Affordable housing finance
Area median income (AMI)
HUD's annually published median family income for each area — the benchmark from which affordable-housing income and rent limits are derived.
Definition
AMI is the median family income HUD estimates and publishes each year for every metro area and non-metro county. Affordability restrictions are expressed as percentages of it — "50% AMI," "60% AMI" — adjusted by household size. For LIHTC and bond projects, HUD derives dedicated Multifamily Tax Subsidy Project (MTSP) limits from the same data, with hold-harmless rules so a project's limits do not fall when an area's AMI does. What counts as household income against those limits comes from HUD's 24 C.F.R. Part 5 definitions.
Why it matters in an underwrite
Revenue growth in a restricted deal is AMI growth: rent ceilings move only when HUD's numbers move, so trending restricted rents at 3% in a county whose AMI is flat is fiction. HUD has also capped year-over-year limit increases in recent years, and county-level swings of several percent are routine — underwrite rent growth off the area's AMI history and HUD's methodology, not the market comps the covenant overrides.
Sources & related guides
See also
See the term in the law itself
Read the controlling text in the Code Library, or ask the AI how it applies to your project.
Last reviewed 2026-07-29. General information, not legal advice.