Research by Novogradac shows that 2023 income limits calculated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) could be on average 3.5% lower if calculated using the five-year American Community Survey (ACS) data than they would be under one-year ACS data. The U.S. Census Bureau recently announced it will not release a 2020 one-year ACS due to data collection issues, which could result in HUD using the five-year ACS data instead of the one-year ACS data to calculate 2023 income limits. A blog post by Thomas Stagg includes a summary of the findings as well as the areas with the largest positive and negative variances.

A recent Tax Credit Tuesday podcast discussed this topic, including how these changes will affect low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) properties and what LIHTC property owners should do. Income limits and rents for LIHTC properties are discussed in detail in the Novogradac LIHTC Property Management Handbook.