diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 7aed4788..2e4bb783 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -178,21 +178,26 @@ jobs:
           ls -aR .coverage*
           coverage combine .coverage*
           echo "Creating coverage report..."
-          # Create a coverage report (console)
-          coverage report
-          # Create xml file for further processing
-          coverage xml
+          # Create xml file for further processing; Create even if below minimum
+          coverage xml --fail-under=0
 
       # For future use in case we want to add a PR comment for 3rd party PRs which requires
       # a workflow with elevated PR write permissions. Move below steps into a separate job.
       - name: Archive code coverage report
+        id: cov_xml_upload
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         with:
           name: coverage
           path: coverage.xml
+      - name: Code Coverage Report (console)
+        run: |
+          # Create a coverage report (console), respects fail_under in pyproject.toml
+          coverage report
 
       - name: Code Coverage Report
         uses: irongut/CodeCoverageSummary@51cc3a756ddcd398d447c044c02cb6aa83fdae95 # v1.3.0
+        # Create markdown file even if coverage report fails due to fail_under
+        if: ${{ always() && steps.cov_xml_upload.outputs.artifact-id != '' }}
         with:
           filename: coverage.xml
           badge: true
@@ -202,15 +207,20 @@ jobs:
           hide_complexity: true
           indicators: true
           output: both  # console, file or both
-          thresholds: '90 95'
+          # Note: it appears fail below min is one off, use fail_under -1 here
+          thresholds: '95 98'
 
       - name: Add Coverage PR Comment
         uses: marocchino/sticky-pull-request-comment@52423e01640425a022ef5fd42c6fb5f633a02728  # v2.9.3
         # Create PR comment when the branch is on the repo, otherwise we lack PR write permissions
         # -> need another workflow with access to secret token
         if: >-
-          github.event_name == 'pull_request'
-          && github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name == github.repository
+          ${{
+            always()
+            && github.event_name == 'pull_request'
+            && github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name == github.repository
+            && steps.cov_xml_upload.outputs.artifact-id != ''
+          }}
         with:
           hide_and_recreate: true
           path: code-coverage-results.md
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 5ce39d3f..3cc840fe 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ extra-standard-library = ["tomllib"]
 known-first-party = ["typing_extensions", "_typed_dict_test_helper"]
 
 [tool.coverage.report]
+fail_under = 96
 show_missing = true
 # Omit files that are created in temporary directories during tests.
 # If not explicitly omitted they will result in warnings in the report.