Written by the Simply Approved Mortgages editorial team
Reviewed for program accuracy by our Simply Approved Mortgages underwriting desk — Licensed mortgage originators (NMLS) — Colorado & Florida. We summarize published federal program rules; we do not set them. This article is educational and is not a quote, approval, or commitment to lend.
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Every December, HUD publishes new FHA loan limits for the coming year. The 2026 limits, set by Mortgagee Letter 2025-23, are 5.2% higher than 2025.
The two key numbers
- Floor (low-cost area limit): $541,287 for a 1-unit home — 65% of the conforming baseline
- Ceiling (high-cost area limit): $1,249,125 for a 1-unit home — 150% of the conforming baseline
- Special exception ceiling (Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, USVI): $1,873,625
Multi-unit limits
- 2-unit (duplex): floor $702,000 / ceiling $1,611,750
- 3-unit (triplex): floor $848,500 / ceiling $1,948,250
- 4-unit (fourplex): floor $1,054,500 / ceiling $2,421,250
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How HUD sets your county's limit
HUD takes the median sale price in your county (from FHFA data), multiplies by 115%, then caps the result between the floor and the ceiling. So:
- Counties with median home prices below $476,739 get the floor
- Counties with median home prices above $1,094,782 get the ceiling
- Everywhere in between gets a custom limit
Why the limit matters
The limit caps your loan amount, not your purchase price. If a Los Angeles home is $1.5M and the LA FHA ceiling is $1,249,125, you could still use FHA — you'd just need to bring the difference ($241,000) plus the 3.5% down payment to closing.
In practice, most FHA buyers stay under the limit because of debt-to-income constraints.
Find your exact limit
See our FHA loan limits page by state, or use the HUD lookup at entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/hicostlook.cfm.

