Income Limits for Down Payment Assistance in Miami-Dade

Two programs can both say “one hundred twenty percent” and publish different figures. If you look only at the percentage, you can think you fit under a cap when you do not, or the other way around. What counts is the table each program uses, and this page shows which one that is.

AMI stands for Area Median Income: what a typical family in the area earns, not the highest and not the lowest. Programs do not set their caps by eye: they tie them to that income. The three tables on this page follow the official 2026 Florida Housing table, in effect since May 1, 2026, the state’s housing agency.

Each table is named for the share of that income it lets in: eighty, one hundred twenty or one hundred forty percent. The higher the share, the more your household can earn and still be under the cap.

To find your row:

1. 1Count the peopleEveryone who will live in the home you are buying. That is how programs measure household size.
2. 2Add up what everyone earnsFor a full year and before taxes. The cap looks at the whole household, not at one person.
3. 3Find your rowIf your total is under the figure in your row, you are under the cap of that table. If you are over the eighty percent table, look at the one hundred twenty percent one; if you are over that, at the one hundred forty percent one. Past the last one, what is left are the programs with their own table or no cap, further down.
4. 4Check it with your numbersIn the assistance finder you answer a few questions and see only the programs whose cap lets you in. Your lender confirms your income with documents when you apply.See which programs could fit →

This is the classic table for assistance aimed at low- and moderate-income households.

Programs whose income cap is this table (the ones with their own guide are linked):

• City of Miami First-Time Homebuyer Program
• City of Hialeah First-Time Homebuyer Program
• City of North Miami First-Time Homebuyer, with federal funds (HOME)
• City of Homestead Down Payment Assistance
• First-time buyer assistance offered by some banks (FHLBank Atlanta)
• Assistance for police, teachers, health care workers and military offered by some banks (FHLBank Atlanta)

This one is for middle-income households: they earn more than the cap of the previous table.

Programs whose income cap is this table (the ones with their own guide are linked):

• City of Miami District 5 Expanded First-Time Homebuyer Program: it also requires the household to earn at least $50,000 a year.
• City of North Miami First-Time Homebuyer, with state funds (SHIP)
• City of Miami Beach First-Time Homebuyer Program
• First-time buyer program of the agency that improves the North Miami area (CRA): it also requires its own minimum income, which changes with household size.
• Assistance for middle-income families offered by some banks (Workforce Housing Plus+): its range runs from the eighty percent table, as the minimum, to this one, as the maximum.

This is the widest table the catalog uses in Miami-Dade, and few programs use it.

Programs whose income cap is this table (the one with its own guide is linked):

• Purchase assistance from the county’s economic fund (MDEAT)
• North Bay Village Purchase Assistance, a trial program

Not every cap comes from the county’s typical income. These programs carry their own figure. The table shows the caps for 1 and for 4 people; the rest is in each program’s official source. For HFA and HFA Plus the home has no maximum price (that is why its cell says “Not published”); what has a cap is the bank loan. For HFA it cannot be over $667,000 if it is the three-and-a-half-percent-down loan (FHA), or $832,750 if it is a regular or veterans loan; for HFA Plus, $832,750. For Hometown Heroes, the price cap depends on the type of loan:

• The state loans (FL Assist, Hometown Heroes and FL HLP) set one cap for households of 1 or 2 people and a higher one for 3 or more. With another type of bank loan the cap can change, and your lender tells you which one applies to you. In Broward the same loans have other caps: see the Broward tables.
• The county housing agency (HFA) and the state assistance that is forgiven over 5 years (HFA Plus) publish a flat cap, the same for any household size, and their two figures differ by one dollar. Each program publishes its own and your lender confirms the one that applies.
• The county’s down payment assistance: its page and its 2025 table give different caps. The catalog uses the lower one; confirm with your lender which one applies. The county assistance guide explains it.
• The county’s home purchase loan uses, in the catalog, the county’s 2025 table: when it was checked, the county had not yet published the 2026 one.
• Miami Gardens says “one hundred twenty percent,” but the table the city publishes gives lower figures than the one hundred twenty percent table on this page. They are two different tables with the same name. The catalog uses the city’s until the city confirms otherwise.

These others do not publish an income cap; their remaining rules are on their page:

• Down payment assistance, mostly with the 3.5%-down loan (Chenoa Fund)
• New county homes with a maximum price (Infill Housing)
• First-Time Homebuyer Program for the area Homestead wants to improve (CRA)
• Habitat for Humanity homes in Leisure City (Habitat Acres): it does not publish a maximum cap, but it requires the household to earn at least $55,000 a year.

Being inside a table does not get you the assistance. Each program also sets its own rules: being a first-time buyer, the home’s maximum price, the city or area and a homebuyer course. Each program’s page lists them all.