorized through the end of FFY 2005 by the Coats Human Services Reauthorization Act of 1998, Pub. L. 105-285, which was enacted on October 27, 1998.

Estimates of the median income of a four-person family for each State and the District of Columbia for FFY 2005 have been developed by the Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce, using the most recently available income data. In developing the median income estimates for FFY 2005, the Census Bureau used the following three sources of data: (1) The Current Population Survey's 2003 Annual Social and Economic Supplement File; (2) the 2000 Decennial Census of Population; and (3) 2002 per capita personal income estimates, by State, from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

For further information on the estimating method and data sources, contact the Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, at the Census Bureau (301-763-3243).

A State-by-State listing of median income, and 60 percent of median income, for a four-person family for FFY 2005 follows. The listing describes the method for adjusting median income for families of different sizes as specified in regulations applicable to LIHEAP, at 45 CFR 96.85(b), which was published in the Federal Register on March 3, 1988 at 53 FR 6824.