Where our numbers come from
You should not have to take our word for it. Every dollar figure EarnAndKeep shows you is calculated from a published government rule — never guessed, never generated by an AI model. This page lists each source, what it establishes, and when it changes next.
If a figure below is out of date or wrong, that is the most important bug you can report to us. These numbers affect real decisions.
How the calculation works
- The math is fixed, not learned. Your numbers run through the program rules exactly as written. An AI model never calculates a dollar figure here — it can only explain what the rules produced.
- Dates matter down to the line item. Programs change limits on different schedules, so we pick each figure by program and date. A March business trip and a September one use different mileage rates, and 2026 health coverage is measured against the 2025 poverty levels.
- Two household sizes, on purpose. Medi-Cal and tax credits count your tax household; CalFresh counts who you buy and cook food with. Treating those as one number is the most common way these estimates go wrong.
Programs we calculate
Medi-Cal
Current 2026 figuresWhether your income falls within the limits for free Medi-Cal coverage, including the higher limit that applies during pregnancy.
- Counts:
- Your yearly income after business expenses and certain deductions (MAGI)
- Household:
- Tax household — you, your spouse if you file together, and anyone you claim
Figures apply January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026. Checked against the published rule for this year.
HHS Poverty Guidelines
The federal poverty level figures every Medi-Cal income limit is a percentage of.
Read the source ↗California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS)
Medi-Cal eligibility rules: 138% of poverty for adults, 213% during pregnancy with the baby counted, and 12 months of coverage after birth.
Read the source ↗Disability Benefits 101 (DB101) California
Plain-language reference for how Medi-Cal counts self-employment income.
Read the source ↗
CalFresh
Current 2026 figuresWhether your household qualifies for food benefits and roughly how much per month, including the choice between deducting actual business costs or a flat 40%.
- Counts:
- Your monthly income before deductions
- Household:
- Food household — everyone you buy and cook food with, claimed or not
Figures apply October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. Checked against the published rule for this year.
USDA Food and Nutrition Administration — SNAP cost-of-living adjustments
Federal income limits, deductions, and maximum monthly benefits for October 2025 through September 2026.
Read the source ↗California Department of Social Services — CalFresh
California rules, including broad-based categorical eligibility (which raises the gross income test to 200% of poverty) and the 40% self-employment deduction option.
Read the source ↗CDSS All County Letters
Where each year’s updated CalFresh figures are published.
Read the source ↗
Covered California
Current 2026 figuresHow much help you can get paying for a health plan — and exactly where the 400% cliff sits, past which that help stops entirely for 2026.
- Counts:
- Your yearly income after business expenses and certain deductions (MAGI)
- Household:
- Tax household — you, your spouse if you file together, and anyone you claim
Figures apply January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026. Checked against the published rule for this year.
IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-25, §3.01
The 2026 table setting what share of your income you are expected to put toward a health plan, from 2.10% up to 9.96%.
Read the source ↗Covered California
Plan year 2026 rules and rates. The enhanced federal subsidies expired December 31, 2025, which restored the hard cliff at 400% of poverty.
Read the source ↗26 CFR §1.36B-1(h)
The rule that 2026 coverage is measured against the 2025 poverty guidelines, not the 2026 ones — a year-offset that is easy to get wrong.
Federal Earned Income Tax Credit
Current 2026 figuresA refundable credit for people who work, worth up to $8,231 in 2026. It rises with income, levels off, then tapers — it is a slope, not a cliff.
- Counts:
- Your earned income from working
- Household:
- Tax household — you, your spouse if you file together, and anyone you claim
Figures apply January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026. Checked against the published rule for this year.
IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32
Tax year 2026 credit amounts, phase-in and phase-out rates, income thresholds, and the $12,200 investment income limit.
Read the source ↗IRS — Earned Income Tax Credit
Qualifying rules, including who counts as a qualifying child.
Read the source ↗
CalEITC and the Young Child Tax Credit
Prior-year figuresCalifornia’s own credits for working people, looked up in the state’s published credit table rather than approximated.
- Counts:
- Your California earned income
- Household:
- Tax household — you, your spouse if you file together, and anyone you claim
Figures apply January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025. The 2026 figures are not published yet, so we use last year’s and label them everywhere they appear.
FTB 3514 Booklet (2025) — Earned Income Tax Credit Table
All 658 published $50 income bands from $1 to $32,900. We read the state’s own table rather than estimating a formula.
Read the source ↗FTB 3514 Booklet (2025) — worksheet and Step 8
The credit worksheet, including its second look-up against federal AGI, and the Young Child Tax Credit: $1,189 reduced by $21.71 for every $100 of earned income above $27,425.
Read the source ↗California Franchise Tax Board — CalEITC
Where the state publishes each year’s figures. We update within days of a new release.
Read the source ↗
Tax rules behind those numbers
Self-employment tax and business deductions
Current 2026 figuresWhat you owe in Social Security and Medicare tax on 1099 work, and how mileage and expenses reduce the income every other program then measures.
Figures apply January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026. Checked against the published rule for this year.
IRS — Self-employment tax
The 15.3% rate applied to 92.35% of net earnings, and the deduction for half of it that lowers the income Medi-Cal and Covered California count.
Read the source ↗IRS standard mileage rates
For 2026 the rate changes mid-year: 72.5¢ per mile January through June, then 76¢ July through December. We price each trip by its own date.
Read the source ↗
Tables we import in full
Where a state publishes an official lookup table, we import the whole thing rather than approximating it with a formula, and record the day we retrieved it.
FTB 3514 Booklet 2025, Earned Income Tax Credit Table
The CalEITC credit table, imported in full so California’s credit is looked up exactly as the state publishes it.
658 rows imported from California Franchise Tax Board, retrieved 2026-09-03.
View the source document ↗What we do not have yet
The price of crossing the health coverage cliff. We can tell you exactly where the 400% cliff sits for your household, because that threshold comes straight from the poverty guidelines. We cannot yet tell you what crossing it would cost you in dollars, because that depends on health plan prices in your specific county and your age. We are working on it, and until then we will not guess at a number.
California’s 2026 credit amounts. The state has not published CalEITC figures for 2026 yet. We use the 2025 amounts and label them as prior-year everywhere they appear, rather than quietly presenting them as current.
When these figures change
- Every October
- CalFresh income limits and monthly benefit amounts
- Every January
- New federal poverty levels, which most limits are a percentage of
- Each spring
- Medi-Cal adopts the new poverty levels
- Mid-year
- Tax credit figures for the coming year, and any mileage rate change
- Each fall
- California publishes CalEITC amounts, and Covered California publishes rates
What we never do with your information
- We never connect to your bank account.
- We never ask for your Social Security number.
- We never store photos or documents you share.
- We never share your information with any government agency.
Rules catalog version 2026.09.0. EarnAndKeep is an educational tool, not legal, tax, or benefits advice. Only the programs themselves can decide what you qualify for.
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