Short answer: the household is not the people under your roof. It is a list the rules define, and each person on it moves the income line by $7,100. For 2026, outside Alaska and Hawaii, which have their own tables, a household of two needs $27,050 of income, three needs $34,150, four needs $41,250, and five needs $48,350. Those are the 125 percent figures the form uses. Some people are on the list whether or not they live with you, some only if a tax return says so, and some can be left off. A wrong count means the wrong line. As of September 2026, and following the 08/24/26 edition of the instructions.
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The table is reissued every year, and the one that governs a case is the table in effect when the immigrant filed the application, not the one in effect when the sponsor signed. A sponsor on active military duty sponsoring a spouse or minor child is measured against a lower table, which does not apply to a joint or substitute sponsor.
Who is on the list by default
The petitioning spouse and the immigrant are always on it, and that is two people, because the immigrant spouse is one person and not two. Next are the petitioner's own unmarried children under 21, who count whether or not they live at home and whether or not the petitioner has custody. Anyone claimed as a dependent on the petitioner's most recent federal tax return is on the list too, related or not, living with the petitioner or not. So is anyone the petitioner sponsored on an earlier Affidavit of Support who has already immigrated and whose support obligation has not ended. No one is ever counted twice.
Those are the rules. The five cases below are where they are most often applied wrong.
Case 1: the petitioner's child from an earlier relationship who lives with the other parent
Counted. The rule looks at the parent-child relationship, not the address or the custody order. A petitioner with two children under 21 living in another state has a household of four before anyone else is added, which moves the line from $27,050 to $41,250. There is one exception: a child who has reached the age of majority and was not claimed as a dependent on the latest tax return can be left off. The instructions measure majority by the law of the child's own place of domicile, and the regulation is worded more loosely, so where a child lives in a different state from the petitioner this is worth pinning down rather than assuming.
For example: a 19-year-old in a state where adulthood begins at 18, claimed as a dependent last year, still counts. The same 19-year-old, not claimed, can be dropped.
Case 2: the immigrant's own child who is a U.S. citizen or already a permanent resident
It depends on the child's relationship to the petitioner, not on citizenship alone. A child born in the United States to the immigrant is a citizen, and the rules leave the immigrant's citizen or permanent resident spouse and children off the list when the petitioner does not actually support them. But if that child is the petitioner's own child, the child is counted once as the petitioner's child. If the couple married before that child turned 18, the child is the petitioner's stepchild, and the regulation drops a stepchild only when all three of these are true: the child does not live with the petitioner, is not claimed as a dependent for tax purposes, and is not immigrating through the stepparent relationship. Where a citizen stepchild lives in the home but is not on a tax return, the two parts of the rule point in opposite directions, and the ordinary practice is to count the child rather than leave a gap for an officer to find.
For example: a baby born to the couple is counted as the petitioner's child. A 15-year-old the immigrant brings into the marriage, living in the home, is counted as a stepchild even without being on a tax return. A child who had already turned 18 on the wedding day is not a stepchild in this sense at all, and is counted only if a tax return or another rule reaches them.
A separate rule sits nearby and is easy to confuse with this one: a spouse or child of the immigrant who is a foreign national living abroad, and who will not immigrate within six months of the immigrant, can be left out of the count. That one is about people who are neither citizens nor residents.
Case 3: someone on the tax return who is not family
Counted. A parent, a cousin, a partner's child, or a friend claimed as a dependent on the most recent return is on the list even without a legal duty to support them, and even if they live elsewhere. The instructions say this plainly: if you claimed the person, you count the person.
For example: dependents claimed on a joint return with the immigrant spouse are the petitioner's dependents for this purpose. Someone the petitioner plans to drop from the next return still counts if the most recent return already filed shows them.
Case 4: someone the petitioner sponsored years ago
Counted, if that person has already immigrated and the support obligation is still alive. This includes someone the petitioner signed for as a joint sponsor on another family's case, which is the version people forget. The obligation ends when the sponsored person becomes a citizen, has worked or can be credited with 40 qualifying quarters under Social Security rules, leaves the United States and gives up permanent residence, dies, or receives a new grant of adjustment of status in removal proceedings on a new affidavit of support where one is required. Divorce from the earlier spouse is not on that list.
For example: a petitioner who sponsored a former spouse eight years ago still counts that person if none of those ending events has happened. Quarters are not only the sponsored person's own; in some cases quarters earned by their spouse or parents can be credited to them, and quarters in which they received a federal means-tested benefit after 1996 do not count. That is why this question is answered from the Social Security record and not from a guess about years worked.
Case 5: parents, siblings, or adult children living in the home
Counted only by choice, unless another rule already puts them on the list. Relatives who live with the petitioner and are not dependents are not on the list by default. The petitioner may add them for one reason: to add their income to the household income. Anyone added this way must be 18 or older and sign Form I-864A, a separate contract that makes them legally responsible for supporting the immigrant alongside the petitioner. Each person added also raises the line by $7,100.
For example: a mother at home earning $30,000 turns a two-person line into a three-person line, $34,150, and adds $30,000 to the countable income, which helps on the income comparison. A brother at home earning $6,000 raises the line more than his income adds. A shortfall can also be met with qualifying assets instead, which is a separate question from the count.
What does not change the count
- Address, by itself. The petitioner's own children count wherever they live, and so do tax dependents. Address becomes decisive in only three places: whether a stepchild can be dropped, whether a relative at home can be added by choice, and whether a family member abroad can be left out.
- Whether the immigrant spouse has income. That changes the income side, not the count. On the income side it counts only if it will continue from the same source after the green card.
- A joint sponsor's household. A joint sponsor counts their own household, plus the immigrant, on their own form. The petitioner's count is unaffected.
- The order of the questions on the form. The form asks in a fixed order and tells you where to write a zero so a person already counted is not counted again.
FAQ
My spouse and I have one child together. Are we a household of three or four? Three, when that child is not also applying for a green card on this affidavit. The petitioner, the immigrant spouse, and the child, counted once as the petitioner's child. Counting four is a common mistake, and it moves the line by $7,100 for no reason.
I have a child under 21 who is married. Do they count? Not under the children category, which is limited to unmarried children under 21. A married child is counted if another rule reaches them, such as being claimed as a dependent on the most recent return or being someone the petitioner sponsored before.
We are expecting a baby. Does the unborn child count? No. An unborn child is neither a child under the immigration definition nor a tax dependent. The figures that apply are measured from the year the immigrant filed the application, and if more than a year passes before the interview, USCIS can ask for updated financial information.
Does the count change if my parents move in next year? Not by itself. Relatives at home are added only when their income is being used and only with their signature on Form I-864A, unless a tax return or an earlier affidavit already puts them on the list.
General information only — not legal advice for your case. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
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