Every October 1, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, still widely known as food stamps, resets its benefit amounts and income limits for inflation. This year that routine update landed alongside something bigger: the next stage of the 2025 budget law, often called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which made the largest changes to SNAP in decades. Some of those changes already hit households last year. Others are only now reaching state budgets, and one of the most significant doesn’t start until 2027.
Here is what changed, who it affects, and what to watch for.
The annual increase: slightly larger benefits
SNAP’s maximum benefits are tied to the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan, a model low-cost diet the U.S. Department of Agriculture prices each year. For fiscal year 2027, which runs from October 1, 2026, to September 30, 2027, the maximum monthly benefits in the 48 contiguous states and D.C. are:
- 1 person: $306 (up from $298)
- 2 people: $562
- 3 people: $808
- 4 people: $1,023 (up from $994)
The minimum benefit for one- and two-person households is $25. Most households don’t receive the maximum: SNAP expects a household to put 30% of its net income toward food and pays the difference. So a family whose income didn’t change will usually see its benefit rise by roughly the same dollar amount as the maximum.
Income limits rose too. A family of four can now have gross monthly income up to $3,575 and net income up to $2,750. Our SNAP income check has the full table, and how SNAP works explains the tests and deductions.
States now pay three-quarters of the cost of running SNAP
The federal government pays for SNAP benefits themselves. The cost of running the program, such as caseworkers, eligibility systems, call centers and fraud investigations, has historically been split about evenly between Washington and the states. Starting with fiscal year 2027, which began October 1, the 2025 law cut the federal share to 25%. States, and in some places counties, now pay 75%.
That is a large, sudden bill. In the ten states where counties administer SNAP, counties will absorb much of it. States can respond by raising money elsewhere, cutting staff, or slowing other work. Advocates and state officials worry that thinner staffing means longer processing times and more procedural denials, when eligible people lose benefits over missed paperwork.
Next up: a penalty tied to state error rates
Beginning in fiscal year 2028 (October 2027), states will for the first time pay part of the cost of benefits themselves, depending on their “payment error rate.” That rate measures how often benefits were overpaid or underpaid, as found by a federal quality-control review. It is mostly caseworker and household mistakes, not fraud.
- Error rate below 6%: the state pays nothing toward benefits.
- 6% to 8%: the state pays 5% of benefit costs.
- 8% to 10%: the state pays 10%.
- 10% or higher: the state pays 15%.
Many states’ recent error rates are above 6%, and the national rate has been around 10% or higher in recent years. States with very high error rates get a delay of one or two years before the penalty starts. Because benefits cost far more than administration, this could add hundreds of millions of dollars a year to some state budgets, which is why states are already investing in accuracy, and why some analysts fear states may tighten their own optional eligibility rules to save money.
Who has already lost eligibility
Several changes took effect when the law was signed in July 2025, and states finished putting them in place over the following months:
- Work requirements expanded. The three-month time limit for adults without dependents now applies up to age 64, instead of 54, and to parents whose youngest child is 14 or older. Exemptions for veterans, people experiencing homelessness and young adults who aged out of foster care were removed, and states can waive the rule only in areas with unemployment above 10%. Our guide to SNAP work requirements covers who is affected.
- Many lawfully present immigrants are no longer eligible. Eligibility is now limited to lawful permanent residents (green card holders, subject to existing waiting periods), certain Cuban and Haitian entrants, and people from the Compact of Free Association nations. Refugees and people granted asylum lost eligibility.
- Smaller deductions for some households. Internet costs no longer count toward the shelter deduction, and a federal energy assistance payment no longer automatically qualifies a household without an elderly or disabled member for the standard utility allowance. Both can lower benefits.
- SNAP-Ed ended. Federal funding for SNAP’s nutrition education program was eliminated.
How big is the effect?
Participation has fallen. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research group that opposed the cuts, estimates that about 5 million people, including more than 1 million children, lost SNAP over the past year, with especially large drops in states such as Arizona, Florida and Louisiana. Supporters of the law argue that a stronger work requirement and state cost-sharing will reduce errors and encourage employment, and that SNAP enrollment had grown well beyond prepandemic levels. Federal participation data are released with a delay of several months, so expect clearer numbers in 2027.
Food prices are part of the picture
Grocery prices rose about 2.2% over the past year, slower than overall inflation, which has been pushed up by gasoline. That is why this year’s benefit increase is modest. For how prices are measured, see how inflation is measured.
If you receive SNAP
- Open every notice from your state agency. Most benefit losses come from missed recertifications or reporting deadlines.
- Report changes in hours or income as your state requires. If you are subject to the time limit, keep records of work, training or volunteer hours.
- Ask about exemptions. Pregnancy, a disability or health condition that limits work, caring for a child under 14 or an incapacitated person, and several other situations still exempt people from the time limit.
- You can appeal. If your benefits are cut or denied, you have the right to a fair hearing. Ask for one in writing before the deadline on your notice, and ask whether benefits can continue while you wait.
A note on history: this site’s 2014 headline “Working poor now largest group receiving food stamp benefits” pointed at a pattern that still holds. Among SNAP households with an adult who can work, most include someone who works during the year, often in low-wage jobs with unpredictable hours. That is the group most exposed to paperwork-heavy work rules.