What is AMI?
AMI stands for Area Median Income. It is calculated and released every year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Development (HUD). AMI is the combined average family income for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell HUD Fair Market Rent (FMR) area. This area includes 24-counties: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding, and Walton.
AMI sets the rent of a subsidized residential unit and what families can qualify for that rent level. To calculate AMI you need both your total family income and family size. The infographic below, created for a joint project by the Transformation Alliance (TFA) and the Neighborhood Nexus, shows an overview of varying AMI levels and their corresponding max rents, based on the HUD 2018 Income Limits for a family of four in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell HUD HFMA. Using the standard convention of affordability, affordable monthly rents were calculated for each AMI level as 30 percent of the corresponding max income.