First-Time Home Buyer Income Limits in Utah: Which Line Is Yours?

The Number You Heard at the Barbecue

Somebody at a barbecue told you that you make too much to get help buying a house. They said it with confidence. They were holding a paper plate. You believed them anyway.

So the answer first. First-time home buyer income limits in Utah aren’t one number. Each program sets its own, some by county, some by household size, some by a percentage of the area’s median income, and a few don’t set one of their own at all. Being over one program’s line tells you almost nothing about the next one. Everything below puts the lines side by side, with who publishes each one and when we read it.

The easiest way to picture it: an income limit is the height sign at the entrance to a ride. Except this park runs backwards. The sign says you must be under this line to ride, every ride has its own sign, some of them measure you in your socks and some measure you with the whole family standing on your shoulders, and the park repaints every sign once a year (usually without telling anyone).

It’s also the only test in adult life you pass by scoring lower. Don’t let that go to your head.

Where the Lines Come From

Most of these limits start in the same place. Every year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) publishes a median family income for each metro area, and a set of income limits built from it. Its 2026 limits took effect on May 1, 2026. In HUD’s tables, “low income” means 80% of the area median income (AMI, the middle household income for an area, adjusted for household size), and that 80% line is the one a lot of first-time buyer programs borrow.

Here’s where HUD’s 2026 income limits put that line for Salt Lake City and three other Utah metros, for a household of four, as published by HUD, 2026:

Two things trip people up here. First, the median is for the metro, not your city, so a household in Sandy and a household in Magna are measured against the same Salt Lake line. Second, not every program uses HUD’s own number. Fannie Mae, for one, tells lenders to use the area median incomes it publishes, not the versions on HUD’s site. Same idea, its own table.

Which is why every section below names the publisher. The sign on each ride belongs to whoever built the ride.

Every Ride Has Its Own Sign

Here’s the side-by-side. One row per program, the income test it uses, and whether it also caps the price of the home. Every figure is the publisher’s, read in September 2026, and every one of them changes on the publisher’s schedule, not ours.

Now the rides, one at a time.

Utah Housing Corporation: the Biggest Ride in the Park

Utah Housing Corporation’s limits page is where most people start, and it splits the answer by county and by household size. For FirstHome, its main first-time buyer loan, the FirstHome income limits read like this, as published by Utah Housing Corporation, September 2026:

Notice the jump between the two household-size columns. A couple expecting a baby can move from one column to the other (the only time a newborn has ever raised anyone’s income ceiling). If you’re buying in Tooele County, our page on Tooele first-time home buyer programs covers the local side.

Utah Housing’s other two active loans work differently. FHA/VA Mortgage and Freddie Mac HFA Advantage each carry a single income limit of $165,200 in every county, and neither has a purchase-price limit, as published by Utah Housing Corporation, September 2026. So a household over its county’s FirstHome line isn’t done with Utah Housing. It may just be on a different ride.

The live numbers are on Utah Housing’s income and purchase price limits page. Utah Housing revises them on its own schedule, so check them there before you set a budget around them. For what the programs themselves offer, our overview of first-time home buyer programs in Utah walks through each one.

S.B. 240: the Ride With No Sign of Its Own

Utah’s First-time Homebuyer Assistance Program came out of Senate Bill 240 (2023), and Utah Housing Corporation runs it. It’s for a home that’s newly built and not yet lived in, and a buyer can borrow up to $20,000 in program funds for the home, with a purchase price that can’t exceed $450,000, as published by Utah Housing Corporation, September 2026. It’s a second loan against the home, not a gift, and it’s generally repaid, in whole or in part, when you sell or refinance.

Does it have an income limit? Not one of its own. Utah Housing’s own answer to that question is that the income limit comes from the Utah Housing loan you pair it with, and you have to qualify for a Utah Housing mortgage, through one of its participating lenders, to use it. So the S.B. 240 line is whichever FirstHome, FHA/VA or HFA Advantage line applies to you above.

Utah Housing’s FAQ also says the price limit may be adjusted by location or home type, and funds last until they’re gone. The current word is on Utah Housing’s S.B. 240 page. For how assistance like this fits with the rest, see our guide to down payment assistance in Utah.

Provo and Eagle Mountain: the Local Rides

Two cities on page one of this search publish their own programs, with their own lines.

Provo. The City of Provo runs two. Home Purchase Plus is for purchases in Provo, and offers up to $60,000. Loan to Own is for purchases in Utah County, except the three places the program’s page lists (Fairfield, Highland and Woodland Hills), and offers up to $40,000. Both require household income at 80% of AMI or less, as published by the City of Provo, September 2026. Each is a second loan that isn’t due until the home stops being your primary residence, and part of it can be forgiven if you stay. Provo’s income chart uses HUD’s 2026 Provo-Orem numbers, which put that 80% line at $95,350 for a household of four. The details, and the full chart, are on Provo’s down payment assistance page.

Eagle Mountain. Eagle Mountain City’s Mortgage Assistance Program offers up to $25,000. The city’s income table runs to 120% of AMI, which it lists as $143,040 for a household of four, as published by Eagle Mountain City, September 2026, and the city’s written policy describes households up to 120% of AMI as eligible. It’s a forgivable loan, forgiven over time if you stay, and public employees get priority. Applications run monthly while funds last, on Eagle Mountain’s program page.

That 120% line matters. It’s one of the few on this page set above the median, not below it.

Home$tart and the Credit Union Grants

Home$tart is run by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines and offered through its member lenders. Wasatch Peaks Credit Union, for one, says it partners with the bank to offer it in Utah. The grant is $15,000, and the household has to be at or below 80% of the area median income, as published by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, 2026. One thing to know before you plan around it: the bank’s page says that as of August 4, 2026, all of this year’s funds had been reserved, and funds may come back as reservations are withdrawn. Its funding schedule lists a new round dated October 1, 2026. Check the bank’s Home$tart page for where things stand.

Not every “home start” grant is Home$tart. UCCU’s Home Start grant is a different amount, and its page says household income limits apply without listing them, so we’ve left it out of the table rather than guess. Ask UCCU for its current limits. For grants more broadly, our page on first-time homebuyer grants in Utah covers them.

HomeReady, Home Possible and USDA: the Rides Without a Local Sign

Some income tests come with a loan, not an assistance program.

• HomeReady (Fannie Mae). Total qualifying income can’t exceed 80% of the AMI for the property’s location. Fannie Mae publishes its own AMI figures for this, and its 2026 figures took effect June 13, 2026. Its Area Median Income Lookup Tool gives the line for a specific address.
• Home Possible (Freddie Mac). Qualifying income is limited to 80% of AMI, and Freddie Mac has its own income and property eligibility tool.
• USDA guaranteed loans. USDA income limits in Utah are set for every area, in two household-size bands. The home also has to be in an area USDA treats as eligible. Its fiscal-year 2026 limits, as published by USDA Rural Development, 2026:

USDA’s full table is in its income limits file, and its lines run higher than most on this page.

Who Stands Under the Bar

This is the part most pages skip, and it can matter more than the number itself. Programs don’t agree on whose income gets measured.

• FirstHome counts the members of the household who will sign the deed of trust (fair enough).
• FHA/VA Mortgage and HFA Advantage use qualifying income (reasonable).
• HomeReady counts the income of every borrower who signs the note, to the extent it’s used to qualify for the loan (still with us).
• USDA looks at the household’s adjusted income (now it wants to meet the household).
• Home$tart includes all income from current and intended household members (including, apparently, the ones who haven’t moved in yet).

So the same family can be under one bar and over another without earning a dollar more. A partner who isn’t on the loan might not count for FirstHome and still count for Home$tart. A roommate you’re buying with counts in more places than you’d think. And each program defines income its own way, so ask which figure it uses.

A flat opinion, and you’re welcome to argue with it: the income limit you heard secondhand is the least reliable number in your whole home search. It was probably from a different program, a different county or a different year.

Too Tall for One Ride Isn’t Too Tall for the Park

Say you’ve checked, and you’re over. Here’s what that does and doesn’t mean.

Over FirstHome’s line isn’t over Utah Housing. Its FHA/VA Mortgage and HFA Advantage loans use the $165,200 statewide limit and carry no purchase-price limit, so a household above its county’s FirstHome line may still fit one of those.

Over the 80% programs isn’t over the higher lines. Eagle Mountain’s program reaches to 120% of AMI, and USDA’s limits sit well above the 80% line in every Utah area.

Over every limit on this page isn’t over homeownership. Standard conventional and FHA loans don’t carry an income ceiling at all. Plenty of first-time buyers in Utah buy without any assistance, with a standard loan and their own down payment. Our Utah first-time home buyer guide covers that path.

And being over now isn’t being over forever. The lines move every year, and household size moves them too.

The one thing not to do is decide you’re out before anyone’s looked. Bring us your household income and your county, and we’ll check it against every program on this page and tell you plainly which ones fit, and which of those we can place. We place Utah Housing loans, and we’ll tell you which of its programs fits.

Before You Rule Yourself In or Out

Put these to whoever’s helping you, and get the answers in writing.

1. Which program’s limit are we actually checking against?
2. Which year’s table is it, and who published it?
3. Whose income counts: everyone on the loan, everyone in the house, or everyone who’ll sign the deed?
4. Does my household size move me into a different column?
5. Is there a purchase-price limit too, and what is it where I’m buying?
6. Is the program funded right now?
7. If I’m over, which program or loan is next?

Anyone who answers all seven without checking a website is guessing (and someone at a barbecue told them).

Standing in Line

There’s a particular feeling to reading an income chart. You find your county. You count the people in your house. You run your finger across to the number, and for a second it feels like a verdict on your whole life, not a line on somebody’s spreadsheet.

It isn’t a verdict. It’s a sign at one ride, painted by one agency, for one year. What changes the answer is checking every sign, not just the first one you walked past.

Nobody should talk themselves out of help because of a number they heard at a barbecue.

Let’s Find Your Ride

Finding out which first-time home buyer income limits in Utah apply to you starts with one call. We’ll look at your household, your county and the home you want, check you against the programs that fit, and show you the actual terms on paper before anything gets signed. When you’re ready, a mortgage pre-approval in Utah is the next step.

We communicate constantly, so you’ll never wonder where your loan stands. We explain everything in plain English, with no confusing mortgage jargon, including which income chart applies to you. And because we’re brokers, we shop hundreds of lenders to find the best rate, with some of the lowest fees in Utah.

Call (801) 891-1846 or email [email protected]. ClearPath Utah Mortgage, 10168 South 2505 East, Sandy, UT 84092.

Every ride has a sign. Let’s find the one you fit under.